Inquiry. I would like to take a look at the text of Hebrews 10:26-29

Answer. Certainly.

Inquiry. We are told quite plainly that -

"If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall be be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" Heb. 10:26-29.

I find this a frightening passage.

Answer. This text is another one that is often raised up, and as it has brought much heartache and despair to many people.

The reason that this passage has caused untold heartbreak and confusion to many people is because they do not understand what the writer is talking about. What does he mean by the words - "sin willfully"?

And, as always, it goes without saying, that over the years, many self-righteous hypocrites, under the disguise of Christian teachers have done nothing to relieve the despair and heartbreak that this passage has so often brought about. Indeed, they have, once again, all too often, used it like a giant club with which they beat the poor in spirit to pieces.

Inquiry. How do you mean?

Answer. Knowing full well how much despair has been inflicted upon the poor in spirit because they are told that - "for those who sin willfully there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation," they have done nothing other than pile on the agony upon the despairing sinner, while they themselves are protected and insulated by their self-righteous hypocrisy.

Inquiry. I do not really understand you.

Answer. The most common, teaching on the matter upholds the idea that whilst a Christian does still commit some sin because sin is a part of man's nature, they must not commit it willfully. We are constantly being told by these hypocrites that if we are shown that something that we are doing is sinful, we must repent of it and give it up. And if we do not do so, then - there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation.

Inquiry. Yes, that is why I find it such a frightening passage.

Answer. I have heard this interpretation of this passage many times, and I have invariably responded to those who so teach it, with the words -

Really?

Forgive my incredulity. But you must be joking!

"No! We are not joking," a million hypocrites answer . "We are deadly serious!"

Again I ask - Really?

Knowing full well that the sentence of condemnation upon those who "sin willfully" is that they have NO MORE sacrifice for sins, but a CERTAIN fearful looking for of judgement, you still insist upon your false teaching? Who in their right mind could ever enter into a state of peace with God while upholding and believing such an idea? I tell you - none but the most blatant hypocrite!

Which of you will be brave enough to stand up and honestly say that they do not still indulge in things which you know deep down to be wrong? And to all who have just put their hands up to confirm that they do not indulge in any known sin willfully, I must ask - what colour is the sky on the planet where you come from?

Come on people. Let us be honest about it. Let us wake up and enter the real world! Indeed, let us enter into the world where the Spirit of God shows us the truth of the matter.

Which of us, knowing full well that sin occurs every time that we DO, SAY, or THINK anything which is contrary to God's law, will boast of not willfully doing, saying, or thinking such things, when we know it is wrong?

Which of us, knowing full well that sin covers such things as lust, greed, avarice, selfishness, adultery, fornication, accumulating wealth, and many more, and that each one of these can be committed by ACTION, WORD and THOUGHT, can honestly say that we do not indulge in doing such things when we KNOW it is wrong?

Which of us, knowing full well the terrible condemnation which is aimed at the love of money, the love of superfluous wealth and luxurious living will stand up and boast of NOT indulging in the sins of avarice, greed and selfishness?

"Love thy neighbour as thyself," is what the law commands. "Go and sell all that you have, and give it to the poor," were Jesus' words to show the rich young man his sin. So let us apply it to ourselves.

Will you? When you know full well that millions are dying every year for the lack of a cup of rice, and millions more are dying each year for lack of shelter, medicine and care, declare that you do not believe it to be a sin not to give your last penny, the widows mite, to help ease their suffering? If you do not, what is this if it is not indulging in sin when you KNOW it to be wrong?

The hypocrites who continually ram the false interpretation of this text down our throats, know full well that sin is the transgression of the law. They know full well that the law commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, and our neighbour as ourselves. They know full well that the true meaning of "love thy neighbour as thyself" encompasses all love and mercy towards our fellow man. It does not mean that we simply stand by and watch the eternal suffering, hardship, starvation, nakedness and oppression of our fellow man. They know full well that true love to our fellowman does NOT include our piling up wealth and riches on the earth for our own benefit, but the distribution of our wealth to the destitute and needy. And space will not permit me to look at lust, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, and such like, all of which must be viewed in the same way. And they insist that if all such things as these are not perfectly fulfilled by us, when we know that they must be, we continue to commit sin willfully, for which there is no more sacrifice, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement? Really?

As I before said, the only person who can accept such a ludicrous teaching on willful sin must be a most blatant hypocrite.

The writer of Hebrews, is of course talking about things quite different to what is commonly preached. He is talking about doing something which he refers to as - "sinning willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth."

Does he mean that we must be so perfectly righteous that we commit NO sin at all?

No. He does not!

Does he mean that we must NEVER commit any known sin, because if we do, Christ's death will not benefit us?

No. He does not!

Does he mean that we must try not to commit sin?

No he does not, as commendable a thing as that is in itself. This is not what he is talking about. Such things are a different matter entirely.

Inquiry. Then what does he mean?

Answer. He tells us exactly what he means. You see, he does not leave us in the dark on this matter. He does not leave us to make a guess, or make it up as we go along. He tells us specifically what he means only three verses later, when he describes the action of those who "sin willfully" as -

"treading under foot the Son of God, and counting the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified (set apart) an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." verse 29.

This is what he means!

The actions of those who are referred to as "sinning willfully" are plain to see.

1. They tread underfoot the Son of God.

2. They do not accept that the blood of Christ which was shed for them, which sanctified them, as being holy enough.

3. They despise the Spirit of GRACE.

Inquiry. So, what is he talking about?

Answer. Amazingly enough, and this is the thing that I find most disturbing - he is NOT writing against ANY person who still commits actual sin when they know they should not. But he is writing AGAINST and utterly condemning the very same false teaching on the matter which is most commonly taught by the bulk of Christianity today!

