This is the fourth article in this series on the warning passages in Hebrews. In some ways, this is perhaps the strongest of the five warnings. Like Hebrews 6:4-8, this passage deals with apostasy and its consequences, but here it is based on the preceding chapters (Hebrews 7:1-10:18) concerning Christ’s priestly and sacrificial work, which places those who despise it in grave danger.
On Black Friday, 2009, a crowd of shoppers was so intent on getting the bargains for sale that day at a certain store that they broke down the entry doors when the store opened and, in so doing, literally trampled to death a security guard. They were so focused on their own materialistic pursuit that they showed utter disregard for the security guard’s life, deliberately ignoring common decency and respect for life. Similarly, but in a spiritual sense, the warning we are about to study addresses those who “deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth” (10:26), who disregard Christ’s sacrifice, and who, by doing so, insult God’s Spirit.
The subject of our passage is “Despising the Son of God.” And the theological truth that we learn is that there is no sacrifice for sin for those who sin willfully and draw back from Christ.
The context is that the day of reckoning is approaching, in view of which we must “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together” (10:25a) but rather we should “exhort one another” (10:25b). At the day of reckoning we will have to give account to God – hence the warning in 10:26-39. First the author issues…
I. A Warning About Willful Sin (10:26-31).
A. The Character Of Willful Sin (10:26).
A1. Willful sin is deliberate. “For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (10:26). Notice that the author uses “we” here because he is including himself with the Hebrews and because this is a universal, theological principle and warning. “We” is a tactful form of address that doesn’t pinpoint anyone in particular, but clearly the author fears that some of the Hebrews may be guilty of deliberate, willful sin.
To “sin deliberately” is to commit willful, premeditated sin. The Levitical system made provision for involuntary, unconscious sins, but not for deliberate, conscious sins. “The truth” refers to a known, universal body of Christian doctrine, biblical revelation, sometimes called “the faith” (e.g. Jude 3). To have received the knowledge of the truth is to have once acknowledged it and accepted it, to have acquired Christian doctrine, grasped it and understood it. So, the willful sin here is the deliberate rejection of the gospel of Christ after it has once been received as the truth.
To reject the truth is to reject Christ and his atoning sacrifice. And for those who reject Christ after they had once received it and believed it, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,” because Jesus is the only Savior (John 14:6; Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5-6), because he is the only sacrificial substitute for sins that is acceptable to God (1 John 4:10; Hebrews 10:4-10). You can offer all the ritual sacrifices you want and do a lifetime of acts of penance but none is sufficient to remove sins, except the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7).
Just as before in 6:4-6, to go on sinning purposefully and willfully, after having known and received the truth about Jesus’s substitutionary sacrifice on the cross for our sins, is apostasy. It’s the deliberate rejection of the truth you once heard, understood and accepted. For apostates there is no hope, no salvation, no sacrifice for sins. The author is obviously concerned that some of the Hebrews were moving perilously close to the deliberate sin of apostasy. Some of them had not progressed in their spiritual maturity (cf. 5:11-14; 6:1-4) and had lost their spiritual zeal, confidence and hope as a direct result of suffering persecution for their faith.
The seriousness of apostasy is that it involves deliberate sin, a willful turning away “after having received the knowledge of the truth.” Evidently some of them, at least superficially, had accepted and confessed the gospel. In other words, their turning away was not due to ignorance but a conscious act of rejection of what they once professed to believe. For those who have received the knowledge of the truth and then given it up “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,” for there is no alternative, no other salvation. It’s impossible to restore such a person to repentance (6:4-6).
First, then, willful sin is deliberate. And second...
A2. Willful sin is damning (10:27). For those who make the deliberate, conscious choice to go on sinning, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but there does remain “a terrifying expectation of judgement and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries” (10:27). This is the end that awaits apostates, the expectation of a fear-inducing, terrifying future judgement. The “expectation of judgement” should strike terror into their hearts, and into our hearts as well. An “expectation” is a sure and certain prospect, the end result of a path pursued. The expectation of an all-consuming, fiery judgement describes God’s furious damnation of those who are his “adversaries,” which includes apostates.
