SEV Biblia, Chapter 9:17
Porque el testamento con la muerte es confirmado; de otra manera no es vlido entre tanto que el testador vive.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 17. For a testament is of force after men are dead , etc..] The necessity of Christ's death is here urged, from the nature and force of a testament or will, among men, which does not take place, and cannot be executed, till a man is dead. Otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the testator liveth ; no claim can be made by the legatees for the part they have in it, nor can any disposition be made by the executor of it; not that hereby is suggested, that the testament or will of God was uncertain and precarious till the death of Christ, and subject to change and alteration as men's wills are till they die; nor that the inheritance could not be enjoyed by the Old Testament saints; for it is certain, it was entered upon by them before the death of Christ; but the sense is, that there was a necessity of it, that the saints right unto it, upon the foot of justice, might be evident by it.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 15-22 - The solemn transactions between God and man, are sometimes called covenant, here a testament, which is a willing deed of a person bestowing legacies on such persons as are described, and it only take effect upon his death. Thus Christ died, not only to obtain the blessings of salvation for us, but to give power to the disposal of them. All, by sin, were become guilty before God, had forfeited ever thing that is good; but God, willing to show the greatness of his mercy, proclaimed a covenant of grace. Nothing could be clean to sinner, not even his religious duties; except as his guilt was don away by the death of a sacrifice, of value sufficient for that end, an unless he continually depended upon it. May we ascribe all real goo works to the same all-procuring cause, and offer our spiritual sacrifices as sprinkled with Christ's blood, and so purified from their defilement.
Greek Textus Receptus
διαθηκη 1242 γαρ 1063 επι 1909 νεκροις 3498 βεβαια 949 επει 1893 μηποτε 3379 ισχυει 2480 5719 οτε 3753 ζη 2198 5719 ο 3588 διαθεμενος 1303 5642
Vincent's NT Word Studies
17. For a testament is of force after men are dead (diaqhkh gar epi nekroiv bebaia). Rend. "for a covenant is of force (or sure) over (or upon) dead (victims)." Comp. Soph. Elect. 237; Eurip. Ion. 228; Aesch. Eumen. 316; Hdt. iv. 162. See also Lev. xxi. 5.
Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth (epei mh tote iscuei ote zh o diaqemenov). Rend. "since it hath not then force when the institutor is alive": until he has been representatively slain.
