Sinning Willfully

^“For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,

there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.”

(Hebrews 10:26)

To sin willfully is defined in the following verse of Hebrews 10:29. It speaks of someone who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified as a common thing and insulted the Spirit of Grace. It is a knowing, deliberate renunciation of the LORD Jesus’ great work accomplished on the cross, without a mixture of the sinner’s contribution or will.

‘Sin willfully:’ We must confess that every sin is a “willful sin.” But here, the writer to the Hebrews is writing of something much more severe and relevant to the professing Hebrews, Christians who may have been contemplating turning back from the exclusive and distinctive sacrifice of the LORD Jesus to Judaism with its sacrificial system and obedience to the law, at least in part. This would be to willingly sin in apostatizing away from Christ and His finished work and the righteousness of God that He earned and established and God the Father imputed, once and for all, to each of the elect upon completion of His work of substitution on their behalf. In addition, the thought is closely connected with the preceding verse that any that withdraw themselves from those who fellowship together in the True Gospel, have abandoned Christ, the Head of His True Church.

There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins: Any who depart from the clear declaration of Christ and His death accomplished to the satisfaction of the Father, cannot and will not find any other sacrifice for sins that could ever please Him for the saving of their souls. In His death alone is the redemption, justification, sanctification and glorification of sinners for whom He paid their horrible sin debt.

How much worse punishment: If someone seeks to approach a Holy God by any other means, there remains nothing but a certain fearful judgment of God.

It is to sin willfully after having received the knowledge of the Truth: Therefore, of 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? [Hebrews 10:29]

The term “unholy thing” literally means, “to make common, profane or impure.” To say that Christ died, yet His death did not actually accomplish the salvation of each one for whom He paid the debt, is to make His death a common thing and therefore worthless. To take something so precious and worthy of honor as the death of the LORD Jesus and relegate it to something that the sinner finishes and makes effectual by his decision is to trample it under foot.

Any who do not receive and believe the record that God has given of His Son and His completed work for His elect without any condition being put on the sinner, are rebels and reprobates and therefore ones on whom the wrath of God abides, John 3:36. True, even the elect initially rebel against the Truth but when taught by the Spirit of Christ, they bow to Him and His work accomplished and fulfilled by His death for them. However, for any who continue in unbelief, it is because the wrath of God abides on them. It always has and always will.

The death of the LORD Jesus is EVERYTHING to the Father and is made EVERYTHING to those sinners for whom He died when the Spirit reveals Him in them. It is uniquely designed for those whom the Father has chosen in Everlasting Love [Ephesians 1:5] and effectually then saves everyone for whom that salvation was purposed by HIM, John 6:39.