Hebrews 10:26-31 (HCSB)
For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries. If anyone disregards Moses’ law, he dies without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know the One who has said, Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge His people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
The writer of Hebrews has just encouraged his readers to not pull back from the salvation they have received by grace through faith, to not return to worship in the earthly temple with sacrifices which cannot truly provide forgiveness and cleansing from indwelling sin, and to not turn away from God’s true High Priest to fallible, sinful, purely human high priests. He has previously warned (6:4-6) that those who have been truly saved, who have shared in the Holy Spirit and have experienced for themselves the power of the kingdom, and then turn back to the rituals of Judaism and a self-made righteousness, are in danger of closing the door to their own forgiveness and restoration.
Now he goes a step further, reminding his readers that Jesus died to deliver those who believe in Him from the power and mastery of sin. This is in perfect accord with Jesus’ own teachings, that He is able to set people free not just from the penalty of sin, but from the power of sin (John 8:34-36). And it is in perfect accord with Paul’s teaching (Romans 6:15-18), that as the people of the kingdom, we have been set free from the power of sin, and therefore must make no allowance for sin in our lives.
The conclusion that the writer reaches on the basis of this is that if a Christian deliberately sins, deliberately chooses to rebel against God and His commandments after we have been truly saved, truly set free, truly redeemed and made holy, we make ourselves an enemy of God, and trample Jesus, the Lamb of God, under foot, essentially rejecting His sacrifice as an unholy, powerless thing, and turning away from the Holy Spirit who has come to live in our hearts, evicting Him by fouling His dwelling place with the stench and darkness of sin. The writer can think of nothing worse.
Some today reject the idea that sin, even deliberate sin, in the lives of a Christian can actually cut us off from salvation. But to do that, we must reject this clear teaching, as well as Jesus’ own words and Paul’s clear teaching. Those people have been taught to see sin as an unavoidable evil, and to see themselves as helpless captives to it, perpetual victims, as long as they dwell in the flesh.
How very different this is than the victorious gospel established by Jesus and propagated throughout the world by the powerful men and women in the early Church, men and women of such sterling character, such holy lives, such a radiant walk, that they earned the title of saint, or holy one. Jesus didn’t die and rise again, he didn’t ascend to the right hand of the Father in heaven, merely to leave behind a people as thoroughly bound by sin as they were before. His mission was to remake humanity in His own image and likeness, to restore our hearts, and to give each of us a lasting victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil through faith in Him.
The writer of Hebrews did not write these words to discourage or frustrate his readers, but to warn the people of the Kingdom away from a deadly error. And at the same time to assure Christians everywhere that sin is not unavoidable; it is not so powerful that we are doomed to succumb to its mastery. On the contrary, the power of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the risen and victorious Savior are powerful enough to enable every one of God’s people to live in freedom and victory, now and forever.
Father, it is so easy for us to only see the negative side of this warning, and to completely miss the promise of victory that is behind it. If we are in Jesus, we can live in victory over sin every day. It is our heritage, our birthright as sons and daughters of the Most-High God. Help us, Lord, to live out this victory, this genuine holiness, that has been bought for us by the blood of Jesus, and ensured for us by His resurrection, His ascension, and His continual intercession for us. Amen.