Hebrews 10

Notes

Ver. 1. From the hints which I have suggested, it is plain that the Mosaic law, with its ceremonial institutions, being, as it were, mere representations of the shadows of Christ's person, office, work, sufferings, and blessings, the most noted sacrifices thereof, offered every year on the great day of general atonement, could never free the worshippers from the guilt of sin, or bring them into a state of friendship, acceptance, and perfect conformity to God. 2. For if these important ends had been perfectly obtained by those yearly sacrifices of national atonement, they would never have been repeated; as the worshippers concerned in them, being once completely cleansed from their guilt, and accepted of God to eternal life, could never more have had any perplexing or condemning fears on account of sin in their own conscience. 3. But so far was this from being the case, that in the very offering of those sacrifices there was every year, on the day of general expiation, a repeated, solemn, and public confession of the Israelites' iniquities, even of those which preceded the former annual expiation, as well as of those which were committed after it, in order that they might afflict their souls for them. 4. For indeed such is the infinite disproportion between the demerit of sin, or the satisfaction demanded for it by the law and justice of God, and the worthless sacrifices of bulls and goats, that no rules of wisdom or justice could admit them as sufficient to make a true, proper, and effectual atonement for sin. 5-9. And it is plain that the insufficiency of legal sacrifices to atone for sin, or render men acceptable to God, is represented in Ps. xl. as the occasion of God's preparing a perfect human nature for his own Son to obey and suffer in; and of Christ's cheerful and solemn engagement to fulfil the law, and satisfy justice, in the room and stead of his people, according to his will and purpose in the covenant of grace; 10. By which will of God, as perfectly fulfilled in Jesus' sinless offering, not of bulls and goats, but of himself, we are really and effectually purged and delivered from the guilt, power, and defilement of our sins, and are dedicated to the service of God. 11-14. Every Aaronic priest, in token of humble reverence, and of readiness for further service, stands before God, frequently offering the same kind of sacrifices, daily, weekly, monthly, or annually, which can never make atonement for nor remove the guilt or pollution of sin; but so incomparably superior is the dignity of our gospel High-priest in his person and sacrifice, that, after finishing his one atonement for all the sins of the world, he rose from the dead to immortal honour, and with majesty, glory, and acceptance entered on a state of the highest dignity, rest, and authority—thenceforward never repeating his sacrifice; but joyfully expecting the fulfilment of his Father's promise, and exercising all power in heaven and earth, till sin, Satan, the world, and death be actually, universally, and completely subdued, trampled on, and triumphed over, by him.—For by that one offering of himself upon the cross he has obtained a perfect, unchangeable, and eternal deliverance from guilt, and a fitness for the enjoyment and service of God in the nearest relation and access to him, and in the most perfect state of the church, for all those who are dedicated to God, and purged from their sins, through faith in him. 15-17. And this the Holy Ghost in Scripture plainly testifies, in his representation of the new covenant which Christ hath fulfilled and established, and all the blessings of which he hath completely secured—in which, after a gracious promise effectually to inscribe the doctrines of his revelation in his people's hearts and minds, he adds an absolute, infinitely free, and authoritative promise of such perfect pardon of all their swervings from and transgressions of his law, as that they never more shall be held guilty of or upbraided for them. 18. Now, where there is such complete and everlasting forgiveness of all trespasses established in the new covenant, and attested by the Holy Ghost, it is manifestly impossible that there can be any need of any further atoning sacrifice for sins, or of Christ's repeating the sacrifice of himself. 19. Since therefore, my dear brethren by nation, and in the Lord, we who cordially believe in him have such solid grounds of free liberty, and rich encouragements for holy freedom and confidence, in our approaches to God as our reconciled Father, and of entering by faith, or even by actual admission, into heaven itself, through the inestimably precious blood of Jesus Christ, our ascended High-priest, Forerunner, and Advocate; 20. Even by the newly opened, perpetually excellent, living, and life-giving way of the covenant of grace, which he has prepared, dedicated, and established for us, through his righteousness, and the death of his human nature in our stead; 21. And since we now have a great and glorious High-priest, of incomparable, nay, infinite dignity in his person, office, and exaltation, and of unbounded authority, as the Head of his church militant on earth and triumphant in heaven—where he, and his Father, and the blessed Spirit, reside in a far more exalted manner than in the Jewish tabernacle—22. Let us, encouraged by these considerations, and by the assistance of his Spirit, humbly approach to God, as our reconciled Father in him, in prayer, and every other act of religious worship, or exercise of grace, with integrity and uprightness, a heart established in the truth of the gospel, and with a lively and fully assured exercise of faith on the all-sufficiency and excellency of Christ, in his person, office, and fulness, and the infallible accomplishment of his promises to us—having our whole souls purged from the stupidity and treachery of an unfaithful conscience, and from the disquietude and defilement of a guilty, terrifying, and condemning conscience by an application of Jesus' blood; and our whole man and whole conversation renewed and purified by the sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost. 23. And answerably hereto, let us, notwithstanding whatever we may suffer on that account, steadfastly and invariably persist in maintaining our solemn profession and open confession of Christ and his truths, and of our faith in them, and in the belief of every gospel doctrine, and the practice of every holy duty, without any distrust, hesitation, or perturbation of mind; for he who has promised to pardon our sins, write his laws in our hearts, and be our God, being unchangeable in his truth and faithfulness, may be fully depended on for all necessary and seasonable supplies of grace for that effect, and for the fulfilment of all his promises, unto our complete salvation. 24. And to promote one another's steadfastness in the faith and profession of the gospel, let us, with joint concern, seriously consider our own and their respective wants, infirmities, temptations, and dangers, on the one hand, and the grounds of hope and encouragement that are in Christ and his promises on the other—that by example, exhortations, and cautions, we may stir up one another to the most fervent and faithful love to God, to Christ, and his truths, and to an affectionate union and communion one with another; and, in fine, to every evangelical and moral duty becoming our Christian character. 