Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hebrews 10:14
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
14. he hath perfected ] Heb 7:11; Heb 7:25.
them that are sanctified ] “those who are in the way of sanctification” (Heb 2:11; comp. Act 2:47).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For by one offering – By offering himself once on the cross. The Jewish priest offered his sacrifices often, and still they did not avail to put away sin; the Saviour made one sacrifice, and it was sufficient for the sins of the world.
He hath perfected forever – He hath laid the foundation of the eternal perfection. The offering is of such a character that it secures their final freedom from sin, and will make them forever holy. It cannot mean that those for whom he died are made at once perfectly holy, for that is not true; but the idea is, that the offering was complete, and did not need to be repeated; and that it was of such a nature as entirely to remove the penalty due to sin, and to lay the foundation for their final and eternal holiness. The offerings made under the Jewish Law were so defective that there was a necessity for repeating them every day; the offering made by the Saviour was so perfect that it needed not to be repeated, and that it secured the complete and final salvation of those who availed themselves of it.
Them that are sanctified – Those who are made holy by that offering. It does not mean that they are as yet wholly sanctified, but that they have been brought under the influence of that gospel which sanctifies and saves; see Heb 2:11; Heb 9:14. The doctrine taught in this verse is, that all those who are in any measure sanctified will be perfected forever. It is not a temporary work which has been begun in their souls, but one which is designed to be carried forward to perfection. In the atonement made by the Redeemer there is the foundation laid for their eternal perfection, and it was with reference to that, that it was offered. Respecting this work and the consequences of it, we may remark, that there is:
(1)Perfection in its nature, it being of such a character that it needs not to be repeated;
(2)There is perfection in regard to the pardon of sin – all past sins being forgiven to those who embrace it, and being forever forgiven; and
(3)There is to be absolute perfection for them forever.
They will be made perfect at some future period, and when that shall take place it will be to continue forever and ever.
(The perfection, in this place, is not to be understood of the perfection of grace or of glory. It is perfection, in regard to the matter in hand, in regard to what was the chief design of sacrifices, namely, expiation and consequent pardon and acceptance of God. And this indeed is the Teleiosis of the Epistle to the Hebrews generally, Heb 7:11; Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1. Perfect moral purity and consummate happiness will doubtless follow as consequences of the sacrifice of Christ, but the completeness of his expiation, and its power to bring pardon and peace to the guilty and trembling sinner, to justify him unto eternal life, is here, at all events, principally intended. The parties thus perfected or completely justified, are tous hagiazomenous, the sanctified. Hagiazo, however, besides the general sense of sanctify has in this Epistle, like teleioo, its sacrificial sense of cleansing from guilt. Whether ceremonially, as under the Levitical dispensation; Heb 9:13; comp, Lev 16:19; or really and truly, by the offering of the body of Christ; Heb 10:10, Heb 10:14, Heb 10:29; compare Heb 10:2, and Heb 2:11; Heb 9:14. – Parkhursts Greek Lexicon. The meaning, then, may be, that they who are purged or cleansed by this sacrifice, in other words, those to whom its virtue is applied, are perfectly justified.
Wherever this divine remedy is used, it will effectually save. By one offering Christ hath forever justified such as are purged or cleansed by it. This could not be said of those sanctified or purged by the legal sacrifices. Mr. Scott gives the sacrificial sense of the word, but combines with it the sense of sanctifying morally, in the following excellent paraphrase. By his one oblation he hath provided effectually for the perfect justification unto eternal life, of all those who should ever receive his atonement, by faith springing from regeneration, and evidenced by the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and who were thus set apart and consecrated to the service of God.)
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Heb 10:14
Perfected for ever them that are sanctified
Perfection in faith
I.
THE CHILDREN OF GOD ARE HERE INTENDED, UNDER THE TERM SANCTIFIED; they are described as sanctified persons. There are two meanings to the term sanctified. One is, set apart. God has set apart His people from before the foundation of the world, to be His chosen and peculiar inheritance. We are sanctified by God the Father. There is a second signification, which implies not the decree of the Father, but the work of the Holy Spirit. But the word here, I think, includes both of these senses; and I must try to find a figure which will embrace them both. And what is the apostle speaking about? In the ninth chapter he is speaking about the tabernacle, and the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread, and the sanctuary, and the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid with gold, and the pot of manna; he is talking about priests, and holy things; and he is declaring that all these things of which he speaks were sanctified things, but that though they were sanctified things, they wanted to be made perfect by the sprinkling of blood, Now I believe the sanctification of our text is to be understood in this sense.
