Christ’s one sacrifice did what innumerable Old Covenant sacrifices could never do
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📚For the Law was a shadow 📖 of good things to come, not the very substance of the things. So with those sacrifices which they offer continually year after year it can never make perfect 📖 those who approach it. 2 📚For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshippers once cleansed would no longer have a consciousness of sins 📖. 3 📚But in those sacrifices sins are remembered again every year. 4 📚For it is not possible 📖 that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.5 📚Therefore when he comes into the world, he says,
Sacrifice and offering 📖 you did not desire,
but a body you have prepared for me.
6 📚In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin you have had no pleasure.
7 📚Then said I, See, I come
(in the volume of the book it is written of me)
to do your will, O God.
10:5-7 See notes at Ps 40:6-8. This quotation is from the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint) dating from the 3rd century BC. The writer is showing from the OT that his teaching about animal sacrifices is correct.⚜
8 📚Above when he said, “Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you did not desire, and have had no pleasure in them” (which are offered by the Law 📖), 9 📚and then said, “See, I come to do your will, O God”. He takes away the first things so that he may establish the second 📖.
10 📚By this will we are sanctified 📖 through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 📚And every priest stands 📖 daily ministering and offering over and over the same sacrifices which can never take away sins 📖. 12 📚But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever 📖, sat down 📖 at the right hand 📖 of God. 13 📚From now on he waits expectantly until his enemies are made his footstool 📖.
Eternal perfection comes by the New Covenant
14 📚For by one offering he has perfected forever 📖 those who are sanctified 📖.
10:14 For many hundreds of years priests sacrificed many thousands of animals each year, but by all that not one sin was taken away, not one person made “perfect”. But Christ’s one offering made all believers in Him perfect forever. What does this mean? One meaning of the Greek word translated “perfected” is “made complete”. In this verse this would mean this:
Christ’s sacrifice for His people saves them completely with nothing lacking (compare 7:25).
His one sacrifice is the basis of a perfect standing before God. By it every barrier has been removed and perfect reconciliation made.
He has perfectly cleansed their conscience (Heb 9:14).
He has perfectly fitted them to enter the presence of God now and forever (v 22; Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18).
That this is the meaning of the word “perfected” as used here is clear from the verses which follow (up to v 23). No believer on earth is perfect in the sense that he has no flaw, or has no sin in him, or never errs – Jam 3:2; 1 John 1:8. No believer yet is perfect in every sense – see Phil 3:12 where the same word is used. That kind of perfection awaits the future – 1 John 3:2.⚜
15 📚Concerning this the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us. For after he first said 📖,
16 📚“This is the covenant that
I will make with them after those days,
says the Lord,
I will put my laws into their hearts,
and write them in their minds”,
he adds,
10:16 See Jer 31:34. This is a very important element in the perfection that Christ brings believers into. God gives them a spiritual understanding of His laws and an inner desire and ability to obey them. This is what Christ had (v 7), and this is what God gives His people on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice. It is a very important mark of the new covenant. Indeed, without it what real evidence is there that anyone is a believer? See John 14:15, 23; Rom 8:3-4; 1 Cor 2:16; 2 Cor 3:3. What use is it for a person to say his sins are gone if he has no heart for God, no mind to serve Christ, no delight in doing God’s will revealed in the Bible? Can the blessings of the new covenant be divided? Can we have one and refuse the others?⚜
17 📚“And their sins and lawless deeds
I will remember no more”.
10:17 This too helps to show the writer’s meaning when he says Christ has made believers “perfect”. He has given them perfect forgiveness of sins. The meaning here is the same as Paul’s meaning when he says believers have been counted righteous. See Rom 3:24; 4:6-8; 8:33. Christ has made the believer’s standing before God perfect.⚜
18 📚Now where these have forgiveness, there is no more 📖 offering for sin.
The new and living way
19 📚Therefore 📖, brothers, we have boldness to enter 📖 into the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 📚by a new and living way that he has consecrated for us through the veil 📖, that is to say, his flesh;
10:20 This way of Christ is new compared with the way of the old covenant which kept people at a distance – Ex 19:21-25; 27:9-19. It is a living way, a way that depends on Christ’s life and gives new spiritual life to those who believe in Him – John 14:6; 3:1-8. This is in contrast to the dead ceremonies and rituals of the old covenant.⚜
21 📚and we have a high priest 📖 over the house of God 📖. 22 📚So let us draw near 📖 with a sincere heart 📖 in full assurance of faith 📖, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience 📖, and our bodies washed with pure water 📖.
New Covenant duties
23 📚Let us hold firmly the confession of our faith without wavering (for he is faithful 📖 who promised).