God’s judgement and fury will swallow such adversaries up, just like the sons of Korah who were swallowed up by the earth in God’s judgement (Numbers 16:31-33; cf. also Psalm 21:9). God’s fiery damnation of all Christ-rejecters is inescapable, final, and forever.
B. The Consequences Of Willful Sin (10:28-31).
“Anyone who disregarded the law of Moses died without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (10:28; see Deuteronomy 17:2-6). Those who rejected Moses’ law are just like apostates who reject Christ’s law. If that was true under the old covenant, “how much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace” (10:29). Notice the change of address here from “we” to “one / that person,” from the 1st person to the 3rd person, indicating (as the author has done previously in 6:4-6, “those who”) that he is speaking about a specific identity of persons but not necessarily the Hebrews to whom he is writing.
The argument is that if members of the old covenant people, who rejected the authority of Moses’ law, were judged with death (and they were), is it not reasonable to conclude that members of God’s new covenant people, who show utter disdain for Christ, who consider Christ’s sacrificial death so worthless that all it deserves is to be trampled on, will incur a “much worse punishment.”
B1. They face a much worse punishment (10:29).
a) …for ridiculing the person of Christ: “…[the one who has] trampled on the Son of God” (10:29a). This is not only the rejection of Christ but utter contempt and outright opposition to Christ, trampling him under foot as being valueless (cf. 6:4-6; Matthew 5:13).
Only the Son of God could atone for our sins. Only the sacrifice of himself was acceptable to God. Only he could appease the wrath of God against us. Only he could reconcile us to God through his blood. Only he could offer a once-for-all sacrifice of atonement. Only he could be the Savior of the world. Only his blood can wash away our sins (cf. 10:4-8). So what an egregious act of rebellion and rejection for anyone to treat his blood, his substitutionary sacrifice, his death, as an object of contempt, for anyone to ridicule the one who is superior to all others (e.g. superior to the Old Testament prophets [1:1-3], superior to angels [1:4-2:18]) and through whom the highest and fullest revelation was given (1:2). What an outrage for anyone who once professed to believe in Christ, to now utterly ridicule him. Be sure of this: Those who now trample underfoot the Son of God will one day be made Christ’s footstool along with all his other enemies (Psalm 110:1).
This teaching on apostasy clearly points out that we are held responsible for the spiritual light we have – the more knowledge we have the more for which we are held responsible. Therefore, those who have once been enlightened and tasted the goodness of God and witnessed the power of his Spirit (Hebrews 6:4-6) will be held to the highest possible standard of self-responsibility. Not only do they face a much worse punishment for ridiculing the person of Christ, but also they face a much worse punishment...
b) …for reviling the blood of Christ: “…[the one who has] regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified” (10:29b). The blood of the covenant is Christ’s own blood, as Jesus himself stated: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). All of the blood of bulls and goats that had been shed over the centuries under the old covenant could not take away sin (cf. 10:4). But they pointed forward to the blood of Christ shed under the new covenant, which blood, through faith in him, removes all trace of sin, grants us a full and free pardon, reconciles us to God, and guarantees our eternal redemption in heaven (9:12).
Apostates not only reject the blood of Christ, they actually revile the blood of Christ by considering it as common, of no special significance. They revile the blood of Christ by considering what is thoroughly holy to be unholy – that’s profanity! They revile the blood of Christ by considering the only source of cleansing from sin to be unclean – that’s profanity! It is utter blasphemy to revile Christ’s blood, to profane the blood of Christ, to regard Christ’s blood, by which alone you can be sanctified, as unholy, to consider Christ’s blood as no different than anyone else’s, to completely despise the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
The attitude of apostates to Christ’s blood is the opposite of the truth. They reject, revile and regard as profane what is holy. Whereas, in fact, the blood of Christ that they consider unholy, unclean, and common is the very instrument and the only means by which we can be “sanctified.” By using the passive voice, the writer indicates that he is talking about God’s sanctifying activity, not ours (we do not sanctify ourselves). As the term is used here, “sanctified” does not mean to be saved - that would not make sense in this context. Rather, it refers to someone who has been set apart in a holy and privileged place in association with the people of God (the church), where the person receives spiritual truth and blessings (cf. 6:4-5). In that sense, they are sanctified just like the unbelieving spouse is “sanctified” by the believing spouse (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:14), but they are not necessarily saved. In this case quite the contrary since they profane the blood of Christ and thoroughly deny the value and efficacy of the saving work of Christ (i.e. consider what is holy to be a common and unholy thing), and by so doing actually put themselves in a position of having no resource for cleansing from sin and face God’s inevitable judgement.