II. IN WHAT SENSE ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND THAT CHRIST HAS PERFECTED THESE THAT ARE SANCTIFIED? When the golden vessels were brought into the temple or into the sanctuary, they were sanctified the very first moment that they were dedicated to God. No one dared to employ them for anything but holy uses. But they were not perfect. What did they need, then, to make them perfect? Why, to have blood sprinkled on them; and, as soon as the blood was sprinkled on them, those golden vessels were perfect vessels, officially perfect. God accepted them as being holy and perfect things, and they stood in His sight as instruments of an acceptable worship. Just so was it with the Levites and the priests. As soon as ever they were set apart to their office; as soon as ever they were bern, in fact, they were consecrated, they belonged to God; they were His peculiar priesthood. But they were not perfect until they had passed through divers washings, and had the blood sprinkled upon them. Then God looked upon them in their official priestly character, as being perfect persons. Here is one sense of the text. The apostle says that we who are the priests of God have a right as priests to go to Gods mercy-seat that is within the veil; but it were to our death to go there unless we were perfect. But we are perfect, for the blood of Christ has been sprinkled on us, and, therefore, our standing before God is the standing of perfection. Our standing, in our own conscience, is imperfection, just as the character of the priest might be imperfect. But that has nothing to do with it. Our standing in the sight of God is a standing of perfection; and when He sees the blood, as of old the destroying angel passed over Israel, so this day, when He sees the blood, God passes over our sins, and accepts us at the throne of His mercy, as if we were perfect. Therefore, let us come boldly; let us draw near with a true heart in frill assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. And now we will have one more thought, and then I shall have given you the full meaning of the text. In the seventh chapter, the nineteenth verse, there is a word that is a key to the meaning of my text, and that helped me all through it. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. Then with this, compare the tenth chapter and first verse, The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. There is the word perfect; and we have it in the text; for then, says he, if they had been perfect, would they not have ceased to be offered. Why offer any more, if you are a perfect man? If the sacrifice made is perfect, the worshippers, once purged, should have had no more conscience of sin. Now mark. The Jewish sacrifice was never intended to make the Jews moral character any better, and it did not; it had no effect upon what we call his sanctification; all the sacrifice dealt with was his justification, and the perfection would be sought after; the perfection is not of sanctification, but of official standing, as he stood justified before God. Now that is the meaning of the word perfect here. It does not mean that the sacrifice did not make the man perfectly holy, and perfectly moral, and so forth; the sacrifice had no tendency to do that; it was quite another matter. It means that it did not perfectly make him justified in his own conscience and in the sight of God, because he had to come and offer again. But now behold the glory of Christ Jesus as revealed to us in our text. Those sacrifices could not make the comers thereunto perfect. They could not feel in their own conscience that they were perfectly justified, and they wanted fresh offerings; but I see the slaughtered Lamb on Calvary. Years ago I sought Him and I found Him. I do not want another Lamb; I do not want another sacrifice. I can still see that blood flowing, and I can feel continually that I have no more conscience of sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The one perfect offering
1. The act is to perfect, which may be to a thing perfect; and seeing the end of Christs sacrifice is mans full happiness, therefore to perfect is to make us perfectly and fully happy.
2. The subject of this consecration are the sanctified.
3. The effect is glorious and most excellent, and includes regeneration, justification, reconciliation, adoption with the inferior degrees of them all, and also the resurrection and eternal glorification. And surely so rare an effect must have some excellent cause; and so it hath, and that is, that one offering of Christ. (G. Lawson.)
Perfected:
The word perfected falls with a strange sound on those who are experiencing daily their sad imperfections. But the Christian is a strange paradox. We are unknown, yet well known; chastened, yet not killed; dying, and, behold, we live; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing all things. Let me speak to you then of this twofold aspect of the Christian. You may be caught up into the third heaven, and yet the abundance of thin revelation will not burn up the dross that is within you, or kill the old man, the flesh which warreth against the spirit. We have died once in Christ, and in Christ are accepted and perfect; but our old nature is not dead, the flesh in us is not annihilated, there is still within us that which has no pleasure in the will and ways of God. Painful this struggle will ever be, though God is with us, and our joy is greater than our pain. We have in us the death of Adam, and we have in us the resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the one we are broken and tormented through sin, and darkness, and sluggishness, and earthliness, and gloom; by Christ we are raised, and strengthened, and comforted. We sin, we fall, we carry about with us a mind resisting Gods will, criticising it, and rebelling; and we shall experience to the very last breath we draw on earth, that there is a conflict, and that we must strive and suffer in order to be faithful unto death. (A. Saphir.)
