15. As the "altar" was mentioned in
Heb 13:10,
so the "sacrifices" here (compare
1Pe 2:5,
namely, praise and doing good,
Heb 13:16).
Compare
Ps 119:108;
Ro 12:1.
By him--as the Mediator of our prayers and praises
(Joh 14:13, 14);
not by Jewish observances
(Ps 50:14, 23;
69:30, 31; 107:22; 116:17).
It was an old saying of the rabbis, "At a future time all sacrifices
shall cease, but praises shall not cease."
of praise--for salvation.
continually--not merely at fixed seasons, as those on which the
legal sacrifices were offered, but throughout all our lives.
fruit of our lips--
(Isa 57:19;
Ho 14:2).
giving thanks--Greek, "confessing." BENGEL remarks that the Hebrew, "todah," is
beautifully emphatic. It literally means "acknowledgment" or
"confession." In praising a creature, we may easily exceed the truth;
but in praising God we have only to go on confessing what He
really is to us. Hence it is impossible to exceed the truth, and here
is genuine praise.
JFB.
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