Words for The Wise, Sufficiency of Salvation, Hebrews 10 Nasb

Hebrews 10 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

One Sacrifice of Christ Is Sufficient

10 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very ^[a]form of things, ^[b]can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? ³ But in ^[c]those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. ⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.⁵ Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired,
But a body You have prepared for Me;

⁶ In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure.
⁷ “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
(In the scroll of the book it is written of Me)
To do Your will, O God.’”

⁸ After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 

⁹ then He ^[d]said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ By ^[e]this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹ Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; ¹² but He, having offered one sacrifice for ^[f]sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are ^[g]sanctified. 

¹⁵ And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,

¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws upon their heart,
And on their mind I will write them,”

He then says,

¹⁷ “And their sins and their lawless deeds
I will remember no more.”

¹⁸ Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

A New and Living Way

¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a ^[h]sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; ²⁴ and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,²⁵ not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Christ or Judgment

²⁶ For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. ²⁸ Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 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, and has insulted 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 terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³² But remember the former days, ^[i]when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, ³³ partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. ³⁴ For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. ³⁵ Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive ^[j]what was promised.

³⁷ For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
³⁸ But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

³⁹ But ^[k]we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the ^[l]preserving of the soul.

Dictionary of Bible Themes

5904 maturity, spiritual

The development of Christlike character and behaviour in the Christian through a renewed mind and tested faith.

Christlikeness as the goal and model for spiritual maturity

Eph 4:13-15 See also Col 2:6-7; Heb 12:2

Marks of spiritual maturity

Spiritual understanding Col 2:2 See also Ro 15:14; 1Co 2:6; 1Co 14:20; Eph 1:17-18; Heb 5:12-6:1

Discernment of God’s will and changed behaviour Col 1:9-10 See also Ro 12:2; 1Co 3:1-3; Gal 5:22-23; Eph 4:22-23; Php 1:9-11; 2Th 1:3

Stability Col 4:12 See also Eph 4:14; 2Pe 3:17-18

Care for the weaker brother Ro 15:1 See also Gal 6:1-2

Maturity is to be the aim of the Christian

Php 3:13-15 See also Lk 8:14 a reason for spiritual immaturity; 2Co 7:1; 2Co 13:11; 1Ti 6:11

The process of maturity

God causes spiritual growth Php 1:6 See also Gal 3:3; Heb 10:14

Possessing gifts of ministry Eph 4:11-13 See also Ro 1:11

Being equipped by the word of God 2Ti 3:16-17 See also Ro 15:4; 1Pe 2:2; 1Jn 2:5

Persevering through trials Ro 5:3-5 See also Heb 2:10; Jas 1:3-4; 1Pe 5:10

The concern of the pastor is to help others to maturity

Col 1:28-29 See also 2Co 13:9-10; Gal 4:19

The Bible Panorama

Hebrews 10

V 1–4: REGULAR REMINDER The regular sacrifice and entry by the high priest was an annual reminder that sins had to be forsaken and forgiven. The need to repeat the sacrifice often shows that those sacrifices could never remove sin.

 V 5–10: BIBLICAL BASIS When God came to earth in a human body which would become a sacrifice for sins, prophecies of Scripture were fulfilled.

 V 11–18: SINGLE SACRIFICE The Old Testament priests made many sacrifices. But Jesus has made ‘one sacrifice for sins for ever and sat down at the right hand of God’. Thus ‘there is no longer an offering for sin’. Either a sinner is saved through Christ, or he is not saved at all. Evidence of salvation includes God’s laws being written in his heart.

 V 19–23: COME CONFIDENTLY Because of the ‘new and living way’ which Jesus has made for us through His flesh, into heaven, we can come with boldness, knowing that we are cleansed and accepted by our faithful God. Boldness is not the same as presumption!

V 24—25: ENCOURAGING EXHORTATIONS It is important to encourage one another to live for Christ, and to have regular fellowship and worship together. Time is short.

V 26–38: ENDURANCE EVIDENT Because ‘there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins’ other than the finished work of Christ on the cross, Jews or Gentiles will be lost if they trample that sacrifice underfoot. As in this passage, people can go to the very edge of conversion and even experience the influence of the Holy Spirit, without getting saved. One can experience all those overtures of God’s love and yet still trample on the shed blood of Christ, incurring God’s judgement. The test of conversion is endurance in Christ, which shows that a real work has been done. The ground of conversion is the death of Christ on the cross for us.

 V 39: SOULS SAVED Notwithstanding the solemn warning of the preceding verses, we can know that ‘we are not of those that draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul’. Blessed assurance!

Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys