Jesus has offered one sacrifice for all sins of all time. By that single sacrifice He has made His people perfect for all time. However, they may still fall away. Christians continue to sin; sometimes unintentional and sometimes the lust of the body makes them do things which they deeply regret. But they remain “perfect”, to use terminology from Hebrews, in spite of such sins. However, if a Christian goes on sinning willfully, after receiving the knowledge of the truth. then it becomes impossible to renew him again to repentance.
Hebrews was written to protect Christians against this danger. It advises them to draw near to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in time of need. The main aim of Hebrews is to give us confidence in God; to teach us to trust God, so that we would know that He sympathizes with our weaknesses.
Previous articles
This is the fifth and last in a series of articles on the teachings in the letter to the Hebrews on Christ as our high priest.
The first article explains How Jesus became high priest: God perfected Jesus through suffering. Jesus offered Himself without blemish to God, making purification of sins through death. Jesus then sat down on His Father’s throne and became our high priest in the tabernacle in heaven.
The second article describes Jesus as a better high priest, for the Levitical priesthood was merely a copy and shadow of the tabernacle in which Jesus serves, and for that reason was unable to do away with sin. “Perfection”—a word which Hebrews uses for being put right with God—is only possible only through Jesus.
The third article analyzes the role Jesus plays as our high priest. He is sympathetic and merciful, appearing before God for us. God promised, “their lawless deeds I will remember no more”. Our high priest Jesus guarantees that promise.
The large middle section of Hebrews (4:14 to 10-31) discusses Jesus as our high priest. This section starts and ends with similar phrases. This was how ancient writers indicated that a portion of text forms a discrete unit. This technique is called an inclusio. The fourth article analyzes these two bookends, which also serve as a summary of that entire section, and which urges us to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, for Jesus is faithful and sympathetic with our weaknesses.
Purpose
The purpose of this fifth and last article is to ask why Hebrews advises us to draw near to God through Jesus. This may seem like a dumb question, for obviously we must seek God. However, the writer has already indicated that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (10:10). What further need is there to ”draw near … to the throne of grace”? What do we need more grace for?
A study of Hebrews 10 (actually from 9:25 to 10:22) will provide answers. Below the principles in 9:25-20:22 are presented in a sequence which seems to be logical.
Animal sacrifices were offered time after time, but Jesus died once only.
Animal sacrifices were offered:
9:25 “often … year by year”;
10:1 “continually year by year”;
10:3 “year by year”;
10:11 “daily … time after time”;
But Jesus offered a single sacrifice:
9:28 “Offered once to bear the sins of many”
10:10 “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”
10:12 “He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time”
10:14 “one offering”
In the next section Hebrews argues that Jesus’ sacrifice, which was offered once only, is sufficient.
Jesus’ sacrifice does take sin away, something which the animal sacrifices were unable to do.
Animal sacrifices cannot take sin away:
10:1 “The Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near” (cf 10:2)
10:4 “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins”.
10:11 “can never take away sins”
“Make perfect” (10:1) means the same as “put away sin” (9:26). Other phrases used by Hebrews as synonyms for “make perfect” are “cleansed … no longer have had consciousness of sins” (10:2) and “take away sins” (10:4).
The writer goes further and say that the fact that the animal sacrifices are offered over and over proves that they cannot take away sin (10:2-3).
But Christ’s offering does take away sin:
“Put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (9:26).
In 10:1 the writer states that the Law (of sacrifices) is only a shadow of the good things to come, and therefore can never make perfect those who draw near. 10:5-9 implies that Christ’s sacrifice is the reality of which the “Law” was a shadow. This is further proof that the reality (Christ’s death) is able to take away sin.
Jesus has “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time” (10:12).
He offered one sacrifice for the sins of all ages, including sins committed prior to the first covenant, sins committed under the first covenant and sins committed under the new covenant. His sacrifice is sufficient even for the sins of His enemies, but will benefit only “those whom He foreknew” (Rom. 8:29).
By His once for all sacrifice He made His people perfect for all time.
10:10 “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”.
10:14 “By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (10:14).
10:18 “Where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin”.
10:2 “The worshipers, having once been cleansed, … no longer have … consciousness of sins”
Sanctified – The word “sanctified” (10:10 – NIV “holy”) is often used with reference to spiritual growth, but Hebrews uses “sanctified” as a synonym for “put away sin” (9:26), “take away sins” (10:4) or “make perfect” (10:1). The unusual use of familiar words contributes significantly to our difficulty in understanding Hebrews.
10:2 – The statement in 10:2 is made in the context of the animal sacrifices, but the implication of the context is that this applies to Christ’s sacrifice of Himself.
But we still sin – Perfected people continue to sin, but since that “one sacrifice” is “for sins for all time”, even their future sins have been taken care of. They remain “perfect” even when they sin.
When were they made perfect? – Since Jesus perfected them by His “one offering”, they have been perfected when He died; not when they repented. The also applies to the Old Testament saints; they were also perfected when He died: “so that apart from us they would not be made perfect” (11:40). “Those who are sanctified” are therefore perfected as a group; not a one by one.
But people that have been sanctified by His blood can still fall away.
