Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 229 · August 17
To the Uttermost
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
English Bibles cannot agree about what uttermost measures.
Half of them keep the old word: able to save to the uttermost. The rest print completely, or forever, or once and forever, or to the very end. All the way down, or all the way along. The argument is a real one and the verse does not stop to settle it.
What the verse does is give its reason. Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. The chapter has just explained why that needed saying: they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. Every previous holder of the office had a last day at work and a successor learning the job. This one continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Both readings hold, because the reason clause carries either. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. As far down as anybody has managed to get, and for as long as they last.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 229 is The Counsel That Stands (Proverbs 19:21).