He is writing AGAINST the very same error that the Galatian Church was slipping into, (see the download on Galatians 5). He is covering the same problem, the same drawing back into perdition, as he tells us at the end of the chapter - "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back into perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." Heb. 10:38-39.

What he is saying is quite logical and really very simple when we understand the theme of his writing. He is saying -

There is only ONE sacrifice for sins, and that is the sacrifice of Christ, who gave Himself for our sins. If we reject our one and only sacrifice for sin, then what is there left? What have we got to look forward to but a certain fearful looking for of judgement?

Well, what else is there? What else can we trust in? What else can we put our hope in? Our own good works according to the law? Not a chance! We have already been told and shown that the law cannot justify us. The only thing that the law can do is condemn us to death. So how true it is that if we reject our only sacrifice for sin there is nothing left but a fearful looking towards judgement.

He is giving exactly the same warning as that given in Galatians, but using different words.

It is as if he is saying -

Look. Let us get these facts straight, once and for all. You are sinful!

Why are you sinful? Reason it out for yourselves. Work it out in a logical manner, and if you do so you can arrive at only one conclusion. You are sinful because you break the law. This is what sin is - the breaking of the law - "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John. 3:4.

But Christ has already died for our sins. He was the sacrifice for sin. He has done it! He has removed the penalty for our breaking the law by taking the penalty upon Himself! He has won the victory for us. He has effectively removed the curse of the law from us! This is the whole essence of salvation! This is what it was all about!

God's plan for the salvation of man was that Christ should come on to the earth in the form of human flesh.

Why?

So that He could be substituted for us! So that He could taste death for all men.

Jesus came to fulfil the law. To make an end of the curse of the law. And He did it. He accomplished His task. Why did He do it?

So that we might escape our deserved punishment for committing sin! He removed the power of the law which was against us, and condemned us to death. The law has been done by Christ. It has been accomplished by Christ, fulfilled and finished with. It is a DONE law.

We have been set free from the penalty for not keeping the law as we ought, and this is the state of grace in which we stand. We still do commit real and actual sin every day of our life, but our sin no longer condemns us because Christ has already died for our sins. Our sins are no longer imputed to us. As far as our salvation is concerned God does not look upon us as vile sinners, fit only for death, but as adopted children, fit only for life. Even though we do still commit actual sin in this life, the condemnation of it has been taken away.

Look at it this way -

No law to break = no penalty for sin.

But if we rebuild the law, we rebuild sin and its penalty.

There is no such thing as sin if there is no law in force to break because sin is nothing other than the breaking of the law. So if we rebuild the law as necessary for our acceptance before God or as a necessary component of our salvation, in that we must obey it in order to be saved, or rendered fit enough to enter into eternal life, then we reject the gospel of Christ and replace the free gift of salvation with the self-righteous error of salvation by works. And he tells us in no uncertain terms exactly what we do.

1. We tread underfoot the Son of God.

2. We count the blood of the covenant, the blood of Christ which was shed for us, which set us apart, an unholy thing.

3. We do despite unto the Spirit of grace.

Please note - we do not do despite unto the law, but unto the SPIRIT OF GRACE!

By denying that Christ has done enough to save us, and by believing that we must do some work of the law to please or appease God, we tread underfoot the Son of God. We count His blood, which was shed for us, which set us apart in God's sight as His adopted children as worthless. We do despite unto the Spirit of grace! We reject our only hope of salvation! We effectively reject Christ our Saviour!

We sin willfully by willfully re-building the law of sin and death.

If we re-build the law again after Christ has removed it, we are effectively saying that Christ's death for sin was not good enough to justify man before God.

And by turning again to the law as a means to achieve righteousness, we re-instate the law of sin and death.

You cannot re-instate the law without also re-instating its penalty!

If we rebuild the law, we rebuild the strength of sin, the curse, and the penalty - death. This is the only way that anybody in a state of grace can willfully commit sin - by willfully re-building the law of sin and death which Christ took out of the way.

We do so, by saying in our heart - I need more than what Christ did for me. I need my own righteousness as well if I am going to be accepted by God.

How do we procure our own righteousness? I ask.

By trying to keep the law of course, because that is the total sum of what righteousness consists of - the keeping of the law. So, to procure our own righteousness we must re-build the law, and in doing this we are re-building the power of the law and its penalty - death, back over ourselves.

So the writer of Hebrews quite correctly tells us that if we do such a thing our own common sense and logic should tell us what we have got to look forward to, with the words -

"there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fiery indignation."

Paul tells us quite clearly in Romans how he views the law. - "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Rom. 7:9.

This is the root of the matter. Revive the law and you revive sin, nothing more and nothing less.

Inquiry. Well, I have done this thing. Am I therefore condemned forever because I have done this thing?

Answer. Of course not. There is not a man living who has not done this thing. There are very few who do not do it twenty times a day. All men have doubted the goodness of God towards them, and have re-built the law over themselves. Every time that we look at another and judge that they are outside of grace because of their lifestyle or what they do, we rebuild the law over ourselves. Every time that we judge another for what they do, and think them to be a greater sinner than ourselves we re-build the law over ourselves. It all stems from the curse of having the knowledge between good and evil which we inherit from Adam. It is the human experience.

Let no man say that another is without grace. Who are you to judge another man's servant?

Christianity seems to spend more time in declaring others to be condemned, and referring to them as the "unsaved" instead of preaching the gospel of free salvation to all. They have become judges of evil thoughts. We are all guilty of it. But we should learn from our mistakes, for a man who learns not from his mistakes learns nothing.