Credit to : Pastor Joseph Prince
There is a portion of Scripture about “sinning willfully” that often confuses believers because it seems to say there is a sin we can commit that is unpardonable:
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
— Hebrews 10:26–27 NKJV
“sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth” — In this passage, it seems as though this “sinning willfully” is something a believer can commit after receiving the knowledge of the truth. However, it’s possible for someone to “receive the knowledge of the truth,” which is to hear about or know about Jesus dying for all our sins, yet not “receive the truth,” which is Jesus Himself. People who “sin willfully” are those who only receive the knowledge of the truth and do not receive Jesus into their hearts.
When you receive the truth (Jesus), He will bring peace to your heart. God wants His peace to dominate our emotions, our mind, and to manifest as wholeness in our bodies.
God’s peace is practical for our physical bodies. Psychosomatic symptoms (bodily symptoms caused by your mind, worries, or stress) and autoimmune disorders are usually the results of us not being at peace with ourselves.
When scriptures are taken out of context and twisted to create a different meaning, they can be used to develop fear in our hearts, which is not what God has ordained. Lining up one’s life with God’s Word out of fear will never cause love in your heart for Him.
To pastors and leaders: while we envision God’s people to have the right behavior, more than that, we want them to have the right attitude—of love, joy, peace, and love for the Lord.
For example, ideally, a husband should not commit adultery because he loves his wife. However, a husband can be outwardly faithful not because he loves his wife, but because of other reasons like job security, worry about what others will say, etc.
It is important to have the right behavior, but also to have the right motivation behind that behavior. The peace of God is what causes us to have the right actions and the right motivations in our service toward Him.
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Context of Hebrews Hebrews 10:26–27:
For us to learn about the context of Hebrews 10, let us go back to Hebrews 1:
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…”
— Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV
“God spoke to our fathers” — This passage shows us that the book of Hebrews was written to the Jewish people, and not to us today, who are non-Jews (Gentiles).
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
— Hebrews 10:26–27 NKJV
“if we sin willfully . . . there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” — If someone comes to you and says that you can lose your salvation if you sin willfully, you would have a fearful expectation of judgment coming on you. The truth is that even as believers, we have all sinned willfully. Does that mean we’ve lost our salvation? No! We can see this from the very next verses:
“Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
— Hebrews 10:28–29 NKJV
“insulted the Spirit of grace” — What falls into the category of “willful” sin for which there is no forgiveness is turning away from Jesus and saying that you don’t need His grace, and that you can earn your own salvation. This sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin of rejecting God’s grace.
“a common thing” — For the Jewish people, “a common thing” in this context meant that they considered the blood of Jesus like the blood of bulls and goats.
Backstory: During the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), there was the practice of shedding the blood of bulls and goats, which was enough to cover their sins for one year. This was practiced until Jesus, the true Lamb of God, came to take away all our sins once and for all.
Today, when we act like the blood of Jesus only lasts for a day, we take it as a common thing. In actual fact, the blood of Jesus has redeemed us for eternity, is of eternal quality, and has given us eternal forgiveness!
In context, to “sin willfully” means to reject grace and go back to the temple sacrifices (self-effort, and work for your own salvation). On the flip side, when you accept His grace, you are set up to receive all of His blessings!
Once again, let us come back to the promise God made to us who are under the covenant of grace:
“saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’ that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”
— Hebrews 6:14,18 NKJV
God has promised to bless us and it is impossible for Him to lie. You can rest in the strong consolation and encouragement that He will surely bless you and your family even during tough times.
During this financial crisis and pandemic, it is impossible for God not to bless you, for He has sworn to bless you! When thoughts of fear, doubt, and unbelief come in, you can remind yourself that you are a seed of Abraham, and that is why it’s impossible for God not to bless you. Even when you see famine in the job marketplace, you can rest knowing that you are set apart by the Lord and His blessing is upon you.