Many believe that, once a person is saved, that person will always remain saved. But this is not what Hebrews teaches. As indicated by the verses quoted below, Hebrews teaches that it is possible for Christians to fall away. Each of the verses below contains either a promise (orange font) or a warning (blue font), but in each case the promise or warning is conditional, as indicated by the underlined text:
3:6 We are God’s house, “if we hold fast … until the end”.
3:14 “We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast … until the end”.
10:35-36 “You have need of endurance, so that … you may receive what was promised”.
10:38 “If he shrinks back, My (God’s) soul has no pleasure in him”.
10:39 “We are not of those who shrink back to destruction”.
10:26-27 “If we go on sinning willfully 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 which will consume the adversaries”.
10:29 “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified”?
Destruction (10:39) – Consume (10:27) – Similar to Paul, Hebrews does not preach eternal punishment in hell. See Eternal Life and Death in Paul’s Letters.
The danger – The traditional view is that the danger, which motivated the writer of Hebrews to write his letter, was that his readers were Christian Jews and that they were in danger of falling back into mainstream Judaism, but this is never explicitly stated as such in Hebrews. The warnings in Hebrews are always against sin in general.
Were they really Christians? – The Calvinistic explanation of these verses is that these people never really were Christians, but it is difficult to support this view from the verses quoted above. For instance, the person, who the writer had in mind, “was sanctified” by the blood of the covenant (10:29). This person therefore previously was in a right relationship with God; he was a real Christian. But if this person “go on sinning willfully”, he will end up in “the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries” (10:26-27).
As further evidence that Hebrews teaches that real Christians can fall, consider 6:4-6:
“In the case of those who
+ have once been enlightened and
+ have tasted of the heavenly gift and
+ have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and
+ have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and
then have fallen away,
it is impossible to renew them again to repentance”.
The phrases in bold indicate that these people were once sanctified by the blood of the covenant. Particularly the word “renew” means that the person had repented before.
The purpose of the current article is not primarily to argue against the once saved, always saved doctrine. The purpose is simply to understand what the writer thought, for unless we understand his anxiety, namely that some of his Christian brethren might fall away, we would be unable to explain why he asks his readers to draw near to the throne of grace.
Once a Christian has fallen away, he is impossible to renew to repentance.
6:6 “It is impossible to renew them again to repentance”
10:26-27 “If we go on sinning willfully 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 which will consume the adversaries”.
Three kinds of sin
Willful sins – Three kinds of sin may be identified. The word “willfully” (10:26) implies a high handed or defiant form of sin – sins that reject God’s covenant.
Unintentional sins – 9:7 refers to “sins … committed in ignorance”. The Old Testament refers to unintentional sins (for instance Leviticus 4:1).
Sins I hate – But there remains a third kind of sin which is not willful nor intentional. Romans 7 helps us to understand the sins which Christians do not commit “willfully“, which means that they do not want to do these things. Paul wrote in Romans 7 (orange bold emphasizes what Paul wants to do):
“14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.”
19 “I practice the very evil that I do not want”.
“21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.” (Rom. 7:21-23)
In these verses Paul distinguishes between two parts of man:
▬ the “inner man” (v22) or “mind” (v23);
▬ the “flesh” (v14) or “the members of my body” (v21)
In the case of Christians, these two parts are controlled by two different laws:
“The law of my mind” (v23) is the “law of God” (v22). In his “inner man” or “mind” Paul does not want to sin, for “I agree with the Law” (v16).
But the “flesh” or “members of my body” are controlled by the “law of sin” (v23). This law is “waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin“.
Consequently, although the Christian does not want to, he still sins:
Rom. 7:15 “I am not practicing what I would like to do”.
Rom. 7:15 “I am doing the very thing I hate”.
Rom. 7:16 “I do the very thing I do not want to do”
Rom. 7:19 “I practice the very evil that I do not want”
Rom. 7:21 “me, the one who wants to do good”
This distinguishes a Christian from a non-Christian: Because of the lusts of the body both the Christian and non-Christian sin, but the Christian, in his “inner man” or “mind”, does not want to sin.
The writer of Hebrews is not troubled by sins “committed in ignorance”. He is also not concerned with sins which “I do not want to do” (Rom 7:16). “Perfected” people (Heb. 10:14) remain “perfect” even when they sin unintentionally and when they do things which they really do not want to do. But the Christian who “go on sinning willfully”, which means that, in the “inner man” or “mind”, he wants to sin, which means that he does not agree with God’s law (Rom. 7:16), thereby regards “as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified” (10:26, 29). He rejects that sacrifice. Then no sacrifice remains. And since no means remains whereby the person can be “perfected”, there only remains “a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries” (10:27).
Conclusion
This is why Hebrews was written; the writer was concerned that some of his Christian brethren might fall away. They were in great danger. To protect them from this danger, he advises them, “Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (4:16). The word “confidence” is key to the understanding of Hebrews. The main purpose of Hebrews is to give us that confidence; to teach us to trust God, to know that “since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered” (2:18), He sympathizes with our weaknesses (4:15).
The second article shows that Hebrews presents 
For the sake of simplicity, these two sections of text are referred to as bookends in this article.