Unsettled Christianity

Of the issues that we run across in speaking about apostasy is to define exactly what apostasy is. The writer of Hebrews does that for us. It is not the sinning that might happen as we grow in Christ, or the sinning that happens with the flesh comes alive, but it is the deliberate sin whereby we knowingly defy Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Apostasy is the falling away from Christ Himself. Where as chapter 6 defines who can commit apostasy, chapter 10 defines what it is.

Hebrews 10:1-39 from the Commentary in Translation Version

(1)  For the Law, which was a rude outline of the good things to come and not the very reality of the matter,  cannot with the same sacrifices which they offer yearly make the approachers perfect.
(2)  Otherwise, they would cease being offered because the ministering ones if they had once for all been cleansed should have had no more consciousness of sins, would they not?
(3)  But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year,
(4)  For it is impossible that the bloods of bulls and goats should take away sins.
(5)  For this reason, coming into the world, he says: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you did prepare for me;
(6)  In burnt offerings and sacrifices made for sin, you took no pleasure.
(7)  Then I said: Look, for I have come to do your will, O God (In the beginning of the book it stands written concerning me.)
(8)  Earlier, when he said: Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin, you desired none, neither did you take pleasure in them (which are offered according to the Law).
(9)  Then he said: Look, for I have come to do your will, O God. He abolishes the first that he may establish the second.
(10)  By God’s will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time!
(11)  And indeed, every priest had stood daily to minister and to repeatedly offer the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
(12)  But he himself, having offered one sacrifice forever for sins, has sat down on the right hand of God,
(13)  And from that time onward, waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.
(14)  For by one offering he has perfected for all times the ones being sanctified.
(15)  Moreover, the holy spirit also testifies to us,
(16)  For after having said: This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD, putting my laws on their hearts and upon their minds I will inscribe them.
(17)  Then he adds: And I shall by no means remember their sins and their iniquities any longer.
(18)  Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer an offering for sin.
(19)  Therefore, brethren, we have a confident assurance for the entrance to the holy of holies in the blood of Jesus,
(20)  By a way newly slain but living, which he has inaugurated  for us through the veil, which is say, his flesh,
(21)  And having an high priest over the house of God,
(22)  Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled free from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water,
(23)  Let us keep holding fast to the profession of our hope that it waver not, for God is faithful that promised.
(24)  Let us continuously take care one for another to spur to love and to good works,
(25)  Not abandoning the assembling of ourselves together, as the habit of some is; instead encouraging one another, and so much more so as you see the Day approaching.

The Danger of Apostasy

(26)  For if we, yes we, sin deliberately after the receiving of the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

‘Deliberately’ excludes sins of infirmity and weakness of will; ‘knowledge’ excludes ‘sins of ignorance’. Once you reject the Gospel there will be no more that will supplant or supplement it as it did with Judaism.

(27)  But only a terrifying expectation of judgment and wrath of fire that is ready to devour the adversaries.
(28)  If anyone rejecting the Law of Moses dies without mercies under two of three witnesses,

What then is this Law of Moses? Remember, this entire book as drawn together the Old and New into one seamless Testament of God.

“If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing His covenant, who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it is told you, and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones. Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. (Deuteronomy 17:2-6 NKJV)

“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. (Deuteronomy 13:6-9 NKJV)

The worship of God has moved from the physical of Judaism to the spiritual of Christianity, so the physical death that is demanded by the Law is the spiritual death wrought under Grace. If you were to serve even another ‘Jesus’ than the true one once you have the knowledge of the truth, then what standing do you think you have? Would you presume to debate doctrine with God?

(29)  How much worse the punishment do you think that he will be deemed to merit who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, counting the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and having outraged the spirit of Grace.

The idea here is some public dishonour – such as publicly denouncing the doctrine of the Church or even accepting the doctrine of another equal with the Church. It is also dismissing the doctrine as false. The RV has ‘common’ thing, referring to the blood. The idea is the same: when you fail to make the distinction between the blood bought, the separate, and the world, then you have denied Christ.

(30)  For we know him that said: Vengeance belongs unto me; I will repay, says the LORD. And again: The LORD will judge his people.
(31)  Terrifying is the fall into the hands of the living God.

This deliberate sin is the same sin that is found in Numbers,

“And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in its first year as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them.

“But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.”‘ (Numbers 15:27-31 NKJV)

1st John has the same theme,

If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.  (1 John 5:16-17 NKJV)

The idea is the same in Hebrews. There are two types of sin – the one that is unintentional owing itself to human frailty and eyes that are growing dim; there is a sin though that has always brought death, it is the sin that brings a reproach upon the Lord. The Law of Moses and the Grace of Christ allows for the sins of the former type, but neither gives room for the latter sin.

The writer of Hebrews warns again of apostasy – the intentional sin whereby a person counts the blood of the covenant void. Take the example of Joel Hemphill, who recently denied the deity of Christ in favor of the ancient heresy of Arianism. He willingly did this and thus the songs that he wrote and sang, the years that he preached, the many times that he would have called Jesus Christ God is made a reproach to him. What if you denied the doctrine of the Church? The baptism? The very name of God? The very Church of God?

Note the emphatic ‘we’ of the author – he puts himself in the same place as those that hear him. If he too sins deliberately, with a high hand, he too will find nothing more than the expectation of judgment. Paul said the same,

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.  (1 Corinthians 9:27 KJVA)

This is a sin that eternally separates a person from God.

Continue to Persevere

(32)  Call to remembrance your former days, in which after you were enlightened, you endure a great fight of afflictions.
(33)  Sometimes, while you were made a public example both by insults and afflictions and on other occasions you companioned with those that were treated this way.
(34)  For indeed you sympathized with me in my chains, and you accepted the seizure of your property with joy, knowing that you have a better and lasting possession in the heavens.
(35)  Therefore, throw not away your confident assurance, which has a great reward,
(36)  For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive his promise.
(37)  For in a very little while, he that shall come will come and will not delay.
(38)  Now the just will live by faith, and if he draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him,
(39)  But we, yes we!, are not of them that draws back unto destruction, but we, yes we, are they that believe in the securing of the soul.

Again, the writer turns to the illumination of the Saint – being made aware of who Jesus Christ is. He encourages them to hold to that revelation, to stand upon it, and if persecution comes, knowing that Christ Himself is still on the way.

In verse 38-39, the writer makes a clear distinction concerning those that are moving forward and those that have shrunk back. He did not say, as some would suppose, that those that withdrew themselves from Christ where never really saved; instead, he says that they were once righteous and living by faith but because they turned their back on Christ. Thus, he could not fellowship with them; however, he was going forward.

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Hebrews 9:1-28 from the Commentary in Translation Version

Just as in the previous chapter, we see the writer trying to draw the readers to the fact that the covenant inaugurated through the blood of Christ is eternal, and therefore superior than to the temporal Law which Moses brought from Sinai.

(1)  Then indeed even the first covenant used to have ordinances of divine service and its own sanctuary, a sanctuary of this world.
(2)  For there was a tabernacle prepared: in the first part were both the lamp stand and the table with the bread of the presence which is called the holy place;
(3)  After the second veil was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,
(4)  Which had a golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant, overlain all around with gold, in which was the golden pot that had the manna, the rod of Aaron, which budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
(5)  Over it were the cherubim of glory, shadowing the mercy seat (something that we are unable to speak about now in detail).
(6)  Now when these things were prepared in this way, the priests continually went into the first tabernacle, performing the divine service.
(7)  But into the second division went the High Priest, along, once every year and always with blood, which he offered for himself and for the sings of the people which were committed in ignorance.
(8)  The holy spirit making this clear: that the way into the very presence of God was not yet revealed while the first tabernacle had a place,
(9)  Even this is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the offering of both gifts and sacrifices are unable to make the conscience of the worshipper perfect,
(10)  Since they are concerned only with food, drinks, and various ceremonial washings — regulations for the body that were imposed upon them until the time of reformation.
(11)  When Christ having appeared as High Priest of the good things to come went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands (that is, not of this creation),
(12)  He did not enter through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood did he enter once for all time into the very presence of God, having secured eternal redemption.
(13)  For if sprinkling the unclean with the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a young cow sanctifies them to outwardly cleanness,
(14)  How much, then, how much more will the blood of Christ (who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God) purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
(15)  For this reason — that death having come for redemption from the transgressions under the first covenant — he is the Mediator of a new covenant that those who are called will receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
(16)  For where there is a last will, it is necessary for the death of the will-maker.
(17)  For the last will is valid over dead people, since it never in force while the will-maker lives.
(18)  Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.
(19)  For when every commandment had been spoken according to the Law by Moses to all the people, having taken the blood of the calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, he sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people, saying:
(20)  This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded to you.
(21)  And likewise he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the scared ministry with the blood.
(22)  And with blood, I may almost say, all things are purified according to the Law, and without shedding of blood forgiveness does not come.
(23)  Therefore it was indeed necessary for the earthly examples of the heavenly things to be continually purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves purified with better sacrifices than these.
(24)  For Christ did not enter into holy places made by man, which are only copies of the true, but he entered into heaven itself, now to be openly manifested before the face of God on our behalf.
(25)  He did not enter that he should offer himself often, just as the high priest enters into the holy places yearly with blood belonging to another;
(26)  Otherwise, it would have been necessary for him to suffer often — even from the laying of the foundation of the world – but now, once for all time, at the fullness of time, he has been revealed, annulling the power of sin through his sacrifice.
(27)  Just as it is appointed unto men once to die and after this comes the judgment,
(28)  So also Christ, having been offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time without sin to bring salvation to the ones waiting for him!