10:19-23 Here, in some of the most significant and powerful words ever penned, is the essence of all the writer has been saying up to this point.⚜
24 📚And let us consider 📖 how to stir each other up to love and good works,
10:24 In vs 19-23 he has spoken of the relationship of believers to God, now he shows they have responsibilities to one another. See also Heb 3:13; Rom 14:19; 15:2; 1 Cor 9:24; Col 3:16.⚜
25 📚not forsaking our meetings together, as the way of some is, but encouraging each other, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
10:25 No believer should give up going to meetings where other believers will be. Each one needs fellowship and each one should encourage others in this life of faith. What is meant by seeing “the day approaching”? Possibly the writer meant the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (Matt 24:1-3; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-24). This was very near to the time he wrote this letter. Or he may have meant the day of Christ’s return (Heb 9:28; Matt 24:33). Or he may have included both in this phrase. Many among the first generation of Christians were looking for both of these events to happen at more or less the same time.⚜
FOURTH WARNING: Do not reject the New Covenant and continue in sin
26 📚For if we willfully go on sinning 📖 after we have received the knowledge of the truth 📖, there remains no more sacrifice 📖 for sins, 27 📚but only a fearful expectation of judgment 📖 and fiery 📖 indignation which will consume the adversaries 📖. 28 📚He who despised Moses’ law died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
10:28 See Heb 2:2; Deut 17:6-7. For sins under the law that were punished by death see Ex 21:36. See an example in Num 15:30-35.⚜
29 📚Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought deserving who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
10:29 This is the sin the writer speaks of in v 26. Compare Heb 6:6; Matt 12:31; 1 John 5:16-17. Deliberate sin against the old covenant was punished by death. The new covenant is far greater than the old, so sin against it is far worse than sin against the old. The greater the light and truth God gives, the greater our responsibility to obey it, and the greater the punishment if we do not. Will a true believer in Christ commit the sin described in this verse – trample Christ under foot, count His blood unholy, etc? It seems impossible in the light of other teaching about believers in the New Testament. See John 5:24; Rom 8:1, 28-33; Phil 1:6; 1 John 3:9-10.
But what about the phrase “the blood... with which he was sanctified?” Can a person be “sanctified” by Christ’s blood and not be a believer, not be saved? The word sanctification does not necessarily imply salvation and faith. The root meaning is to “set apart” (notes at Lev 20:7; John 17:17-19). For a case of unbelievers being sanctified see 1 Cor 7:14. Let us keep in mind that in this letter we have a comparison of the old and new covenants, and that it was written to Hebrews. They knew that as a nation Israel was sanctified by blood (Heb 9:18-20; Ex 24:7-8; 31:13; Lev 21:8). But this did not at all mean that every individual in Israel was a true believer or saved from God’s wrath – see Heb 3:10-11, 19.
The foundation of the new covenant is Christ’s blood – Heb 9:15. See Heb 13:12, which says that Christ suffered to sanctify “the people” with His own blood. The new covenant was made with the house of Israel – Heb 8:8. The nation of Israel is still set apart (sanctified) from other nations for God’s special purpose (Rom 9:1-5; 11:11, 25-29). But most of them reject Christ and remain without faith and salvation. And is it not possible to say that the visible church on earth is sanctified by the blood of Christ? And is it not true to say also that a great many in the visible church are unbelieving and have never been saved? See also 1 Tim 2:6, which says that Christ gave Himself as “a ransom” for all who believe. The ransom He gave was Himself, His own blood – 1 Pet 1:18-19.⚜
30 📚For we know him who has said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge his people.
31 📚It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
10:26-31 This is the fourth warning against apostasy. See note at Heb 2:1-4. This one concerns deliberately sinning against the light of the glorious truth God has revealed through Christ and about Christ.⚜
10:31 Falling into the hands of the living God is a fearful thing because God is holy, hates sins and will surely punish unbelief and rebellion. We need not worry about this if we receive God’s truth and follow it, if we do as He says in vs 19-25.⚜
The experience of the Jewish Christians and the necessity of persevering in faith
32 📚But recall the former days, when, after you were enlightened, you patiently endured a great struggle with sufferings. 33 📚On the one hand, you were made a spectacle by both insults and oppression, and on the other hand, you associated yourselves with those who were so treated. 34 📚For you had compassion on me in my chains, and endured joyfully the plundering of your possessions, because you knew that you have in heaven a better possession and one that lasts.
10:32-34 Their firmness in the face of suffering, their love for other people of Christ, their willingness to lose all things for Christ’s sake – all this was strong evidence that their faith was real. “Struggle” (v 32) – v 26; Acts 26:18; 2 Cor 4:6; 2 Tim 3:12. “One that lasts” (v 34) – see Heb 6:12; Matt 6:19-20; Rom 8:17; 1 Pet 1:4. Eternal possessions are what every believer in Christ has, so he should not be much concerned with what happens to his possessions down here, or whether he even has any or not.⚜
35 📚Therefore do not cast away your confidence. It involves a great payment of reward 📖. 36 📚For you have need of patient endurance 📖, so that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. 37 📚For yet a little while and he who is coming will come, and will not delay.
38 📚“Now the righteous will live by faith, but if anyone draws back 📖, my soul will have no pleasure in him”.
10:37-38 Hab 2:3-4. See also Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11. God counts men righteous when they believe Him – Rom 3:24-25, 28; 4:24; 5:1. Having been counted righteous they begin a life of faith which goes on to the end of their time on earth (2 Cor 5:7). In Hebrews the emphasis is on this living by faith and persevering to the end by faith.⚜
39 📚But we 📖 are not of those who draw back to destruction, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
10:32-39 As he did in Heb 6:9-12 after the warning against falling away from the truth, so he does now. He wants them to know he believes they are saved people who will not commit the sin of vs 26-29. He wants them to have confidence and go on proving their faith by their deeds.⚜