The Letters · New Testament

Hebrews 10

Hebrews 10: one offering for ever, a second warning, and the former days

General context

The law is called a shadow of good things to come rather than the very image, and its yearly sacrifices never perfect those who come. If they had, they would have ceased, since purged worshippers would have no more conscience of sins; instead they make a remembrance of sins every year, and the blood of bulls and goats cannot take sins away. A quotation is put in the mouth of the one coming into the world: sacrifice and offering were not wanted, a body was prepared, and he comes to do God's will. The writer comments that the first is taken away so the second may be established, and that by that will the hearers are sanctified through one offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Every priest stands daily offering the same sacrifices; this man offered one sacrifice and sat down, waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. The covenant passage is quoted again as the Holy Ghost's witness, ending with sins remembered no more, and where there is remission no offering for sin remains. Exhortation follows: with boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, they are to draw near, hold fast, consider one another and not forsake their assembling. Then a second warning. For wilful sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth no sacrifice remains, only a fearful looking for judgment, and two quoted lines about vengeance and judging lead to its last sentence. The chapter ends with memory and patience: the former days of affliction, the writer's bonds, goods taken with joy, and a quotation that the just shall live by faith.

Cited passages: Hebrews 10:1, Hebrews 10:2, Hebrews 10:3, Hebrews 10:4, Hebrews 10:5, Hebrews 10:7, Hebrews 10:9, Hebrews 10:10, Hebrews 10:11, Hebrews 10:12, Hebrews 10:14, Hebrews 10:16, Hebrews 10:18, Hebrews 10:19, Hebrews 10:20, Hebrews 10:22, Hebrews 10:25, Hebrews 10:26, Hebrews 10:30, Hebrews 10:32, Hebrews 10:34, Hebrews 10:38

Hebrews 10 (KJV)

¹For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

²For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

³But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

⁴For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

⁵Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

⁶In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

⁷Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

⁸Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;

⁹Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

¹⁰By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

¹²But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

¹³From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

¹⁴For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

¹⁵Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

¹⁶This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

¹⁷And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

¹⁸Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

¹⁹Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

²⁰By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

²¹And having an high priest over the house of God;

²²Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

²³Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

²⁴And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

²⁵Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

²⁶For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

²⁷But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

²⁸He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

²⁹Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

³²But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;

³³Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.

³⁴For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

³⁵Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

³⁷For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

³⁸Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

³⁹But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

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Historical context

This chapter says more about the readers than any before it. They were illuminated, then endured "a great fight of afflictions", were made "a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions", stood with others treated the same way, and lost goods. The writer says they had compassion on him "in my bonds", which is the first thing the letter states about his own circumstances, and he still gives no name, no city and no date. The quotations differ from the printed Old Testament verses. Hebrews 10:5 reads "but a body hast thou prepared me" where Psalm 40:6 reads "mine ears hast thou opened". Hebrews 10:30 reads "Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense" where Deuteronomy 32:35 reads "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence". Hebrews 10:37 reads "he that shall come will come, and will not tarry" where Habakkuk 2:3 reads "though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry", and Hebrews 10:38 reads "the just shall live by faith" where Habakkuk 2:4 reads "the just shall live by his faith". The covenant lines quoted here also differ from the same lines at Hebrews 8:10, where the laws go into the mind and are written in the heart rather than the reverse.

Cited passages: Hebrews 10:32, Hebrews 10:33, Hebrews 10:34, Hebrews 10:5, Psalms 40:6, Hebrews 10:30, Deuteronomy 32:35, Hebrews 10:37, Habakkuk 2:3, Habakkuk 2:4, Hebrews 10:16, Hebrews 8:10

Literary context

The chapter turns on posture and on the word once. Priests stand daily and repeat; "this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down". Repetition is treated as evidence of failure, since a finished cleansing would have stopped the yearly remembrance. The quotation is made to speak in the first person for the one coming into the world, and the writer then takes two words out of it, first and second, and builds his conclusion on them. From verse 19 the sentences change shape into three exhortations, draw near, hold fast, consider one another, which answer the boldness just granted. The warning that follows repeats the argument of chapter 6 in harsher terms, moving from Moses' law and its witnesses to a "much sorer punishment", and ends on a flat sentence with no comparison in it: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The turn at verse 32 is to memory rather than threat, and the closing quotation about living by faith hands the next chapter its subject.

Cited passages: Hebrews 10:11, Hebrews 10:12, Hebrews 10:2, Hebrews 10:9, Hebrews 10:22, Hebrews 10:23, Hebrews 10:24, Hebrews 10:29, Hebrews 10:31, Hebrews 10:32

Key moments

A shadow, not the image (Hebrews 10:1). The law's sacrifices are said never to perfect those who bring them.
A body prepared (Hebrews 10:5). A quotation sets sacrifice aside in favour of a prepared body.
He sat down (Hebrews 10:12). Standing priests are contrasted with one who finished and sat.
Through the veil (Hebrews 10:20). A new way into the holiest is named and identified with his flesh.
Not forsaking the assembling (Hebrews 10:25). The readers are told to keep meeting as some have stopped doing.
No more sacrifice (Hebrews 10:26). The letter warns that wilful sin leaves nothing further to offer.
Remember the former days (Hebrews 10:32). The readers are pointed back to afflictions they already survived.

For reflection

The letter follows its hardest warning with a reminder of what these readers have already endured. Why might the writer answer the fear he has just raised with their own past rather than with reassurance?