In last week’s blog we mentioned that the Book of Hebrews contains two of the most difficult passages in the New Testament to understand. We looked at the first one briefly last week and this week we will look at the second one found in Hebrews chapter ten. To help with understanding let’s briefly review the background and purpose of the letter. Recall that to understand any of our Biblical Books we first try to answer the ‘five W’s, Who, What, When, Where, and Why.’ Answering the ‘who question’ as to ‘who’ wrote the letter, we simply don’t know. As to ‘who’ was the letter written to, while not explicitly stated, we know from the arguments in the text that it was written to Jewish Christians. ‘Where’ were these Jewish Christians located, Guthrie argues for house churches in Rome and that seems to be most likely note Heb. 13:24 “Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who are from Italy send you greetings.”[1] ‘When’ was the letter written? Commentaries will often look at external evidence and internal evidence in dating a writing. But we might not have access to the external evidence like Clement of Rome who seems to be familiar with this book and he wrote about A.D. 96. But internal evidence also points to a first century date. The letter mentions Timothy in Heb. 13:23. This would most likely be Paul’s companion and would also indicate a first century date. Heb 2:2-3 indicates the author was a second generation Christian agreeing with a first century date. We know from Jesus’ teaching in Matt. 24 that the Temple was going to be destroyed. History tells us this happened in A.D. 70 when the Romans defeated the Jews in a war that lasted from A.D. 66 to 70. With the Temple destroyed the sacrificial system came to an end. The author of Hebrews indicates in the letter that sacrifices were still being done at the time of his writing see for example Heb 10:1-3. Also in Heb 8:13 he says the Old Covenant is obsolete and growing old and is about to pass away. If the Temple had already been destroyed, we can be sure the author would have made a point of that fact. Then there is the mention of the persecution they have been going through. In Heb 12:3-4 the author informs us that even though the recipients of the letter had undergone persecution and suffering it had not as yet been unto death. Rome burned in A.D. 64 and shortly thereafter Nero began to blame the Christians to remove suspicion from himself and the Christians in Rome were persecuted severely, and many did lose their lives. All of this would seem to put the writing of the letter shortly before the major outbreak of persecution in Rome.
With this background Heb 10:23-25 takes on a more serious tone. Some had apparently stopped meeting in their house churches possibly to keep a low profile. The writer has been encouraging Hebrew Christians throughout the letter to remain faithful to the Gospel, to expect persecution and even death but to persevere in their faith. Salvation is found in Christ’s sacrifice and not in the Jewish rituals.
We now come to the difficult passage Heb 10:26-39. The Old Testament background that our writer is referring to is found in Num 15:27-31.
27“If one person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering. 28The priest will then make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven. 29You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or an alien who resides among you.
30“But the person who acts defiantly, whether native or resident alien, blasphemes the Lord. That person is to be cut off from his people. 31He will certainly be cut off, because he has despised the Lord’s word and broken his command; his guilt remains on him.” [2]
These warning passages in Hebrews should be taken seriously. Dr. Jim Hamiliton of Southern Baptist Seminary preached on this passage titled “The Unforgivable Sin.”
[1] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. 2020. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