Apostates face a much worse punishment, therefore, (a) for ridiculing the person of Christ, (b) for reviling the blood of Christ, and...
c) … for repudiating the Spirit of God: “…[the one who has] insulted the Spirit of grace” (10:29c). This is an attitude of utter contempt, of thorough repudiation of the work of the Spirit of God in salvation. The Holy Spirit is the one who imparts God’s grace to the believer. The Holy Spirit is the one who draws us to Christ and opens up our understanding of the truth, all of which the apostate rejects and in so doing “has insulted the Spirit of grace.” Added to the apostate’s ridicule of the person of Christ and revulsion of the blood of Christ is this utter disregard and disdain for the grace of God, which the Holy Spirit ministered to them (see Acts 7:51). This is indeed an insult to the person and work of “the Spirit of grace.”
These three characteristics, then, sum up an apostate – (a) ridiculing the person of Christ by trampling on the Son of God, (b) reviling the blood of Christ by regarding as profane Christ’s blood, and (c) repudiating the Spirit of God by insulting the grace he reveals (10:29). Such a person is deserving of “much worse punishment” than one who disregarded and rejected the law of Moses (10:28) – i.e. a punishment worse than death. These responses to Christ and the Holy Spirit place that person under God’s judgement. They render such a person not just a non-Christian but anti-Christian.
Who these people were and whether there were any among the Hebrews is not clear, but the possibility obviously was there and the warning is still appropriate, perhaps more so now than then. It is even more shocking to think that this warning was spawned by their spiritual immaturity, their lack of spiritual growth (5:11-14). If the author of Hebrews considered that to be a warning signal that some of them may apostasize, how much more should we! For surely there is widespread spiritual immaturity and the evident absence of spiritual growth in the church today.
B2. They face the vengeance of God (10:30-31). This is a punishment that is worse than that faced by those who rejected Moses’ law. “For we know the one who said, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge His people’” (10:30).
“We (i.e. Christians) know” the character of the Judge who will hand out the punishment referred to in 10:29. We know that “vengeance” (retribution) is God’s just prerogative. Contempt and ridicule heaped upon his Son will reap God’s just and fiery vengeance. God will avenge all wrong done to his beloved Son by those who are enemies of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3:18). “The Lord will judge his people.” He will judge as enemies those who professed to be “his people” but who in the end turn out to not be. He will sit in final judgement on those who reject his Son, meting out to them their eternal punishment.
If one day you profess to be a Christian and another day you disavow it and oppose Christ, you will face God’s just vengeance, and that is a frightening prospect: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (10:31). To fall into God’s hands is to be completely in his power to dispose of you as he wishes. To fall into God’s hands is to fall under his judgement, and that is absolutely terrifying for “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).
That, then, is the warning about willful sin. But there is also...
II. An Encouragement From Past Experience (10:32-34).
“Remember the earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings” (10:32). Just as the warning in 6:4-8 is followed by an encouragement in 6:9-12, so here as well the warning of 10:26-31 is followed by the encouragement of 10:32-34. In chapter 6 the encouragement was to persevere in work that accompanies salvation. Here the encouragement is to persevere in the light of their past experience in earlier days, when they had suffered severely for their faith and, evidently, had been delivered.
Remembering God’s ways with us in the past gives us confidence and zeal (cf. Moses, [Deut. 32:7]). Here it is not God’s mighty acts of deliverance they were to remember but their early Christian experience when they “endured a hard struggle with sufferings.” In the face of persecution for their Christian testimony, they had stood their ground and persevered through it, despite the hardships. Now note…
A. Two Causes For Their Past Suffering (10:33).
A1. They suffered because of their personal testimony: “Sometimes you were publicly exposed to taunts and afflictions” (10:33a). They themselves had been held up to public ridicule because of their commitment to Christ. In that sense, they suffered the “taunts” (“reproaches”) that Christ endured - the verbal insults, public disgrace, ignominy, and ridicule that was hurled at Christ had fallen on them (Psalm 69:9). They endured his “afflictions” (“tribulations”) – acts of violence against them because they were Christians, intimidation designed to induce them to give up Christianity.
