Hebrews Chapter Ten, Saving Faith

 

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

 

What is the confession of the Hebrew Christians’ hope? The same as ours is today. As we read in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is the essence of the gospel, 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4. The eunuch confessed Christ, Acts 8:37. The jailor, too, placed his faith in Him, Acts 16:31, 33. 

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Cleansed From An Evil Conscience

Hebrews 10:21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

Verse 21 reiterates the truth that Jesus our Lord is our High Priest, who made propitiation (or satisfactory payment) on our behalf to God, Hebrews 2:17. We are instructed to consider Jesus, the High Priest of our confession, Hebrews 3:1. Christ was faithful in the Father’s house as a Son, worthy of greater honor than Moses because He is the Creator. 

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Taking In The View

 

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, [20] by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

 

The word the NKJV translates “boldness” is the Greek, “parrhesia,” and means, “freedom of speech or unreservedness of utterance.” It is rendered “confidence” in the NASB and the ESV. The words are interchangeable, but I believe “confidence” is a more apt descriptor to understand the writer’s intention. Boldness, especially in modern language, could be misconstrued as arrogance; confidence comes from simple trust or faith.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, The Definition Of Insanity

 

Hebrews 10:18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

 

Verse 17 indicates that God has remitted Israel’s lawless deeds and sins, forgetting them. Verse 18 informs us that where there is remission (also translated forgiveness) of sin, no more offering remains. In short, one cannot make another offering for something that has already been paid for.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, The Holy Spirit's Witness

 

Hebrews 10:15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, [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 in their minds I will write them,” [17] then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

 

God the Holy Spirit is the ultimate Author of Scripture. It says here that He is a witness to us. Jesus has much to say of God the Holy Spirit. We are told by our Lord that He is the Helper (Greek, Parakletos) that will come in His stead when He departs.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, One Offering Reaps Life Eternal

 

Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

 

If I had to cite a single verse in the defense of the doctrine of eternal security, I could do much worse than this passage. Let us begin by skipping to its conclusion. God has perfected forever those who are being…saved? No; those who are being sanctified, or set apart for service in the church that Jesus our Lord purchased with His own blood, Acts 20:28.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Patiently Waiting

 

Hebrews 10:13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

 

We know that this epoch begins when the Lord descends bodily in glory from Heaven to overthrow Antichrist’s army and deliver the Jews from the greatest persecution they have ever faced, Zechariah 12:10, 13:1, 14:4, Jeremiah 30:7, Matthew 24:21, 30, Daniel 8:25, Acts 1:11, Romans 11:26, 27. Why does our Lord tarry? “Consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation,” 2 Peter 3:15. 

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Tetelestai

 

Hebrews 10:12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,

 

This Man, of course, refers to our Lord Jesus. One may exegete the verse very simply. Jesus offered a single sacrifice for sins forever. This observation should be the hallmark of the Christian faith. Jesus offered Himself as that sacrifice, Hebrews 7:27, 9:28.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Reinforcing The Point

 

Hebrews 10:11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

 

This verse hearkens back to earlier passages, where we are assaulted by a litany of identical language, meant to reinforce this truth. “For the law…can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer year by year, make those who approach perfect,” Hebrews 10:1. “Not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with the blood of another,” Hebrews 9:25. “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services,” Hebrews 9:6.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Christ's Finished Sacrifice

 

Hebrews 10:10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

The will the author mentions is the Father’s, of course. Jesus, prior to His incarnation, alluded that His first advent was in accordance with the Father’s will. Rather, Jesus would come to do, or fulfill, the Father’s will. As He made His circuit around Israel, He said as much, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent,” Luke 4:43.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Taking Sacrfices Away

 

Hebrews 10:8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), [9] then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

 

The author compounds verses 5 and 6, summarizing the multiplicity of sacrifice being considered. Again, we are confronted with the stark language that God does not desire sacrifice, and finds no pleasure in sacrifice. The writer takes pains to mention sacrifice (synonymous with offerings) four times, representing various types of offerings commanded under the Law.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Displeasure In Sacrifice

 

Hebrews 10:5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. [6] In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’”

 

Chapter 10 is contending with the futility of sacrifice and its hopeless repetition. The Law commanded sacrifice, but this passage, quoted out of Psalm 40:6-8, reveals the heart of God. He does not desire sacrifice. So, it is not the act of sacrifice that benefited the Jewish worshiper. Rather, it was the spirit behind it, the motivation that empowered the worshiper’s decision to obey.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Dealing With Impossibilities

 

Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

 

Verse 4 has numerous implications worth consideration. The writer wants us to be assured, “for it is not possible” that the blood shed on Jewish altars could take away sins. The NKJV and KJV render the verse this way, while the NIV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, and RSV simply substitute the word impossible, with various synonyms.

Hebrews Chapter Ten, Reminders

Hebrews 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

 

Before going forward, we must pause and summarize. Beginning with Hebrews 9:22, a very pivotal verse for redemption’s plan, the writer informs his readership that shedding of blood alone remits sin. By its very definition, shed blood (or death) is a one time sacrifice, because death prevents it from being repeated.