Christ, the Perfect Sacrifice

1-4 The Law possessed only a dim outline of the benefits Christ would bring and did not actually reproduce them. Consequently it was incapable of perfecting the souls of those who offered their regular annual sacrifices. For if it had, surely the sacrifices would have been discontinued—on the grounds that the worshippers, having been really cleansed, would have had no further consciousness of sin. In practice, however, the sacrifices amounted to an annual reminder of sins; for the blood of bulls and goats cannot really remove the guilt of sin.

Christ, however, makes the old order obsolete and makes the perfect sacrifice

5-7 Therefore, when Christ enters the world, he says: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come—in the volume of books it is written of me—to do your will, O God’.

8-10 After saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are made according to the Law), Christ then says, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.” That means he is dispensing with the old order of sacrifices, and establishing a new order of obedience to the will of God, and in that will we have been made holy by the single unique offering of the body of Christ.

11-16 Every human priest stands day by day performing his religious duties and offering time after time the same sacrifices—which can never actually remove sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins for ever, took his seat at God’s right hand, from that time offering no more sacrifice, but waiting until “his enemies be made his footstool”. For by virtue of that one offering he has perfected for all time every one whom he makes holy. The Holy Spirit himself endorses this truth for us, when he says, first: ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them’.

17 And then, he adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more’.

18 Where God grants remission of sin there can be no question of making further atonement.

Through Christ we can confidently approach God

19-25 So by virtue of the blood of Jesus, you and I, my brothers, may now have courage to enter the holy of holies by way of the one who died and is yet alive, who has made for us a holy means of entry by himself passing through the curtain, that is, his own human nature. Further, since we have a great High Priest set over the household of God, let us draw near with true hearts and fullest confidence, knowing that our inmost souls have been purified by the sprinkling of his blood just as our bodies are cleansed by the washing of clean water. In this confidence let us hold on to the hope that we profess without the slightest hesitation—for he is utterly dependable—and let us think of one another and how we can encourage each other to love and do good deeds. And let us not hold aloof from our church meetings, as some do. Let us do all we can to help one another’s faith, and this the more earnestly as we see the final day drawing ever nearer.

26-31 Now if we sin deliberately after we have known and accepted the truth, there can be no further sacrifice for sin for us but only a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fire of God’s indignation, which will one day consume all that sets itself against him. The man who showed contempt for Moses’ Law died without hope of appeal on the evidence of two or three of his fellows. How much more dreadful a punishment will he be thought to deserve who has poured scorn on the Son of God, treated like dirt the blood of the agreement which had once made him holy, and insulted the very Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said: ‘Vengeance is mine: I will repay’. And again: ‘The Lord will judge his people’. Truly it is a terrible thing for a man who has done this to fall into the hands of the living God!

32-38 You must never forget those past days when you had received the light and went through such a great and painful struggle. It was partly because everyone’s eye was on you as you endured harsh words and hard experiences, partly because you threw in your lot with those who suffered much the same. You sympathised with those who were put in prison and you were cheerful when your own goods were confiscated, for you knew that you had a much more solid and lasting treasure in Heaven. Don’t throw away your trust now—it carries with it a rich reward in the world to come. Patient endurance is what you need if, after doing God’s will, you are to receive what he has promised. ‘For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him’.

Yeah, that bit in Hebrews 10, as well as a bit in Hebrews 6, has caused no small amount of difficulty for lots of Christians. It did for me as well, until an old teacher of mine straightened it out for me.

So, let's start by quoting the passage in question:

Hebrews 10:26-31

"26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Now, by itself, it seems very scary. Who among us hasn't deliberately sinned even a single time since we came to Christ? All of us have. But thankfully, this passage isn't saying that you can't be forgiven for sins committed after coming to Christ. If we compare Scripture with Scripture, this becomes clear. Here's a passage on the same subject from 1 John:

1 John 3: 4-10

"4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."

So, the writer of Hebrews, then, isn't saying that any sin committed after coming to Christ can't be forgiven; he's saying that a person who makes a profession of faith in Jesus but then continues to live a life characterized by sin, who practice sin as a lifestyle, can't expect to have their sins covered by Jesus' sacrifice, and that they have nothing to look forward to but judgement. This is exactly what John is saying: regardless of what a person claims to believe, if a person is deliberately practicing sin, living a life characterized by unrepentant sin, that person is of the devil, and hasn't been born of God. Everyone who experiences the new birth repents from sins, abandons the sinful practices of their life before Jesus, and begins to worship God sincerely from the heart by obeying Him.

In other words, the writer of Hebrews, like John, is condemning false converts who refuse to repent of sins. Consider Jesus' warning in Matthew 7:15-23, or Paul's many warnings in his letters, like Romans 6, 1 Corinthians 6:9-13, and Galatians 6:7.

