The main contrast is between the many Old Testament sacrifices and the one sacrifice of Christ. There is also a contrast of time, as in 1.1-2, between the creation of the world and when all ages of time are nearing the end. The exact meaning of when all ages … are nearing the end is not clear, either in the Greek or in Good News Translation. It is literally “at (or, near) the end of the ages.” This expression is not used anywhere else in the New Testament, though Matthew (13.39, 40, 49; 24.3; 28.20) uses the same word for “end” with “age” in the singular. “The end of the ages” may be a poetic equivalent of this, but with the same meaning. The related verb often has the meaning “fulfill” or “accomplish”; so Bijbel in Gewone Taal‘s “at the high point of history” is possible, as are Knox‘s “at the moment when history reached its fulfillment” and Barclay‘s “at the consummation of history.” However, the writer and his contemporaries believed that they were living near the end of time (see 10.25); hence the contrast with the creation of the world.
The expression for then he would have had to suffer implies a condition contrary to fact; for example, “for if he had done that, he would have had to suffer,” or “for if he had done that, it would have been necessary for him to suffer.” Sometimes this kind of condition contrary to fact may be expressed as “for if he did that (and he didn’t), then it would be necessary for him to suffer.”
Ever since the creation of the world may be expressed as “ever since the world was first created” or “ever since the time God created the world.”
The main contrast marked by Instead (Revised Standard Version “But”) is between the annual sacrifices of the Old Testament Day of Atonement (verse 7) and the one sacrifice of Christ (6.4; compare once and for all in 7.27). Instead also marks a secondary contrast, repeated from verses 7-8 but not emphasized here, with the High Priest’s offering of the blood of an animal in verse 25.
Some commentators think that now in verse 26 is used simply to reinforce the contrast and does not refer to time at all. This view is followed by Revised Standard Version (“as it is”), Moffatt, Knox, New English Bible, Barclay, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible; all common language translations, Phillips, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Translator’s New Testament have now. The contrast is probably between the present and Old Testament times. In favor of the translation “as it is,” one can say (a) that the same expression is used in 8.6, where Revised Standard Version translates it as “as it is” (see also RSV, 2.8 and 11.16); (b) the writer has used now in verse 24, and tends to give words different meanings when he repeats them; (c) now is slightly awkward with the past tense he has appeared. However, none of these arguments is conclusive. (a) The same expression is used in 12.26 with a clear reference to time (Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version now); (b) the writer uses once in the same sense in verses 26, 27 and 28 (the Greek is the same); and (c) the writer does not contrast the time at which he writes with the time of Christ’s death; the contrast is rather between the present and Old Testament times.
It may be almost impossible to translate literally when all ages of time are nearing the end. In the first place, it may be impossible to speak of ages “nearing” something. Furthermore, it may be necessary to specify what is involved in the end. An equivalent of now when all ages of time are nearing the end may be “now when we are near the end of all the ages” or “now when we are living in the last days of all the ages.” The expression all ages may be rendered as “all periods of time,” “all long successions of days,” or “all long series of years.”
Suffer: a few manuscripts have “die,” which is a correct interpretation of suffer in this context (compare 2.9).
He has appeared once and for all may be rendered as “he has come just once” or “he has come once and will not do so again.”
To remove sin may be expressed as “to cause people to have no guilt” or “to cause sins to be forgiven.”
On sacrifice, see 5.1 and 7.27. Through the sacrifice of himself may be expressed as means; for example, “by sacrificing himself,” “by giving himself over to die,” or “by causing (or, allowing) himself to be killed like a sacrifice.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Letter of the Hebrews. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .