Hebrews · chapter 10 of 13
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Hebrews 10 explains that the sacrifices of the law were a shadow and could not take away sins, while Christ, by offering his body once, perfects forever those who are sanctified. From there the author urges believers to draw near to God with full assurance and not to neglect meeting together, warns against deliberate sin and recalls the readers' faithful past to encourage them to persevere.
This chapter is the turning point of the letter: it concludes the long doctrinal explanation of the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ and begins the practical exhortation that will fill the rest of the book. It contains both one of the loveliest invitations and one of the harshest warnings.
The law is a shadow of the good things to come and can never perfect those who draw near by the same sacrifices year after year; those sacrifices only remind people of sins, since the blood of bulls and goats cannot take them away. So Christ, quoting Psalm 40, says that God prepared a body for him and that he came to do God's will. By that will we are sanctified through the offering of his body once for all.
Every priest stands daily offering the same sacrifices; Christ offered a single sacrifice for sins and sat down at God's right hand. By that one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified, and since Jeremiah's new covenant promises to remember their sins no more, there is no longer any offering for sin.
Then comes the exhortation: we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus and by the new and living way, and a great priest over the house of God. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance, hold fast the hope, stir one another up to love and good works and not neglect meeting together. Whoever sins deliberately after knowing the truth and tramples the Son of God faces a fearful judgment.
The author recalls earlier days, when the readers joyfully endured reproach and the plundering of their property, and asks them not to throw away their confidence. The righteous shall live by faith, as Habakkuk says, and they are not of those who shrink back but of those who believe to the saving of their souls.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
We are sanctified by God's will through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Sanctification is founded on a historical event accomplished on the cross.
By a single offering Christ has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Nothing needs to be added and his sacrifice need not be repeated.
Believers must consider one another so as to stir up love and good works, and not neglect meeting together, encouraging one another all the more as the Day draws near. The Christian life is communal.
The righteous shall live by faith; the author is sure that his readers are not of those who shrink back to destruction but of those who believe to the saving of their souls. The warning ends in encouraged confidence.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: A shadow of the good things to come. — Hebrews 10:1
Answer: A body, for him to do God's will. — Hebrews 10:5
Answer: Once for all time, and then he sat down at God's right hand. — Hebrews 10:12
Answer: By the blood of Jesus, the new and living way through the curtain, his flesh. — Hebrews 10:19-20
Answer: Meeting together and encouraging one another. — Hebrews 10:25
Answer: That he shall live by faith. — Hebrews 10:38
Hebrews 10 combines great encouragement with a warning. For a small group, verses 19 to 25 are a practical program: draw near to God, hold fast hope and care for one another. You can ask whether someone has stopped attending and whom you might encourage this week, without reproach.
The warning of verses 26 to 31 reminds us that grace is no reason to take sin lightly. And the memory in verses 32 to 34 teaches us to recall how God sustained faith in hard times, to regain strength when perseverance wearies us.
Hebrews 10 ends with the righteous who live by faith. Chapter 11 explains what that faith is and illustrates it with a long list of men and women who trusted God and waited for what they could not see.
It does not refer to every sin committed knowingly but to deliberate apostasy: rejecting Christ after knowing the truth and trampling his sacrifice. Christians understand it in different ways, but they agree it is a serious warning against turning from Christ, not against the believer who falls and repents.
It is the access to God that Christ opened by his death. The curtain of the sanctuary separated the people from God's presence; the image says that through the giving of Jesus's flesh, believers can enter with confidence.
Because faith is sustained in community. The author asks us not to neglect the gathering, where believers exhort one another, love one another and help one another persevere as the day of the Lord draws near.