From this point on in the epistle the writer made application from the great truths concerning Jesus Christ that he had now finished explaining. He followed his exposition of Jesus Christ's superior high priestly ministry (6:13-10:18) with exhortation, another stern warning against apostatizing and an encouragement to remain faithful to the Lord (10:19-39).304The Greek word parresia, which appears in verse 19 ("confidence") and in verse 35 ("confidence"), frames the section and forms an inclusiotying the thought together.
"With 10:19-39 the great central division of the sermon (5:11-10:39) is drawn to a conclusion. Viewed from the perspective of the homiletical and literary structure of Hebrews, this concluding exhortation is symmetrical with the preliminary exhortation found in 5:11-6:20 . . . . The great exposition of Christ as priest and sacrifice is thus framed by parallel parenetic units . . ."305
This warning passage is in a sense central to all the hortatory passages in Hebrews. It echoes former warnings (cf. 2:1-4 and 10:28-31; and 6:4-8 and 10:26-31) and repeats characteristic expressions (cf. 3:6b and 10:23; and 3:17 and 10:26). Yet it also anticipates what is to come by introducing the triad of Christian virtues, which the writer developed in chapters 11-13 (cf. 6:10-12). He spoke of faith in 10:22 and developed it in chapter 11, hope in 10:23 and developed it in 12:1-13, and love in 10:24 and developed it in 12:14-13:21.
The writer began with a three-fold admonition, which is all one sentence in the Greek text. The long sentence intensifies the writer's appeal.306
"In view of all that has been accomplished for us by Christ, he says, let us confidently approach God in worship, let us maintain our Christian confession and hope, let us help one another by meeting together regularly for mutual encouragement, because the day which we await will soon be here."307
"A loyal response to Christ is the logical correlate of the magnitude of Christ's redemptive accomplishment [cf. Rom. 12:1-2]."308
10:19-20 "Therefore"sums up the entire argument to this point but especially the affirmation of 8:1-2 and its exposition in 9:1-10:18. "Brethren"recalls the writer's address of his audience of believers in the earlier parenetic units (cf. 3:1, 12; 6:9).
There are two reasons we can and should approach God (v. 22). First, we can have confidence to enter God's presence now and in the future because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.
"It is striking that whenever the writer makes his most emphatic assertions concerning the saving work of Christ, he makes an explicit reference to the blood of Jesus (9:12, 14; 10:19, 29; 12:24; 13:12, 20). This fact is indicative of the importance of the cultic argument developed in 9:1-10:18, where the blood of Jesus is a graphic expression for Jesus' death viewed in its sacrificial aspect. That cultic argument is clearly presupposed here."309
We can enter God's presence through Jesus' crucified flesh as though we entered the holy of holies through the torn temple veil (Matt. 27:51). His sacrifice provided a new and living way compared with the old dead way of the Old Covenant.
"The way to God is both new' and living.' It is new' because what Jesus has done has created a completely new situation, living' because that way is indissolubly bound up with the Lord Jesus himself.
"The author is saying in his own way what the Synoptists said when they spoke of the curtain of the temple as being torn when Christ died (Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45)."310
10:21-22 Second, we can have confidence to enter God's presence because we have a great High Priest (cf. 7:1-10:18).
We should draw near with freedom from guilt and with holy conduct (cf. 4:16). "Sincere"means true, dependable. We should approach God with the assurance that Jesus Christ's death has removed our guilt for sin and has made us acceptable to God (9:13-14; Num. 8:7; Rom. 5:1; 8:1; cf. 1 John 1:9).
". . . the specific imagery of the sprinkling of the heart from a burdened conscience' has been anticipated in 9:18-22. There the writer reminded the community of the action of Moses, who sprinkled the people with blood during the ratification of the old covenant at Sinai. The thought that Christians have been made participants in the new covenant by the blood of Christ is forcefully expressed in the immediate context (v 19). This suggests that the sprinkling with respect to the heart' in v 22b is to be associated with Jesus' inauguration of the new covenant through his death . . ."311
The reference to the washed body (v. 22) probably is to water baptism as the outward sign of inward cleansing (cf. 1 Pet. 3:21).312
10:23-25 We should not only exercise faith (v. 22) but also hope (v. 23) and love (v. 24). The admonition to hold fast to our hope is the one the writer emphasized most strongly in this epistle. The basis of our steadfastness is the fact that God is faithful to His promises concerning our future.
The third admonition (v. 24) moves from the vertical to the horizontal dimension of Christian living. This admonition to love one another was also necessary since some were abandoning the faith. The readers needed to stimulate one another to remain faithful to the Lord. This type of love is the product of communal activity; we cannot practice it in isolation from other believers. Regular attendance at church meetings facilitates this because there we receive reminders and exhortation to persevere. It is only natural for one who has abandoned his faith to absent himself or herself from the meetings of his or her church. However this is the very thing such a person should not do. We need each other.
"Whatever the motivation, the writer regarded the desertion of the communal meetings as utterly serious. It threatened the corporate life of the congregation and almost certainly was a prelude to apostasy on the part of those who were separating themselves from the assembly . . ."313
The writer was urging mutual accountability since we will have to give an account of ourselves to God. The "day"that is approaching is the day we will give an account of ourselves to God (cf. v. 37). This may have been an allusion to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 for the original readers.314
The writer turned from positive admonition to negative warning to highlight the seriousness of departing from the Lord.
"Between the imperatives of vv. 22-25 and 32, 35, the author describes, more fully than in 2:2f.; 6:4-6, the nature and consequences of apostasy, previously described as falling away from the living God' (3:12)."315
10:26-27 "The word we' cannot refer to any other group of people than his readers and himself [cf. 2:1]."316
Willful sin in the context of Hebrews is deliberate apostasy, turning away from God (2:1; 3:12; 6:4-8). If an apostate rejects Jesus Christ's sacrifice, there is nothing else that can protect him or her from God's judgment (cf. 6:6). The judgment in view will take place at the judgment seat of Christ, not the great white throne. It is the judgment of believers (cf. 2 Cor. 5:10), not of unbelievers (cf. Rev. 20:11-15). It will result in loss of reward, not loss of salvation. The same fire (judgment) that will test believers will also consume unbelievers.317
"The motif of inescapable judgment is developed with an allusion to Isa 26:11. The imagery of raging fire ready to consume God's adversaries' is vividly suggestive of the prospect awaiting the person who turns away from God's gracious provision through Christ. The apostate is regarded as the adversary of God. The description of judgment as a fire that devours and utterly destroys recalls the actual experience of the followers of Korah who were consumed by fire because they had shown contempt for God (Num 16:35; 26:10). The consequence of apostasy is terrifying, irrevocable judgment."318
"Knowledge"(v. 26) is full knowledge (Gr. epignosis).
10:28-29 The point of these verses is this. Since an Israelite who spurned the Old Covenant suffered a severe penalty, we will suffer a greater penalty if we spurn the superior New Covenant. Apostasy under the New Covenant has the effect of walking roughshod over the Son of God by despising Him. Also it involves despising the superior blood of Jesus Christ that "sanctified"the apostate (who is a Christian; cf. vv. 10, 14). Furthermore the apostate insults the Holy Spirit who graciously brought him or her to faith in Christ. These three parallel participial clauses in the Greek text stress the serious effect of apostasy.
"Taken cumulatively, the three clauses in v 29 define persistent sin (v 26a) as an attitude of contempt for the salvation secured through the priestly sacrifice of Christ. Nothing less than a complete rejection of the Christian faith satisfies the descriptive clauses in which the effects of the offense are sketched."319
Willful rebels under the Old Covenant only lost their lives (cf. Deut. 17:2-7; 13:8), but willful rebels under the New Covenant lose an eternal reward. Not only so but God often begins to punish modern apostates in this life.
"It was commonly inferred [incorrectly] in the Early Church from this and other passages in the epistle that forgiveness for all kinds of post-baptismal sin, inadvertent as well as deliberate, was ruled out."320
10:30-31 In Deuteronomy 32, which the writer quoted here twice (Deut. 32:35-36, 40-41), Moses warned the Israelites against apostatizing. That was this writer's point here as well. It is a terrifying prospect for a believer who has renounced his or her faith to fall under God's hand of chastisement. Note that the writer addressed this warning to believers, though many interpreters have applied it to unbelievers.321
"Actually, Heb. 10:30, 31 forms a parallel reference to II Cor. 5:10, 11, and the preceding verses (vv. 26-29) provide additional information concerning that facet of the judgment seat associated with the terror of the Lord.'"322
Verse 31 is not so much a logical conclusion from what precedes as it is a summary recalling the context of the Deuteronomy quotations.323
The writer concluded his warning by reminding his readers of their former faithfulness when tempted to encourage them to endure their present and future testings (cf. 4:12-16; 6:9-20).
