What is the context?
The priests regularly served in the first room, but entrance behind the second curtain was restricted to the high priest on the annual Day of Atonement. He brought blood for himself and for the people. Leviticus 16 gives the instructions for that day.
The Holy Spirit was teaching through this arrangement. The limited access showed that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed while the first arrangement remained in force. The writer reads the sanctuary as an illustration with a purpose beyond its immediate duties.
The gifts, sacrifices, food rules and washings could not provide the cleansing of conscience that the passage goes on to describe in Christ. They had a real place in Israel’s worship, but they could not accomplish everything people needed. Their temporary role prepared for the reform Christ brings.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Calvin, Wesley and the USCCB notes understand the restricted entrance and repeated service as pointing to the greater access and cleansing supplied by Christ.
Calvin and Wesley differ over the sins described in verse 7. Wesley limits the reference to sins of ignorance. Calvin takes it more broadly, including willful sins in which desire blinds a person’s judgment. Leviticus 16:16, 21 describes the day’s cleansing in terms that include Israel’s rebellious acts. The difference concerns the scope of the description, rather than whether the high priest needed atonement himself.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Matthew 27:50–51 records the temple curtain being torn when Jesus died. Read alongside Hebrews 10:19–22, it fits the movement from restricted entrance to access through Christ.
The point is not that God’s holiness has disappeared. People draw near because Jesus has dealt with the barrier of sin. Hebrews follows that invitation with a call to sincere faith, a cleansed heart and care for one another.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.