A2. They suffered because of their partnership with other Christians: “... and at other times you were companions of those who were treated that way” (10:33b). Identification with the broader Christian community incurred suffering by association.
Those were two sources of their past suffering. Now, note…
B. Two Attitudes Expressed In Their Suffering (10:34).
B1. They sympathized with imprisoned Christians (10:34a): “... for you sympathized with those in prison…”. To “sympathize with” probably infers that they expressed in word and deed their support for and unity with those who had been imprisoned for their faith, and that identification incurred suffering for them as well.
B2. They accepted joyfully the loss of their possessions (10:34b). “…and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession.” Evidently, one aspect of the suffering that they experienced was the loss of their personal possessions. Whether such confiscation was because of seizure by the authorities or because of looting by their opponents is not clear. Nevertheless, whatever the cause for their loss was, this was the price they were willing to pay for following Christ in association with his people.
The attitude with which they faced this loss was one of “joy.” Their joy was rooted in their willingness to identify with Christ in his sufferings and, thus, to “know him” by participating in “the fellowship of his sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). In that sense, I suppose, they were experiencing what Paul referred to as “completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24).
The basis of their joyful response to such adverse circumstances was “…because you know that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession.” The loss of earthly possessions faded in comparison to the heavenly reward that lay ahead. The one future possession (viz. Christ himself, the ultimate reward) was far better than all their earthly possessions. This was so much better than their earthly goods that had been taken from them. An “enduring possession” in heaven cannot be stolen or lost, a stark contrast to their plundered earthly goods which would only last temporarily (cf. Matthew 6:19-20).
Is this how we view our possessions? Are we willing to joyfully part with what we have here on earth in view of what we will have up there in heaven? What a testimony these Hebrews had, despite the very real temptation they were facing to go back to Judaism in order to escape suffering.
Following (I) A warning about willful sin and (II) An encouragement from past experience, they are now motivated by…
III. Confidence In Their Future Prospects (10:35-39).
Whereas 10:32-34 looks to past experience when they persevered through sufferings, 10:35-38 now looks to the future, persevering towards the final heavenly goal. Finally, as in 6:9, 10:39 is the author’s expression of confidence that the Hebrews were still believers.
Reflecting on past experience is a great motivator for present behavior and might reignite their passion to persevere and not draw back from Christ. Indeed, the confidence that they had in their past experience is what they needed now…
A. The Confidence That Comes From The Anticipation Of A Future Reward (10:35).
“So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” Present loss is the precursor of future gain, and the foretaste of future reward. Confidence speaks of boldness, self-assurance, steadfastness in adverse circumstances based on their relationship with Christ and their bold access to the throne of grace (4:14; 20:19). The exhortation is: “Don't throw away your earlier confidence in Christ which enabled you to endure sufferings. Don't give up now.”
“…your confidence, which has great reward.” That was their motivation in the past and must be so now – the eternal reward in the future when God will vindicate his own who suffer for his name’s sake. They will receive from him great reward, eternal life in heaven at the completion of their redemption (see Romans 8:23; Ephesians 4:30).
B. The Confidence That Comes From Persevering In Faith To The End (10:36).
“For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised” (10:36). Don’t cast away your confidence, but endure to the end so that you do not risk losing your eternal reward. It’s one thing to be confident in something, but the measure of that confidence is revealed when things get rough. How much will you endure before your confidence evaporates? This was their present situation. This is what they were facing. Would their former confidence be strong enough for them to endure now?
Evidently they stood in “need of endurance” because they were lacking in that area; their confidence was eroding. The danger of abandoning their confidence in the gospel and their eternal reward in heaven would be counteracted by their re-commitment to endure, to persevere to the end. Just as they had persevered in suffering before so now they must persevere in the confidence of faith.