"The juxtaposition of 10:26-31 and 32-35 suggests that it may have been the experience of suffering, abuse, and loss in the world that motivated the desertion of the community acknowledged in v 25 and a general tendency to avoid contact with outsiders observed elsewhere in Hebrews (see . . . 5:11-14)."324
10:32-34 In the past the original readers had proved faithful in severe trials of their faith. They had stood their ground when others had encouraged them to abandon it. They had withstood public shame and persecution for their faith. They had also unashamedly supported other believers who had undergone persecution in the same way.
"In the world of the first century the lot of prisoners was difficult. Prisoners were to be punished, not pampered. Little provision was made for them, and they were dependent on friends for their supplies. For Christians visiting prisoners was a meritorious act (Matt 25:36). But there was some risk, for the visitors became identified with the visited. The readers of the epistle had not shrunk from this. It is not pleasant to endure ignominy, and it is not pleasant to be lumped with the ignominious. They had endured both."325
They had also been willing to suffer material loss because they looked forward to a better inheritance in the future (cf. Luke 21:19). Moreover they had done this joyfully, not grudgingly.
"The eternal inheritance laid up for them was so real in their eyes that they could lightheartedly bid farewell to material possessions which were short-lived in any case. This attitude of mind is precisely that faith' of which our author goes on to speak."326
10:35-36 Now was no time to discard that confidence in a better reward (cf. 3:6; 4:16; 10:19). They needed to persevere, to keep on keeping on. By doing this they would do God's will and eventually receive what He promised, namely, an eternal reward (1:14; 3:14; 9:15).327
"What they had endured for Christ's sake entitled them to a reward. Let them not throw it away. The NT does not reject the notion that Christians will receive rewards, though, of course, that is never the prime motive for service."328
"The safeguard against degeneration, isolation, and consequent failure is to make progress in the Christian life, and to proceed from point to point from an elementary to the richest, fullest, deepest experience."329
If the writer's concern had been the salvation of those readers who were unbelievers, this would have been an opportune time for him to exhort them to believe in Christ. He could have written, "For you have need of regeneration."Instead he exhorted his readers to endure rather than apostatizing.
10:37-38 After all, we will not have long to persevere. The Lord's return is near (Rev. 22:20). In the meantime we need to keep walking by faith. If we abandon that purpose, we will not please God.
"This observation [in v. 38b] is a figure of speech called litotes in which a positive idea is expressed by negating the opposite. As the larger context makes plain, he means, God will be severely angered' (see verse 27)."330
The allusions in these verses are to Isaiah 26:21 and Habakkuk 2:3-4 in the Septuagint. The writer took all his Old Testament quotations from this version except the one in 10:30, which he took from the Hebrew Bible. "My righteous one"is a believer. "Shrinking back"refers to apostasy.331
"Paul is concerned with the way a man comes to be accepted by God; the author [of this epistle] is concerned with the importance of holding fast to one's faith in the face of temptations to abandon it."332
10:39 The writer assumed that his readers along with himself would not apostatize. "Destruction"(or ruin) could refer to either eternal damnation in hell or to temporal punishment. In view of what has preceded, the latter alternative is probably in view (cf. Matt. 26:8; Mark 14:4; Acts 25:16). The writer did not want his readers to be the objects of God's discipline.333
"I personally believe that waste' is the best translation for this word ["destruction"] in Hebrews 10:39. A believer who does not walk by faith goes back into the old ways and wastes his life."334
Likewise the positive alternative set forth at the end of this verse is not a reference to conversion. It refers to the preservation of the faithful believer until he receives his full reward (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). The "preserving of the soul"is equivalent to "saving the life"(cf. James 5:20).335
"This meaning agrees well with the exposition of 10:32-39. The readers were to live by faith in the midst of difficult times. The result of obedience to the Word of God would be a life-preserving walk instead of temporal discipline, the loss of physical life."336
This is the most direct and severe of all the warnings in Hebrews. In view of the Son's priestly ministry (5:1-10:18) apostasy is a sin that will draw terrible consequences for the believer. It will not result in the loss of eternal salvation but the loss of some eternal reward.
"The nature of the writer's response to the men and women he addressed confirms the specifically pastoral character of the parenesis, in which he closely identifies himself with his audience. The severity with which he writes of apostasy and of the destructive lifestyle of those who have deserted the house church expresses anguish and compassionate concern that Christians should not be subverted by a form of worldliness that would separate them from the life and truth they have received from Christ and from one another."337
