Read or listen The Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 10 online (ESV, Bible Gateway)

The True Sacrifice – Hebrews 10:1-18

This section is a summary of what the author has said about Jesus as the true high priest (Hebrews 5:1-10:18).

Already in the Old Testament - especially in the prophets - there is much criticism of external temple piety. Even then it was seen that God did not primarily want or need sacrifices, but that he specifically wanted obedience to his will (1 Sam 15:22, Isa 1:10-20, Isa 58, Jer 6:20, Hos 6:6, Amos 5:21-24). The author states that the various sacrifices prescribed by the law could not bring atonement for sins, rather they brought a reminder of sin and the need for atonement (verse 3).

The prophet Jeremiah emphasizes that when God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, the demand for obedience came first and only later did God give the law (Jer 7:21-23). ​​The demand for obedience is therefore temporally earlier than the law. Obedience is also a central element of new covenant worship:

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
(Romans 12:1)

Human conscience (verse 2) and reason (verse 4) testify that the sacrifices prescribed by the Law of Moses cannot be used to cleanse us from sins.

Where can we Christians find assurance that sins have been atoned for in Jesus' work on Golgotha? Reason and conscience often rebel against the atonement Jesus earned for us on the cross. Assurance can only be found in the Bible, the Word of God (verses 17-18).

The author emphasizes the oneness and finality of Christ’s sacrifice. It cannot be repeated, renewed (verse 10, where the verb is in the perfect tense, which in Greek means completed action). There is no longer any need for the sin offerings required by the law (verse 18), for all sins have already been atoned for. The fact that the priests who performed the Jewish sacrificial service stood was a sign that their work was constantly in progress, never finished (verse 11). Christ, on the other hand, sits because he has completed his work as a sacrificer (verse 12).

Verse 15 is one of the places where the Trinity of God is brought out in the New Testament. The passage quoted, Jer 31:33-34, was originally a speech of God the Father to Israel. Both here and in Hebrews 8:8-12, where the same passage was quoted earlier, the passage is applied to Jesus (compare Luke 22:20). But now the author states that it is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - all in the same Bible verse. We do not find a systematic doctrinal structure about the Trinity in the Bible, but we do find the Trinity itself.

Stay close to Christ – Hebrews 10:19-39

Jesus opened the way for everyone to the holiest, to salvation, to God (verses 19-20). Jesus atoned for all the sins of all people.

What does the author mean when he compares Jesus’ body to the veil of the temple (verse 20)? One possibility is that just as the veil was torn to open the way into the Most Holy Place (Mark 15:38), so was Jesus’ body torn to make atonement. The simile is on the one hand difficult to understand, on the other hand it speaks to us in many ways. It may be that the author consciously wanted to arouse various thoughts in his readers.

The Christian's confidence and courage (verse 22) cannot be based on anything other than God's promises (verse 23). God is trustworthy, therefore his promises are trustworthy. Verse 22 also refers to baptism (compare Titus 3:5: "...he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit...").

It may be that the author emphasizes what Christians have in order to contrast it with Judaism, which after the destruction of the Temple (in 70 AD) often emphasized what it did not have (temple, sacrifices, high priest, etc.). Perhaps the author wanted to say here: "There is no point in going back to Judaism".

In verse 25 the writer warns against neglecting church meetings. Perhaps the reason some people dropped out of church services was persecution (verses 32-34), or perhaps it was just spiritual laziness.

Christians are to support one another in spiritual warfare (verse 25). Unfortunately, we often do not worry if someone falls away from the Christian fellowship. An invitation to participate could turn the development that went in a bad direction back on track. On the other hand, many sects try to bind their members far too tightly to themselves. We do not bind ourselves to any group of Christians, but to Jesus. But the church of Christ in this time is always also a group of people.

The author wants to open a new perspective on the delay of Christ's return (verse 25). It does not necessarily have to be interpreted as: "Since he has not yet returned, he will not come at all!" but rather as: "His return is getting closer every day."

Two examples

When the author spoke of the danger of falling away from the faith the previous time (Hebrews 6:1-8), he right after gave a positive example (Hebrews 6:9-12). He does so again this time: the negative, warning example is in verses 26-31, and the positive, encouraging example is in verses 32-36. It is important from a pastoral perspective that our declaration is not one-sidedly negative. We must be able to encourage with positive examples.

"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins..."
(verse 26)

Many Christians who have fallen into sin are troubled by verses 26-27. Is there no longer atonement for the believer for sins committed as a believer? Such an idea is contrary to the general teaching of the New Testament, and it is not what the writer intended.
The verb in verse 26 is in the present tense, which in Greek is the tense of continuous, repeated action, "continue to practice sin" (compare 1 John 3:6-9).

What sin is the writer talking about? It is about abandoning the faith (v. 39). It can start small, such as belittling the fellowship of believers (verse 25), but its ultimate result can be becoming an opponent of the Christian faith (verse 29). If a person rejects the Church and Christ as the way of salvation, no other way to heaven will be given to him (verse 27). As the Church Father Cyprian said: "Outside the Church there is no salvation."

This is exactly what happened to the Jews: they rejected Christ and they - not the Roman state - became the first main opponent of Christians, the enemy of the faith and the persecutor (Rev. 2:9-10, 3:9-10, the beginning of the development is clearly visible already in the Acts of the Apostles).

In Old Testament law, the death penalty was imposed for five crimes:
1. Blasphemy, Leviticus 24:14-16
2. Idolatry, Deuteronomy 17:2-7
3. False prophet, Deuteronomy 18:20
4. Adultery, Deuteronomy 22:22-29
5. ​​Murder, Leviticus 24:17

Most death sentences were therefore imposed for religious reasons, for sins against God and his will.

Verse 28 suggests that man could deny the divine origin of the law. Whoever denies the divine origin of salvation, that is, does not accept Jesus’ atoning work for his own sake, is subject to a much more severe punishment (verse 29). Apparently, this is what Jesus meant when he spoke of the sin against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31-32).

Also note Matt 18:18:

"Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

A pastor can bind a person to his sin if he is not willing to repent of it. If there is no desire to repent and forsake sin, there is no real sense of sin and no real apology, so in fact such a person closes himself off from grace. Grace is not cheap grace! It is not meant to be trampled underfoot!

In verses 32-36, the author wants to remind the recipients of their own history. They too had been persecuted. The persecution could be an official persecution carried out by Emperor Nero in 64 AD or an illegal persecution carried out by a mob. Paul was illegally imprisoned on several occasions (for example, Acts 16:22-40), so verse 34 does not help to determine which was the case.

Official persecutions also involved confiscation of property (verse 34), and mobs could also destroy the property of the persecuted. Visiting imprisoned Christians was dangerous because it would expose one's own faith (Heb 13:3, compare Matt 25:36).

It is typical that the author does not explain the persecution of Christians by Jesus' prophecy about their own future fate (for example, Matthew 5:11-12) but by the Old Testament (verses 37-38). The author quotes Hab. 2:3-4. Also Habakkuk lamented that injustice was allowed to continue (Hab 1:2-4), but God urged his prophet to be patient, for God carried out His will according to His own timetable.

Even the recipients of The Epistle to the Hebrews began to get tired of waiting, and many began to be attracted by the idea of abandoning the faith. The prophecy given to the impatient prophet was well suited to that situation. There is no reason to abandon the faith, for that means destruction. The faithful, on the other hand, will be saved. The following chapter is an introduction to the faithful followers of God in the past.