“Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;”
It is a symbol (parabole) of the present time, indicating that gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper — the entire sacrificial system, for all its complexity and divine authorization, remains symbolical (parabole, roughly 'type' or 'shadow'). The phrase 'present time' (ho kairos ho nyn) refers to the pre-Christ era; these sacrifices belong to a time whose time has come. They cannot make teleios (complete, mature) the conscience (syneidesis) because external rituals cannot address internal guilt.
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