This is an ancient heresy called "antinomianism," literally the practice of lawlessness. This heresy is alive and well in the church today; any time you hear a supposed Christian say that sin isn't real, or that repentance is unnecessary, or that Jesus pays for our sins so we can keep sinning and God is cool with it, etc, that is this heresy. And it is damnable. Flee from it.

In Christ Jesus, Christians are saved completely. We are saved by grace, through faith, and not by works. Our good works can't save us, and they can't keep us saved. Once saved, a person is saved for good. This is absolutely true. The lie is that a person can pray a prayer for Jesus to save them once, and then they can run off into the world and live like the devil himself and still go to heaven. The truth is that real, genuine salvation necessarily changes you. When the Holy Spirit indwells you, your passions and desires are different. You don't want to sin; you want to please God. You don't want to be wicked; you want to be righteous, so that you can honor God with your whole life. You want to be clean, selfless, upright, and good, because you have been clothed in Christ's righteousness and justified by faith. Anyone who doesn't want to repent, who doesn't want to flee from sins and begin obeying God hasn't been saved, and they don't have the Holy Spirit. The people who think they're saved without repentance have been tricked, and unless they turn to Jesus for real, they aren't going to make it.

As for those who are genuinely in Christ, we do still struggle with the flesh. Sometimes we screw up. Sometimes we fail. But we hate it. We hate our sin, we mourn over it, and we really want to be free of it, and that desire is proved by our actions. We take real, grace-enabled steps to excise the sin from our lives. If we discover more sin, we repent. We live a lifestyle of repentance, confessing sins and abandoning them, striving every day for greater Christlikeness. This is proof we have the Holy Spirit in us, that we're saved: not that we're perfect, but that we have changed and are changing from darkness to light. And we have God's promise of mercy and grace along the way:

1 John 1:5-10, 2:1-6

"5 This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us... My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: 6 whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked."

“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 

But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” 

1 For the Law having a shadow of the good things coming—not the very image of the matters, every year, by the same sacrifices that they offer continually, is never able to make perfect those coming near, 2 since, would they not have ceased to be offered, because of those serving having no more conscience of sins, having been purified once? 3 But in those [sacrifices] is a remembrance of sins every year, 4 for it is impossible for blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5 For this reason, coming into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You did not will, and a body You prepared for Me;

6 in burnt-offerings, and concerning sin-offerings, You did not delight.

7 Then I said, Behold, I come (in a volume of the scroll it has been written concerning Me), to do, O God, Your will”;

8 saying above, “Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and concerning sin-offering You did not will, nor delight in” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I come to do, O God, Your will”; He takes away the first that He may establish the second; 10 in which will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,

11 and every priest, indeed, has daily stood serving, and offering the same sacrifices many times, that are never able to take away sins. 12 But He, having offered one sacrifice for sin—to the end, sat down at the right hand of God— 13 as to the rest, expecting until He may place His enemies [as] His footstool, 14 for by one offering He has perfected to the end those being sanctified; 15 and the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after that He has said before,

16 “This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD, giving My laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,”

17 and, “I will remember their sins and their lawlessness no more”;

18 and where [there is] forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.

19 Having, therefore, brothers, boldness for the entrance into the holy places, by the blood of Jesus, 20 which [is] the way He initiated for us—new and living, through the veil, that is, His flesh— 21 and a Great Priest over the house of God, 22 may we draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having the hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having the body bathed with pure water; 23 may we hold fast the unwavering profession of the hope (for He who promised [is] faithful), 24 and may we consider to provoke one another to love and to good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] a custom of some, but exhorting, and so much the more as you see the Day coming near.

26 For [if] we are sinning willingly after receiving the full knowledge of the truth—there remains no more sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery zeal, about to devour the opposers; 28 anyone having set aside a law of Moses dies without mercies on the basis of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment will he be counted worthy who trampled on the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant a common thing, by which he was sanctified, and having insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we have known Him who is saying, “Vengeance [is] Mine, I will repay, says the LORD”; and again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31 [It is] fearful to fall into [the] hands of [the] living God.

32 But call to your remembrance the former days, in which, having been enlightened, you endured much conflict of sufferings; 33 this indeed, being made spectacles with both insults and afflictions, now this, having become partners of those so living, 34 for you also sympathized with my bonds, and the robbery of your goods you received with joy, knowing that you have in yourselves a better substance in the heavens, and an enduring one. 35 You may not cast away, then, your boldness, which has great repayment of reward, 36 for you have need of patience, that having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

37 “For yet [in] a very, very little [while], He who is coming will come, and will not linger,”

38 but, “The righteous will live by faith; and if he may draw back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”