By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise - He has now fulfilled all vision and prophecy, has offered the last bloody sacrifice which God will ever accept; and as he is the gift of God's love to the world, let us through him offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, this being the substitute for all the Levitical sacrifices.
The Jews allowed that, in the time of the Messiah, all sacrifices, except the sacrifice of praise, should cease. To this maxim the apostle appears to allude; and, understood in this way, his words are much more forcible. In Vayikra Rabba, sect. 9, fol. 153, and Rabbi Tanchum, fol. 55: "Rabbi Phineas, Rabbi Levi, and Rabbi Jochanan, from the authority of Rabbi Menachem of Galilee, said, In the time of the Messiah all sacrifice shall cease, except the sacrifice of praise." This was, in effect, quoting the authority of one of their own maxims, that now was the time of the Messiah; that Jesus was that Messiah; that the Jewish sacrificial system was now abolished; and that no sacrifice would now be accepted of God, except the sacrifice of praise for the gift of his Son.
That is, the fruit of our lips - This expression is probably borrowed from Hosea 14:2, in the version of the Septuagint, καρπον χειλεων which in the Hebrew text is פרים שפתינו parim sephatheinu, "the heifers of our lips." This may refer primarily to the sacrifices, heifers, calves, etc., which they had vowed to God; so that the calves of their lips were the sacrifices which they had promised. But how could the Septuagint translate פרים parim, calves, by καρπον, fruit? Very easily, if they had in their copy פרי peri, the mem being omitted; and thus the word would be literally fruit, and not calves. This reading, however, is not found in any of the MSS. hitherto collated.