The Baptist Examiner Forum: pt. 3

April 15, 1978

  Question:
        Please explain Hebrews 10:26.

    Answer:

        Text in question reads; "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin."
    This text is a stern warning against apostasy. Verse  Verse 29 of this chapter describes the awful nature of the apostasy warned against.  Verses 27, 28, and 30 tell of the terrible judgment annexed to such an apostasy. What we have before us in considering this text is not the backsliding of a born again Christian, which all do in lesser or greater degree. A Christian may follow Jesus afar off, but all follow him (John 10:27). What we have before us is a warning against a willful, premeditated, and total abandonment of the Gospel of Christ. In the deeper sense, it is a call for all who profess the name of Christ to examine themselves whether their faith be of the intellect or of God.  Thus it is, Paul says to the Corinthian church, "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith, prove your ownselves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"  (II Corinthians 13:5).
    Mere intellectual faith is a breeding ground for apostasy, and there can be no apostasy from the truth without some knowledge of the truth. The apostasy Paul refers to is not one of mere defection, but a definite rejection of the truth, and a revolt against it. In the case of the Hebrews it meant esteeming the blood of bull and goats above that of Christ. Yea, it meant a trampling underfoot of the Son of God.  With the Hebrews, it meant a turning back to the Mosaic Law, which Paul equates with a drawing back "unto perdition" (Verse 39).  Such an apostasy would be inexorable, and leave the apostate with nothing to look for but "judgment and fiery indignation" from the Lord.
    "Sin willfully" of verse 26 is more than an act of apostasy, it is a deliberate and persistent state of apostasy  The verb is the present participle and means continuous sinning. The language of the context leaves no doubt to the vehemence such apostates directed toward the Gospel of Christ. Paul was a constant object of this kind of hatred, and he said he was often in "perils of false brethren" (II Corinthians 11:26).  Paul's desire was that they would be "cut off" (Galatians 5:12).
    The sanctification of verse 29 is  a positional sanctification, such as the sanctification of Israel as a nation. The nation as a whole was set apart from the other nations of the Earth, while as yet there were many unsaved people in Israel. So it is with the Lord's true churches, they are set apart but not safe from reprobate intrusion.
    Jesus Christ is the ONE sacrifice whereby sins are forgiven. When one has intellectually accepted the Gospel which relates to that ONE sacrifice then turns away from it to a system of works, which delights in making a mockery of the Gospel and persecuting it's adherents, there remaineth no more sacrifice for his sins.
    While the unpardonable sin is not mentioned per se in the context, there is a strong implication that it is included in the actions of the apostates (verse 29).  Verse 39 leaves no doubt as to their end, i.e., perdition and perdition means utter destruction or eternal damnation.