Importance of the death of Christ:
Speculate on it how we may, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is presented to us in the New Testament as the everlasting reason of every happy relation between sinful man and the moral government of God. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
By one offering:
As our burnt-offering, Christ became our righteousness in full consecration; as our peace-offering, our life; as our sin-offering, the expiation for our sins; as our guilt-offering, He made satisfaction and plenary reparation in our behalf to the God on whose inalienable rights in us, by our sins we had trespassed without measure. (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. For by one offering] His death upon the cross.
He hath perfected for ever.] He has procured remission of sins and holiness; fur it is well observed here, and in several parts of this epistle, that , to make perfect, is the same as , to procure remission of sins.
Them that are sanctified.] . Them that have received the sprinkling of the blood of this offering. These, therefore, receiving redemption through that blood, have no need of any other offering; as this was a complete atonement, purification, and title to eternal glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For by one offering: for here gives the reason of the precedent effect, and it is opposed to the reason of the legal offerings defect; their sacrifices multiplied could not perfect sinners, but this one doth it fully.
He hath perfected for ever: Christ, God-man, the gospel High Priest, by the one offering of himself a sacrifice for sin to God his Father, and once performed by him, hath secured perfection of justification, sanctification, and blessedness, perpetually to be continued, whereby the persons interested in it are qualified and consecrated to be priests to God and his Father, (as the Aaronical priests were by the sacrifice of the ram of consecration, Exo 29:22,24), to serve in their proportion here, but especially after the completion of it by their resurrection, they shall perfectly serve him before his throne in the holy of holiest for ever, 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6; 5:10; 20:6.
Them that are sanctified; the renewed souls by the Holy Ghost, such whose consciences he hath sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, and by it freed them from the guilt of sin and its punishment, and whose natures he regenerates and sanctifieth, freeing them from their evil habits, and making them inherently holiness unto the Lord, Psa 110:3; 1Co 6:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. ForThe sacrifice being”for ever” in its efficacy (Heb10:12) needs no renewal.
them that aresanctifiedrather as Greek, “them that are beingsanctified.” The sanctification (consecration to God) of theelect (1Pe 1:2) believers isperfect in Christ once for all (see on Heb10:10). (Contrast the law, Heb 7:19;Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1).The development of that sanctification is progressive.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For by one offering,…. The same as before; himself, body and soul; this is a reason why he is set down, and will continue so for ever, and why he expects his enemies to be made his footstool; because by one sacrifice for sin, which he has once offered,
he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified; that is, who are sanctified by God the Father, Jude 1:1 or, who are set apart by him in eternal election, from the rest of the world, for his own use, service, and glory, to a state of grace and holiness here, and happiness hereafter; for this is not to be understood either of their being sanctified in Christ, though the Syriac version reads, “that are sanctified” in him, or by his Spirit, though both are true of the same persons; these Christ, by his sacrifice, has perfected, and has perfectly fulfilled the law for them; he has perfectly expiated their sins; he has obtained the full pardon of all their sins, and complete redemption; he has perfectly justified them from all things, and that for ever; which shows the continued virtue of Christ’s sacrifice, in all generations, to all the elect of God, and the fulness and duration of their salvation; and so Christ by his one sacrifice did what the law, and all its sacrifices, could not do, Heb 10:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He hath perfected (). Perfect active indicative of . He has done what the old sacrifices failed to do (verse 1).
Them that are sanctified ( ). Articular participle (accusative case) present passive of (note perfect in verse 10) either because of the process still going on or because of the repetition in so many persons as in 2:11.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
He hath perfected forever [ ] . Note the continued emphasis upon the teleiwsivperfection. Comp. ch. Heb 7:11, 19; Heb 9:9; Heb 10:1; Heb 12:2. No more sacrifices are needed. The reign of the Great High Priest is not to be interrupted by the duty of sacrifice.
15 – 17. Repetition of the passage already cited from Jer. in ch. 8 10 – 12. The nerve of the citation is ver. 17.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For by one offering,” (mia gar prophora) “Because by means of one offering,” the offering of himself voluntarily as a sacrifice for all men, for all times; Joh 10:18; Rom 5:8-9; Rom 8:1.
2) “He hath perfected forever,” (teteleioken eis to dienekes) “He has perfected in perpetuity,” made complete in him forever, Col 2:10. His fullness all the redeemed receive in regeneration, that is in their new nature, so that it is declared they can not, (have not, a potential) in the new nature to sin, Joh 1:16; Joh 5:24; 1Jn 3:9.
