Hebrews 8:5

8:5 The place where they serve is ¹  a sketch ²  and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the design ³  shown to you on the mountain.” ⁴ 

Hebrews 9:9

9:9 This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

Hebrews 9:11

Christ’s Service in the Heavenly Sanctuary

9:11 But now Christ has come ⁵  as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation,

Hebrews 9:23

9:23 So it was necessary for the sketches ⁶  of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, ⁷  but the heavenly things themselves required ⁸  better sacrifices than these.

Colossians 2:17

2:17 these are only ⁹  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ¹⁰  is Christ! ¹¹ 

¹ tn Grk “who serve in,” referring to the Levitical priests, but focusing on the provisional and typological nature of the tabernacle in which they served.

² tn Or “prototype,” “outline.” The Greek word ὑπόδειγμα (Jupodeigma) does not mean “copy,” as it is often translated; it means “something to be copied,” a basis for imitation. BDAG 1037 s.v. 2 lists both Heb 8:5 and 9:23 under the second category of usage, “an indication of someth. that appears at a subsequent time,” emphasizing the temporal progression between the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries.

³ tn The word τύπος (tupos) here has the meaning “an archetype serving as a model, type, pattern, model” (BDAG 1020 s.v. 6.a). This is in keeping with the horizontal imagery accepted for this verse (see sn on “sketch” earlier in the verse). Here Moses was shown the future heavenly sanctuary which, though it did not yet exist, became the outline for the earthly sanctuary.

⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 25:40.

⁵ tn Grk “But Christ, when he came,” introducing a sentence that includes all of Heb 9:11-12. The main construction is “Christ, having come…, entered…, having secured…,” and everything else describes his entrance.

⁶ tn Or “prototypes,” “outlines,” referring to the earthly sanctuary. See Heb 8:5 above for the prior use of this term.

⁷ tn Grk “with these”; in the translation the referent (sacrifices) has been specified for clarity.

⁸ tn Grk “the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”

⁹ tn The word “only,” though not in the Greek text, is supplied in the English translation to bring out the force of the Greek phrase.

¹⁰ tn Grk “but the body of Christ.” The term body here, when used in contrast to shadow (σκιά, skia) indicates the opposite meaning, i.e., the reality or substance itself.

¹¹ tn The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou) is appositional and translated as such: “the reality is Christ.”