25. And as ever we would be steadfast in the profession of our faith, and in love and good works, let us earnestly beware of indulging the smallest remissness or indifference with respect to attendance on the stated and occasional meetings of the church for the celebration of God's ordinances, in the manner of some who have begun to backslide, or who have at last openly and shamefully deserted them, and renounced their profession; but let us, with earnest care and diligence, cheerfulness, and constancy, frequent our religious meetings, and admonish, excite, and encourage others to do so, as the time of the utter destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of your nation, and of death and judgment, is drawing nigh; which will be inexpressibly dreadful to apostates. 26. For if any of us professed Christians, through unbelief, prejudice, pride, or worldly-mindedness, deliberately, resolutely, and wilfully reject the doctrines and laws of the gospel dispensation, and turn back to Judaism, heathenism, or profaneness, after we have been enlightened and convinced of the truth and excellency of them, we have perfidiously rejected the last and only sacrifice of Christ for remission of sins—can have no interest in it, nor any hope of pardon or acceptance with God; 27. But all that remains for us, as our dreadful portion, is a terrible foreboding in our own consciences of the most righteous, but tremendous and everlasting wrath of God, to torment and consume us in this world, and especially in that which is to come. 28, 29. And nothing can be more just; for if one who presumptuously violated even the ceremonial laws of Moses was appointed to death, if the fact could be clearly proved, how much more inexpressibly dreadful and lasting punishment must your reason and conscience allow to be due to, and shall be inflicted upon, such resolute and wilful apostates from Christ and his truth, who, contrary to clear convictions of the truth, light, and grace of the gospel, have, with the vilest insolence and contempt, trampled upon the person, authority, mediation, oracles, and ordinances of the eternal Son of God, as if he had been an impostor; and who, instead of trusting for justification and salvation to his precious blood, by which the condition of the covenant of grace was fulfilled, its blessings secured, and its promises and the New Testament dispensation ratified; and by which he was consecrated to and prepared for his exalted work of mediation; and themselves apparently justified, sanctified, and set apart to the service of God,—have profanely slighted and injuriously treated it, as if less holy than the blood of bulls and goats, or as if the blood of a malefactor; and who have spitefully, maliciously, and contemptuously opposed, affronted, and vilified the person, operation and graces of the graciously-conferred and grace-bestowing Spirit of God! 30. Now we know that the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, whose equity and truth are uncontrollable, and power irresistible, hath solemnly claimed it, as his high and distinguished prerogative, to vindicate his own honour, and to resent the injuries done him, particularly by perfidious revolters from his government. 31. How inexpressibly tremendous then must be the punishment of those wilful apostates, when they fall as victims into the hands of his justice, without any mixture of mercy, to be punished by the immediate and almighty arm of that great and terrible God whose existence, power, and activity continue invariably and for ever to execute wrath to the uttermost on the despisers of his Son, Spirit, and grace, as well as to complete the happiness of those who persevere in grace! 32. But to encourage your watchfulness against the very smallest beginnings of apostasy, let me beseech you seriously to reflect upon that solid satisfaction and hope which ye formerly experienced in the time of your conversion to Christ—in which, as soon as ye were enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, and the way of salvation through him, assisted of God, ye patiently sustained, with Christian fortitude, a multitude of severe persecutions from your own countrymen; 33. Partly while ye were maliciously accused, contemptuously disgraced, virulently derided, and cruelly oppressed, for righteousness' sake; and partly while ye tenderly sympathized and mourned with, courageously owned and assisted, your fellow-Christians, and the apostles and servants of Christ, when they were abused and persecuted. 34. For when I myself was imprisoned for the sake of Christ, ye boldly acknowledged and stood by me, kindly sympathized with me, prayed for me, and, to the utmost of your power, supplied my wants; yea, for the sake of Christ and his cause, ye cheerfully endured the loss of the conveniences and necessaries of life, which were violently wrested from you by furious persecutors—being fully satisfied, from the promise of God, and your own happy experience, that there is laid up for you, in the new covenant and in heaven, the more substantial, durable, and enriching treasure of everlasting life, secured for you by Christ, and graciously given to you as your reward in adhering to his cause. 35. Animated therefore by a lively faith in the promises of the gospel, and by the remembrance of your holy fortitude in suffering for him hitherto, take heed lest, through the continuance or increase of your persecutions, and the workings of your own fear and unbelief under them, ye should relinquish your holy boldness, freedom, and courage in professing and following of Christ, and your joyful hopes of eternal life through him, which, for the present, afford you noble support and satisfaction under your trials, and shall quickly issue in your enjoyment of eternal happiness above, which will infinitely more than compensate all the troubles you can endure for the sake of Christ on earth: 36. For, according to the wise and holy appointment of God, the declaration of his Word, and the disposals of his providence, such is your present state of afflictions and persecutions, that ye absolutely need, and must have, grace to enable you to live in the constant exercise of a calm, quiet, humble, and resigned submission to the sovereign will of God in them—that after cheerfully yielding up yourselves, through the whole course of your lives, to the commanding and disposing will of God in the most difficult instances of it, ye may receive the promised blessing of eternal life at the end of your spiritual race and warfare. 37. For, according to an ancient prediction applicable to the Messiah in all his remarkable appearances, it is but a very short time, and he will certainly come to destroy your Jewish adversaries, and deliver you from their oppression; nay, when he will come to the last judgment, for the utter destruction of all unbelieving and impenitent sinners, and to put you into the full possession of eternal life; nor will he tarry one moment beyond the time fixed on as best for his work and your advantage in his loving purpose. 38. And for your further incitement, remember that, according to a subsequent prediction, whoever are justified through, and purified in heart by faith, may, by means of that grace, persevere in a life of fellowship with God, obedience to his law, and patient submission to his providence on earth, and be admitted to a life of blessedness and glory with Christ for ever; but if any man, after making a profession of faith in Christ, through pride and unbelief, apostatize from him, and renounce the profession of his name, God will certainly loathe, abhor, and miserably destroy him. 39. But we who are sincere in our profession of Christ, and are truly before God what we appear before men, are not of the number of those hypocritical and treacherous professors who revolt from him to their own everlasting destruction; but of those who, having truly believed with our heart, shall steadfastly persevere in holiness, kept by the power of God, through a faith which receives, and may certainly issue in the eternal salvation of our soul.