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Hebrews 8:1-13 from the Commentary in Translation Version

The entire book of Hebrews is geared to teaching a group of Christians who were in danger of falling away the superiority of the New Covenant. In this chapter, the writer draws out the fact that the High Priest that we have in Christ is eternal as opposed to the temporal Levite, calling the Law the shadow of the reality of what Christ has done. This is leading to the warning we find in chapter 10.

(1)  Now, in the consideration of the things being spoken, this is the essence: We have such a High Priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
(2)  He is a minister of the holy places and of the genuine tabernacle which the LORD made and not man.
(3)  For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it is necessary for this one also to have something that he should offer,
(4)  For, indeed, if he were on earth, he would be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the Law, who sacredly serve a figure and a shadow of heavenly things.
(5)  Moses, who was about to erect the tabernacle, was warned of God: See, said the LORD, that you make all things according to the impressed pattern that was shown to you in the mountain.
(6)  But now our High Priest has obtained a ministry far superior, to which he is also the Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.
(7)  For if that first covenant had been faultless, then there would not have been a constant searching for a second.
(8)  For finding fault with the people, He says: Behold! The days are coming, says the LORD, then I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
(9)  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand, to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt because they did not continue in my covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord.
(10)  For this is the covenant that I will draw-up with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their minds and inscribe them in their hearts; I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.
(11)  And by no means will they teach their neighbor, saying: Learn from me about the LORD; for all will come to know me by acquaintance, from the least to the greatest.
(12)  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness; their sins and their iniquities will I remember anymore.
(13)  When the LORD says ‘new’, he has made the first old, and what is declared obsolete and grows aged, is read to be abolished.

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Hebrews 7:1-28 from the Commentary in Translation Version

(1)  For this Melchisedec, King of Salem and priest of God Most High, who met Abraham while returning from the slaughter of the kings, and did bless him,
(2)  To whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (his name first being translated as King of Righteousness — and then King of Salem, which is King of Peace)
(3)  Who is without father and mother, and without a record of family descent, having neither beginning of days nor ending of days; but made like unto the son of God, remains a priest continually.
(4)  Now contemplate how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the choicest spoils of war,
(5)  And truly the ones out of the sons of Levi that received the priesthood have a commandment to collect tithes from the people, according to the Law, that is, of their brethren even though they have come out of the loins of Abraham,
(6)  But he who is without a record of family descent had taken tithes from Abraham, and had blessed him that had the promises from God.
(7)  But without any dispute it is the lesser that is blessed by the better.
(8)  On the one hand, here we have men that die receiving tithes, but on the other hand, there, Melchisedec receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.
(9)  And, so to speak, Levi also who received tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,
(10)  For Levi was yet in the loins of his own father when Melchisedec met Abraham.

The Orthodox Study Bible points out that verses 1-10 serve as a warning in of itself for Christians not to apostatize back to Judaism because the priesthood of Melchizedec (Christ) is superior to the priesthood of Levi. (The Law)

(11)  If then perfection were to come through the Levitical priesthood (for under it, the people received the Law), what further need would there still be for a different type of priest to arise according to the order of Melchisedec and not called according to the order of Aaron?
(12)  For the priesthood now being transferred, there is to made now a necessary change of the Law.
(13)  For he of whom we speak this things about had a part in a different tribe, of which no man served at the altar.
(14)  For it is evident that our Lord has arisen out of Judah, a tribe that Moses spoke nothing about concerning the priesthood.
(15)  And this change in the law is yet thoroughly evident, since there has arisen a different priest in the likeness of Melchisedec,
(16)  Who is not made according to the rule of the fleshy commandment, but according to the power of an indestructible life.
(17)  For God witnesses: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchisedec.
(18)  For there is truly a setting aside of the previous commandment because of it’s weakness and uselessness,
(19)  For where the Law failed in making anything perfect, a better hope has proved effective, through which we draw near to God.
(20)  And to the degree that it was not with the taking of a guarantee,
(21)  For those priests were made without an oath, but this priest was made by and oath, an oath by God that said unto him: The LORD pledges an oath and will not repent – You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec.
(22)  By this degree then, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
(23)  And they truly were priests in many number, because they were hindered by death from continuing,
(24)  But this man, because he remains forever, has his priesthood unchangeable.
(25)  Therefore, he is able to save them completely, perfectly, utterly that come unto God through him, since he is ever living to make intercession for them.
(26)  For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, having been separated from the sinners and having become higher than the heavens,
(27)  Who does not need to repeatedly, as those high priests under the Law, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the people — for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself.
(28)  For the Law appoints men who have weaknesses as high priests, but the word of the oath appoints the son, who is perfected forevermore.