Hebrews Chapter One, Jesus Paid It All

 

Hebrews 1:3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

 

These two verses alone (verses 2 and 3) are a staggering crescendo of the revelation of Jesus’ character and accomplishments. After the writer expresses the person of Christ and His native identicalness with the Father, and explaining how creation continues by virtue of His mighty word, he comes to expiation of sin. Many contrary views loom now as to what happened on the cross, and what Jesus exactly did on our behalf. But no opinion can supplant Scripture, and tradition never trumps truth. In verse 3 we receive a clear revelation of Jesus’ immense and singular accomplishment at Cavalry. “When (denoting a particular and unrepeated/unrepeatable action) He (the Son incarnated as a Man to represent humanity) had by Himself (past tense for the action committed; Jesus alone performed this unrepeated/unrepeatable action) purged (Greek, poieo katharismos: to do expiation or cleansing) our sins.” Does this fit our view of the Atonement? For those who continue to sacrifice or suffer to merit, expiate, or purge sin, this verse tells us in no uncertain terms that Christ did this alone, once, for our (read: everyone’s) sins.

Of course this can only be true. The same Jesus who is heir of all things, through whom the Father made the universe, and by whom it is upheld by His power, purged our sins alone. Since no man was with Him it could be done perfectly. Since Adam’s sons were guilty already, we could not, and cannot, contribute to our salvation. The best we can do is suffer the punishment our sin deserves in eternal separation from God. That is not a best-case scenario, to be sure. But it is a “this or that” scenario. If Christ is our Savior then this verse can be easily grasped and accepted. If we believe we are contributing to our salvation then this verse smacks of something rather alien to our “meriting God’s favor” religious effort. The Roman Catholic Church, the largest formal institution in recognized Christendom denounced the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone as anathema during the Council of Trent. In effect, the Council of Trent anathematized Hebrews 1:3 as well, since the author clearly portrays Jesus our Lord, “had by Himself,” again past tense, “purged our sins.” If our sins are collectively purged by Christ, if they are cleansed and by effect so too is the sinner who surrendered said sins TO Christ, where do works and effort enter? They don’t, because human effort insults the gospel of grace and makes God’s offer of salvation in Christ a purchase plan that the faithful pay in installments. Installments, might I add, with no foreseeable end in sight. Purgatory, an invention of Pope Gregory the Great, condemns professing believers to some interminable span of time suffering for their sins after death, making them ready for Heaven. Yet if Christ paid for our sins, as this verse states, and He paid for them alone, as this verse also states, what of our own contribution to paying for our sins? What of Purgatory?

 

The Bible does not teach Purgatory, or human effort contributing to salvation. What the Bible does teach about good works is that they are profitable for other people because our kindness can help spiritually or materially when another is in need, Titus 3:8. Good works also demonstrate the honorable nature the Holy Spirit imparts to His children, something that should be observable by unbelievers, and will serve to glorify God by their own confession that we served a different Master than they did, 1 Peter 2:12. Lastly, good works exercises one’s faith and makes it lively, James 2:17. We perform good works by obeying from faith. Obedience that springs from the well of faith keeps that faith vital and functional, serviceable in God’s appointment for us. The outcome of whatever charity we provide toward our fellow man is for their profit and our reward, 1 Corinthians 3:12-14, 9:24-27.

 

The verse further testifies that Jesus’ ministerial work in regards to our salvation was concluded or terminated in a particular instant in the past by the simple phrase that after purging our sins He sat down. He rested. As God rested after creation, declaring it to be very good, Jesus yelled, “It is finished!” and rested at the right hand of the Father, the accomplishment of our salvation and the payment for the sin of mankind finished for time and eternity. I will only touch on this briefly since Hebrews treats this topic extensively later, but here Jesus is contrasted to the Levitical priesthood, who never ceased to minister, because their sacrifice was not a purgation of sin, but a reminder of it, Hebrews 10:2, 3. The priests never rested, because the shedding of animal blood to cover sin, like the skins used to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, were reminders and symbols of the Coming One, who would entirely take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,” Hebrews 10:12. Only shed blood could remit sin, according to the Law. The shed blood was a thinly veiled euphemism that meant the death of the guilty. That was why the Hebrews sacrificed animals on the altar in their stead; sin demands punishment, and the only punishment for sin is death, or the separation of the guilty party.

 

So Christ offered shed blood as well, His own, in our stead. As the human representative and as God incarnate, His sacrifice was infinitely valuable. God the Father accepted the Son’s sacrifice on our behalf and through Christ we now have access to God through faith. Any effort to approach God on any terms apart from this is blasphemy of the highest sort. Only shed blood (aka. death) from the penitent suffices for meeting the demands of God’s justice. Purgating fire does not suffice because it does not shed blood. Abstinence from meat or smoking during Lent, praying the Rosary, consuming the Eucharist, “baptismal regeneration,” or any other thing the human mind can contrive will not suffice. Christ’s meritorious death, or our own death and eternal separation from our Creator are the options presented. Since Jesus already purged our sins we may freely come to Him to have life in His name. By striving through human effort to merit Heaven we will instead find one day that our Lord, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high, will rebuke us, saying, “I never knew you.” Such were those who claimed not a relationship with Him, but much effort and works on His behalf. That wasn’t what He commanded. He commanded us to believe in Him, and on the basis of that faith our new life would begin and then good works could ensue.

 

Our Lord waits now, His Atonement complete, until the Father makes His enemies His footstool, Psalm 110:1. Rather than offering sacrifice over and again, our Lord mediates on behalf of His people by virtue of His eternal priesthood. Before we delve into that later in this epistle, we should meditate on the simple and amazing truth that Christ sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, His work of Atonement finished. “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied,” Isaiah 53:11. If our Lord is satisfied, and if the Father is likewise satisfied, then we as Christians should rest very satisfactorily in the comfort this image conjures. Salvation is of the Lord.