Hebrews 10:22 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Let us draw near, &c.— Namely, to that place to which we may have free access, and to which we are so graciously invited: With a true heart,—uprightly, sincerely, without any dissimulation or feigned piety: in full assurance of faith; in a full conviction of mind that Jesus is the Christ and our Lord and our God, and of the consequencesofthatgreatandimportant truth which has been so fully explained. This epistle being written to the Hebrews, they easily understood what was alluded to in the two next clauses. When the covenant was made in Horeb, Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, &c. See Exodus 24:8. By this ceremony the people were obliged to pay obedience to that law. In the case of the leper, and the leprous house, he and it were to be sprinkled seven times, in order to be cleansed: Leviticus 7:38. Here therefore the apostle, by having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, means, "having them cleansed from all consciousness of evil," and being fully sensible of our obligation to become obedient to the will of Christ. The washing with pure water does not refer here to Christian baptism, but to the Jewish baptisms in order to their being cleansed.When Aaron was to go into the holy of holies, he was first to wash his flesh with water, Leviticus 4:24 so was the leper to wash himself in water,—that he may be clean. Leviticus 14:8. And so it was in cases of other uncleannesses: the persons were obliged to bathe themselves in water; Leviticus 6:27 in running water, Hebrews 10:13. It is in allusion to these customs that the apostle made use of the words pure, or clear water; meaning that we should keep ourselves free and unspotted from sin.