The purpose of such endurance was to receive their promised possession: “…so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.” It is God’s will that we persevere in faith. Indeed, faithful endurance propels us in confidence to do the will of God. In fact, perseverance in faith is doing God’s will. Their motivation to endure must be that, after they have done God’s will, they would “receive what was promised,” receive the eternal reward of 10:35 - their inheritance, the fulfillment of their salvation, the rest of God (cf. Ephesians 1:11-14; Hebrews 11:9-10). That is God’s precious promise to those who love him to the end.
We see, then: (A) The confidence that comes from the anticipation of a future reward (10:35); (B) The confidence that comes from persevering in faith to the end (10:36). And then there is...
C. The Confidence That Comes From The Prospect Of Christ’s Return (10:37-38).
C1. God is faithful to keep his promises. “For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay” (10:37). God has not forgotten; he will fulfill his promises; his word never fails (see Joshua 21:45; 23:14). Christ will come back at the exact right time, according to God’s redemptive calendar. This is the confidence that propels us forward in spite of sufferings.
This reminds of Christ’s perspective when facing the suffering of the cross, who “for the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:2). And it reminds us of the apostle Paul’s perspective of not looking backward but forward: “This one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13b-14).
As for God, he is faithful to keep his promises, and as for us...
C2. We must be faithful to God (10:38-39). “But my righteous one will live by faith” (10:38a). Faith marks the lives of true believers (righteous ones) and is the source of our confidence. The one who does not trust God’s promise to come again for us, stands in danger of drawing back from following Christ, of not enduring to the end. Hence, we read yet another repetition of the stern warning that characterizes this epistle: “…if he draws (shrinks) back, I have no pleasure in him” (10:38b). The danger that some of the Hebrews being addressed might turn away from the truth is still the author’s underlying concern and motivation for this epistle.
One who draws back from following Christ incurs God’s wrath. That seems to have been the danger among some of the Hebrews. To shrink back is the opposite of persevering. It indicates a lack of steadfastness, unbelief, turning away from the living God that ends in destruction, for in such persons God has “no pleasure.” This seems to be a somewhat euphemistic way of saying that God will judge and condemn those who draw back. To know that God takes no pleasure in such persons is indeed a stern warning. The antidote to the temptation of turning away because of suffering is to persevere in faith.
Despite this severe, repeated warning, the author has not given up on the Hebrews. In fact, he still has confidence in them: “But we are not of those who draw back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul” (10:39). This is a positive word of encouragement and confidence. “We” are different from “those who draw back.” We press on, we persevere in faith, whereas those who shrink back give it all up and perish. The author is confident that the Hebrews are not part of those who turn away from Christ and who will ultimately be destroyed in the judgement of God. Rather he is confident that they are among the same community of faith as he is, those who persevere in faith to receive the ultimate salvation of their souls. He is confident that they are not apostates even though there are signs of danger.
God’s displeasure awaits those who draw back from Christ, those who have cast away their confidence in Christ. “But we are of those who have faith to the saving of the soul” (10:39b). Enduring faith saves the soul. This is a repeated theme of Hebrews.
Final Remarks
The literary structure of this passage then is as follows…
I. A Warning About Willful Sin (10:26-31)
II. An Encouragement From Past Experience (10:32-34)
IV. Confidence In Their Future Prospects (10:35-39)
The warning is issued to those who despise the sacrificial work of Christ, counting it of no more value than to be walked on, trampled underfoot. But, as always, the perspective and motivation of this warning is to turn away those who were showing signs of that possibility by pointing them to what they had already experienced of God’s grace in the past and reminding them of the confidence they could have and should have in the future – their future reward that they will enter into after persevering in faith to the end, which will culminate in Christ’s return.
The motivation that is set before those who were wavering in their faith (due to pressure to return to Judaism in order to escape present persecution) is the anticipation of finishing the race of faith (2 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 9:24-25), of receiving the prize after crossing the finish line into Christ’s glorious presence (Philippians 3:10-14), of being ushered into eternity to be forever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). This is the motivating prospect for all those who love him. And this is the perspective we all need (especially when we experience times of doubt and discouragement and the temptation to give up) to press on to the upward call of God in Christ (Philippians 3:14), to hear Christ’s welcome, “well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).
Remember our solemn thesis: There is no sacrifice for sin for those who sin willfully and draw back from Christ.
English (US) · 