Ver. 14. By one offering, &c. Where is, then, use or room for the figment of the Romish mass as an unbloody but expiatory sacrifice for sin? The doctrine of expiation by a bloodless sacrifice contradicts ch. 9. 22; 10. 18. The doctrine of any second or continued sacrifice contradicts the everlasting perfection of 'the one offering.' C.

Ver. 38. Any man is not in the original; but any professing Christian is evidently implied, as the apostle immediately proceeds, in the very next verse, to distinguish between those that draw back to perdition, because they merely professed, and those who persevered to salvation, because they believed. C.

Reflections.—In their number, their repetitions, and their frequently spreading the ceremonial defilement, was deeply marked the insufficiency of legal sacrifices and washings to remove our sin, or recommend us to the favour of God. But infinitely meritorious and blessed is the sacrifice of Christ, who, in consequence of God's loving purposes, covenant engagements, and ancient promises, appeared in our nature, and fulfilled all righteousness in his obedience unto death. The blessed ratification of all his promises, full forgiveness, gracious sanctification, delightful access to God; yea, eternal redemption—are hereby made possible for all. Diligently should we, then, improve these blessings in the most familiar devotion; in mutual excitement to love and good works; by constancy in church-fellowship and public worship, and in watchfulness against the first and smallest beginnings of apostasy, or contempt of him and his grace. Patiently and in hope should we persevere under our manifold sufferings for his sake; tenderly sympathize with his suffering servants; and steadfastly cleave to him, and live upon him by faith. His comforting promises, refreshing presence, and eternal rewards, will more than balance all our adversities on earth.—But, alas! inexpressible is the guilt and danger of those who wilfully reject or apostatize from him! O my soul, exceedingly fear and quake! Alas! how far and how long I may proceed in the appearances of religion, and, after all, with Judas sink into the depths of hell!