“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.
Church Fathers on Hebrews 9:9
“Which” (he says) “was established as a figure for the time then present.” What does he mean by “the time present”? That before the coming of Christ: For after the coming of Christ, it is no longer a time present: For how [could it be], having arrived, and being ended? There is too something else which he indicates, when he says this, “which [was] a figure for the time then present,” that is, became the Type. “In which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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