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.

This verse is a beautiful testimonial that the people in the writer’s view are already saved. “Has” in this context is a verb usage that indicates an act already accomplished. What was accomplished? Perfection. God (not humanity by effort or works) has perfected us. The glory is God’s, because He accomplished the work. This salvation is what we would term justification, or salvation from sin’s penalty. Once justified, we are no longer guilty of the penal verdict passed upon us due to our nature and choices. How long is one perfected, or justified? The verse states, “forever,” without reservation. Has, the helping verb, is linked to the word perfected, a past tense verb. Together they indicate when the action in question takes place. In this instance, perfection, or justification takes place in a believer’s past. When one first believes they are justified, or perfected in the sense of being freed from the sentence of death sin holds on us. Another demonstration of justification’s one time occurrence may be found in John’s gospel. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life,” John 5:24.

 

The duration in both Hebrews 10:14 and John 5:24 is everlasting, or forever. The criterion Jesus sets up is hearing His words and believing. The result is everlasting life as a present possession that is retained by the power of God, forever, 1 Peter 1:5, Romans 8:38, 39. Notice also that the author states that it is by “one offering” that we are both perfected, and being (present continuous tense) sanctified. Sanctification, or salvation from sin’s power, is determinant upon our reliance or submission to the Holy Spirit. That is, we are to walk in the Holy Spirit, and not in the flesh. Seemingly so easily explained, this rigorous battle between the Spirit and the flesh could paralyze even a giant of the faith like Paul, Romans 7:24. Jesus taught us that the human spirit is willing, but the flesh that houses it is weak, Mark 14:38. We are prone to temptation and bent toward sin. Paul wrote that in him, in his flesh, nothing good dwelt, Romans 7:18. Self is enthroned, which is why we are instructed to crucify the flesh, deny self, and follow Christ.

 

What is the one offering made by Christ our Lord? It is nothing less than the Man Himself. “When You make His soul an offering for sin,” Isaiah 53:10. “Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself,” Daniel 9:26. “God set [Christ] forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith,” Romans 3:25. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,” 2 Corinthians 5:21. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” 1 John 4:10.

 

The promise of the Coming One that would do away with sin’s power over Adam’s race began in Eden. The primeval promise of a Savior, the Seed of the woman, was unique in that it intimated a child born without paternal agency, Genesis 3:15. Jesus lacked a human father, being begotten not of Joseph, but of God the Holy Spirit, so that He could uniquely be called the Son of God in a way only Adam could previously claim, Luke 1:35, 3:38. Isaiah later confirms this prophecy by recording, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel,” Isaiah 7:14. This verse, hotly disputed by orthodox Judaism, finds contextual grounding later in the prophet’s book when we read: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder (recalling Genesis 49:10) and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” Isaiah 9:6. The Son conceived in Isaiah 7:14 is the Son given to Israel as their Messiah in 9:6. Furthermore, the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament translated two centuries before the birth of Christ, rendered the Hebrew word, “almah,” as virgin. The word typically means maiden or damsel, and is identified with young, unmarried women. The Jewish law forbids sex outside of the covenant of marriage, so “almah” meaning maiden, carries the connotation of virginity. The term is employed in the Song of Solomon of the young women that wanted, like the Shulammite bride, to be chosen by King Solomon, Song of Solomon 1:3. The NKJV renders the term “virgins” and the NASB translates it “maidens” demonstrating its interchangeability.

 

Adam was God’s son by an act of direct creation, Genesis 2:7. His descendants, beginning with Cain, were begotten through sexual union and possessed their human father’s image, rather than the Creator’s, Genesis 5:3. Christ, as the Second Man and last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47) was born free of sin’s curse, and thus was not obligated to die for His own sin. Rather, He chose to die on behalf of those whose doom was to suffer sin’s penalty, John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 15:3, Philippians 2:8.

 

Like the lamb of the Old Testament sacrifices needed to be physically unblemished, or perfect, Christ needed to be spiritually perfect, with no moral defect, so that He could, in our stead, purge our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. God’s judgment against sin was (and is) death. The sinner must be separated from a holy God. Jesus, on the cross, experienced separation from the Father for the first time when darkness compassed the sky and He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Mark 15:34. Hebrews and Leviticus agree that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, Hebrews 9:22, Leviticus 17:11. Christ our Lord, if He was going to redeem us, needed to die to pay the Father the satisfactory payment sin demanded. That is why thrice in Scripture our Lord is referred to as a propitiation, or satisfactory payment for sin, Romans 3:25, 1 John 2:2, 4:10. That is why Jesus, while on the cross, yelled out that it was finished before expiring, John 19:30. The payment had been rendered, and the Father accepted it. The temple and the priesthood were no longer required; boundaries were eroded, and Jew and Gentile had open access to the Father through and because of Jesus Christ. He is the sin offering on behalf of all, like the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement was offered in the stead of Israel as a whole, Leviticus 16:24, 29, 30. We are cleansed by His blood, Revelation 1:5, Isaiah 53:5. Christ is the believer’s Passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7, see also Luke 22:7.

 

Let pride and effort wither and die in the face of this verse’s enormous indictment against sin, and the greater measure of God’s grace revealed therein. God has, by a single offering, perfected forever those being sanctified. Of course it must be this way, because He is God, and He does all things well. He need not, like the sons of Levi, perform His duties daily, which cannot remit sin, but rather aggravate it. He did this for us once for all when He died on the cross for our sins, to bring us to God, to impute His righteousness to us, to wash us in His own blood, to save us from our hopeless, helpless estate as Adam’s heirs. All glory to God Almighty, who has made us to sit together in heavenly place in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:6.