Hebrews 10

Hebrews 10 is the tenth of the thirteen chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It completes the comparison between the new covenant and the tabernacle sacrifices developed in chapters 8–9, and from verse 19 onward it turns to exhortation grounded in that conclusion. The "faith" mentioned in the final verse leads into the accounts of faith in chapter 11.

Outline

• Verses 1–4: The law is a shadow of good things to come. The sacrifices offered year by year and the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.
• Verses 5–10: The author quotes a psalm in which Christ comes to do the will of God and states that believers have been sanctified through Christ's offering of his body once for all.
• Verses 11–18: The priests stand daily offering the same sacrifices. Christ, by contrast, offered one sacrifice and sat down at the right hand of God. On the basis of Jeremiah's prophecy of the new covenant, the author concludes that no further offering for sin is needed.
• Verses 19–25: Since believers have boldness to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, the author urges them to draw near to God, to hold fast their hope, to encourage one another, and not to stop meeting together.
• Verses 26–31: The author warns that for those who sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, only judgment remains.
• Verses 32–39: Reminding readers of the suffering they endured in the past, the author urges perseverance and closes with the words "The just shall live by faith."

Key verses

• Hebrews 10:10: "through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" — the central claim of the chapter, that Christ's atonement need not be repeated.
• Hebrews 10:25: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" — frequently cited in support of corporate worship and fellowship.
• Hebrews 10:38: "Now the just shall live by faith" — a quotation of Habakkuk 2:4, the same text quoted in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11.

People and places

• Jesus Christ: Portrayed as "an high priest over the house of God" who offered one sacrifice and sat down at the right hand of God.
• Holy Spirit: Appears in verse 15 as the one who bears witness through Jeremiah's prophecy.
• Moses: Mentioned in verse 28 in the phrase "Moses' law."
• The sanctuary and the veil: Verse 20 likens the veil that screened the Holy of Holies to Christ's flesh.

Interpretive considerations

• The warning of verses 26–31: The Reformed tradition, which teaches the perseverance of the saints (the doctrine that true believers will not finally lose their salvation), tends to read this warning in one of two ways: as referring to people who were never true believers, or as a warning that serves as a means by which God keeps believers to the end. The Wesleyan and Arminian traditions tend to read it as showing that those who have believed can actually fall away. On either view, many interpreters hold that "sin wilfully" refers not to every sin but to deliberate and persistent betrayal.
• "Once for all" (verses 10–14): Protestants have appealed to these verses in opposing the view that the Mass is a repeated sacrifice. The Catholic Church explains that the Mass does not repeat Christ's unique sacrifice but makes that sacrifice present (re-presents it).
• Verse 22: Many interpreters see "our bodies washed with pure water" as an allusion to baptism.
• Old Testament quotations: The chapter quotes Psalm 40:6–8, Jeremiah 31:33–34, Deuteronomy 32:35–36, and Habakkuk 2:3–4. The psalm quotation follows the wording of the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament). The new covenant quotation in verses 16–17 has already appeared at length in Hebrews 8:6–13.

In the Korean church

Verse 25 is often used in sermons encouraging Sunday worship attendance and participation in the life of the church community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was cited in support of differing positions in debates over in-person worship and online worship.