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The text this week provides the payoff for the material in the preceding chapters and sets up the great section on faith found in chapter 11. It contains one of the more memorable and well-known passages, 10:24-25 and provides a very rich and balanced set of conclusions to the high priest Christology that the letter has laid out thus far. The effect is a sobering word of exhortation, one that captures the heart of the whole epistle.
Understanding the Text10:19-25
First of all is a section that opens with a summary of the preceding argument (10:19-21) and uses that summary as a springboard for three significant exhortations. Because of the position and role which Christ is undertaking as high priest, the writer gives these three actions as logical consequences, each marked in the English by the key words, “let us…”. Taken together, these exhortations spell out the point of Hebrews, the desired result of the letter. All of the preceding theology has been to encourage the reader to take the three actions laid out in this section.
Let us draw near…” Knowing that Christ has made possible our entry into God’s presence by making us holy through his blood, the author invites us to confidently approach God. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we need not fear God's presence, but recognize and celebrate his nearness. We recognize that because of Jesus, we live in the ongoing presence of God with confidence. Unlike Adam and Eve, who because of guilty consciences hid from God in fear, we who live by the blood of Jesus confidently enjoy fellowship with Holy God. We come out into the open before God, and do not need to hide from him with guilty consciences. It's not a show either, but something we can do sincerely, because we know that christ has removed our guilt, and that we've been cleansed. It is quite possible to read the reference to washing with pure water as a reference to a symbolic meaning of baptism, so that the author is pointing back towards that initiation rite as a source of confidence for our ongoing life before God. Overall though, the emphasis in verses 19-21 as well as in 22 is on the actions of Christ spelled out in the previous chapters. It is because of the confidence we have in the blood of Jesus, in the new way opened up by his body, because of his priesthood and the priestly act of sprinkling our hearts with his blood that we have the confidence to come to God. This first exhortation is going to be balanced by 10:26-31 below.
Let us hold unswervingly to the faith we profess” Connected with the confidence to approach God is the author's central plea to the readers to stay the course of their faith and not lose heart. Our failures should not derail us from the path of our perfection in Christ. When we give up at the first hints of failure, we undercut both Christ's work of redemption in the cross and the hope of what he has for us in the future. We do not come to follow christ because we are already saints, but in following him we are made saintly. This exhortation is going to be picked up at the end of the chapter, and developed more fully in chapters 11-12.
Let us consider how we may spur one another on...” The final exhortation is intensely pragmatic and tied to the second one, since it is remarkably difficult to “hold unswervingly” to hope on one's own. The support and encouragement of the community is incredibly important component of God's plan for our salvation. The spurring on that the author encourages is wide-ranging, including our involvement in relationships (love), ethics (good deeds), and community (meeting together). The encouragement we offer is forward looking, growing with every step closer to the day of Christ's return. It is interesting to note that this text, perhaps the prime New Testament text referring to our assembling together does not mention the need to do so in ritual terms, as though it were a requirement to satisfy God, but rather places the exhortation in terms of our relationships and encouragement of each other. Importantly, this does not at all change the urgency of the exhortation. Our meeting together is critical to our ability to maintain focus on God and to provoke each other to greater holiness. Thus it is an integral part of how God is shaping and changing us. God sanctifies us by the power of his spirit at work in our brothers and sisters encouragement.
10:26-31
This section strongly warns against neglecting these exhortations. The exhortations are meant to sustain our faith, but if we choose to deliberately turn away from our faith, the consequences are severe and sure. This section points backwards to what the author mentioned in 2:1-3 and 6:4-6; the stakes are high when we are choosing between faith and faithlessness.
The unanswered question is what the author means by “willful” or “deliberate” sin. There is a real tension at work here, since a great part of the book is actually an argument for the ongoing efficacy of Christ's sacrifice for our sins and failures as disciples. Surely this text isn't naysaying that very point, it would not be logical if this text was intended to make us constantly sweat out whether or not we were okay with God. However, to take the text seriously means that we must recognize the possibility of some who have been sanctified by the blood of the covenant committing such sin that they are “trampling the Son of God underfoot”. That likely is not intended to be sin which a disciple seeking to follow the Lord commits in a moment of weakness, but is more likely intended to refer to the wholesale apostasy the letter is written to prevent. The language of the consequences here is intentionally strong, but so is the language describing the sin. It is done “deliberately”, makes us “enemies of God”, and is equal to “rejecting the Law of Moses”. It is “trampling the Son of God underfoot”, treating the blood of the covenant as “an unholy thing”, and those who do so have “insulted the Spirit of Grace.” This is not sin of weakness, but is sin which represents a turning away from the path of discipleship altogether. The readers may have thought they had reasons to do so, but Hebrews clearly communicates that while there is a cost to having faith, there is certainly a cost to faithlessness as well.
10:32-39
The final section here returns to the exhortation to persevere. Although the next chapter is going to provide a whole cast of examples of perseverance and faithfulness, the surprising choice here is...the readers themselves! They have already demonstrated the strength they need to remain faithful. What is required is not something new, but just perseverance in the faith they have already displayed. This section also gives us some clues into the actual life situations of the original readers, so that while we may read these words as directed to us as well, reminding us to remain in the faith, we can also add those original readers to the cast of people we consider heroes of faith. Here is a whole community who has very much lived out Jesus' words in Matthew 5:11-12. What would it be like to a part of such a community of faith? And yet, the letter itself is evidence that even in the midst of such great faith, doubts and temptations existed. Surely this will help us deal with our own doubts and temptations!
What do we take away?This is a great text, and perhaps is more inspiring, if not as theologically dense, than the preceding chapters. If you're looking for a text worthy of memorization, you could do a lot worse than the opening section. But what can we all walk away with?
First, what we believe about Jesus has consequences for how we live. All the high priest Christology that has been developing is meant to support the exhortations here. It is because of who he is and what he does that we are supposed to draw near, hold on, and encourage each other. The author could have sent a much shorter letter, one that just said, “Be confident before God, don't give up, and encourage each other.” But instead he argues extensively to change the way we think, knowing that this can't help but have an impact on what we decide to do.
Secondly it is a matter of great concern whether our assemblies serve to fulfill the functions outlined in the third exhortations. When we meet together, what happens? Do we spur one another on to love better, more fully? Do we provoke each other to do good deeds? Do we encourage each other? Does our encouragement grow with anticipation of Christ's return? These questions, and a discussion of how your class members experience these realities, could form a great part of the class time this week with great benefit. How are you as a teacher encouraged in these areas? What are some ways you could use greater encouragement? What testimony can your class members offer for how this works and why it is needed?
Third, while the text from 10:26-31 could be misused as a weapon of guilt and shame, its sobering reality can usefully remind us that these are not small matters that we read about. These are, in fact, relevant to our eternal destiny. We may have a useful discussion of the proper role of fear in our relationship to God. Fear is out of vogue, but is it completely out of place? Who need be afraid, and who needn't be?
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