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Heb_10:20. Ἥν ] sc. εἴσοδον . Not as yet with ὁδόν (Carpzov, Stuart, and others) is ἥν to be combined as indication of object, in such wise that merely πρόφατον καὶ ζῶσαν would form the predicate; but still less is παῤῥησίαν (Seb. Schmidt, Hammond, al.) to be supplemented to ἥν . For against the former decides the order of the words, against the latter the manifest correspondence in which εἴσοδον , Heb_10:19, and ὁδόν , Heb_10:20, stand to each other. The ὁδός , namely, characterized Heb_10:19 as to its goal (as εἴσοδος τῶν ἁγίων ), is, Heb_10:20, further described with regard to its nature and constitution (as ὁδὸς πρόσφατος and ζῶσα ).
ἣν ἐνεκαίνισεν ἡμῖν ὁδὸν πρόσφατον καὶ ζῶσαν ] which He for us (in order that we may walk in it) has consecrated (inaugurated, in that He Himself first passed through it) as a new (newly-opened, hitherto inaccessible, comp. Heb_9:8; Theodoret: ὡς τότε πρῶτον φανεῖσαν ) and living way. πρόσφατος , originally: fresh slain; then in general: fresh, new, recens. See Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 374 f.
ζῶσα , however, that way or entrance is called, not because it “ever remains, and needs not, like that into the earthly sanctuary, to be consecrated every year by fresh blood” (Bleek, after the precedent of Ernesti, Schulz, and others; comp. also Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Theophylact), but because it is living in its efficacy (comp. ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ζῶν , Joh_6:51), in such wise that it leads to the goal of everlasting life. The contrast is found in the inefficaciousness of the entrance into the earthly holy of holies.
διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος , τουτέστιν τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ ,] through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. As the high priest must pass through the concealing veil, in order to come within the earthly Holy of Holies, thus also the flesh of Christ formed a veil, which must first be withdrawn or removed (comp. Mat_27:51; Mar_15:38; Luk_23:45) ere the entrance into the heavenly Holy of Holies could be rendered possible.
διά ] is to be taken locally,—wrongly is it understood by Stein as instrumental,—and is not to be combined with ἐνεκαίνισεν (Böhme, Delitzsch, Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, 2 Aufl. p. 253; Alford, Kluge), but is to be attached to ὁδόν , as a nearer definition, standing upon a parallel with πρόσφατον καὶ ζῶσαν , seeing that an οὖσαν or ἄγουσαν naturally suggests itself by way of supplement.
τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ ] depends immediately upon the preceding διά , not first, as Peirce and Carpzov maintain, upon a τοῦ καταπετάσματος to be supplied.