3) “Them that are sanctified,” (tous hagiaz omenous) “The ones being or they who are sanctified,” separated unto him, from condemnation to eternal life, Joh 10:27-29; 1Jn 5:13. This speaks of the redeemed who has the righteousness of God imputed to him in the regeneration of the new man, or implanted in him as the Divine, new creature, 2Co 5:17; 2Pe 2:4; Rom 4:7-8; Psa 32:2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(14) No repetition of His offering is needed, for by one offering He hath brought all unto perfection, and that for ever. In Heb. 7:11 we have read that perfection did not come through the Levitical priesthood or through the law (Heb. 10:19); the object of mans hopes and of all priestly service has at last been attained, since through the great High Priest we draw nigh to God (Heb. 7:19). In this is involved salvation to the uttermost (Heb. 7:25). The last word of this verse has occurred before, in Heb. 2:11. As was there explained, it literally means those who are being sanctified, all those who, from age to age, through faith (Heb. 10:22) receive as their own that which has been procured for all men.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Perfected for ever sanctified He has once, fully and forever, potentially and conditionally, perfected all; but the full reality takes effect only in those who are sanctified through faith in him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For by one offering he has perfected for ever those who are sanctified.’
For by one offering He has fully achieved His aim, He has perfected for ever (perfected in the past so that the benefit continues to the present day) those who are being sanctified (are in the process of having their sanctification, provided for them in Heb 10:10, made into a reality through and through). That is, He has made them be seen as continually perfect in the sight of God, clothing them with His own perfection, with a view to them being made perfect through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
‘Perfected for ever.’ Made perfect in Him once-for-all and in continuing fashion (perfect tense) with a view to the fact that one day, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, they may be presented to Him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that they might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27). Through His death He has wrought a perfect salvation for all who are His.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Heb 10:14. For by one offering, &c. “For by that one offering up of himself, concerning which we have been speaking, he hath made an expiation, which avails perpetually to render all those who partake of the virtue of it, completely qualified for the spiritual worship and service of God; and has rendered all true believers acceptable to God; and has made effectual provision for raising those sanctified and faithful ones to a state of the most consummate holiness, felicity, and glory; (Heb 10:15.) And of this the Holy Ghost assures us, fully attesting what has been said.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Heb 10:14 . Proof of the possibility of the , Heb 10:12 , from the needlessness for a fresh sacrifice, since Christ has already, by the sacrifice once offered, brought in perfect sanctification for His believers.
The accentuation: , merits the preference to , to which Bengel is inclined, and which has been followed by Ewald, since by the former the words acquire an immediate reference to Christ.
] them that are sanctified, sc . as regards the decree of God. The participle present is used substantively , as Heb 2:11 , without respect to time.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2310
THE PERFECTION OF CHRISTS SACRIFICE
Heb 10:14-17. By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord [Note: If be translated, The Lord saith, the connexion with what follows will make the passage incomparably more clear.], I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
IT is a favourite sentiment with some, that we need not study any thing but the four Gospels, in order to attain a complete view of our holy religion. But whilst I acknowledge, that a person who studies the four Gospels may certainly learn the way of salvation from them, I must add, that his views of Christianity will of necessity be very imperfect, if he do not avail himself of the further light which is afforded him in the epistles. To what purpose has the Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, written so argumentatively on the subject of justification by faith alone, if we do not derive from his statement a fuller knowledge of that fundamental doctrine, than we could have acquired without it? And who will say that he could have attained from the Gospels, or even from the Mosaic law itself, such clear views of the priestly office of Christ as are set before us in the Epistle to the Hebrews? There the parallel between his and the Aaronic priesthood is drawn to our hands, and the superiority of his is pointed out with a fulness and precision which no uninspired man could ever have attained. The tabernacle in which the Levitical priests ministered was glorious; but Christs was more glorious, being not made with hands, even his own sacred body. They were appointed to their office by a command; he, with an oath; they entered into a holy place on earth; he, into heaven itself; they, with the blood of beasts; he, with his own blood. Their sacrifices purified the patterns of heavenly things; his, the heavenly things themselves: theirs, legally, the flesh; his, really, the conscience. Their priests were only priests; he, a Priest to God, and a Testator to us. They offered often; he, only once: they stood; he sits: they offered for themselves first; he, for us only: they entered the vail to come forth again; he, never to come forth till he shall come to judge the world: they obtained a temporary remission of some sins; he, an everlasting remission of all sin.
It is in this last view that his office is spoken of in the passage before us. The Aaronic priests offered often because their offerings could never take away sin: but he, by his one offering, hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified: whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.
The peculiar solemnity with which his asseveration is here confirmed, even by an appeal to God himself, will lead me to consider,
I.
The truth attested
A more important truth than this can scarcely be conceived; it is, that Christs one offering has done that which all the Levitical sacrifices never could have done; it has procured for all who trust in it a full and perfect and everlasting remission of all their sins. But,
Let us notice this truth as contrasted with the ordinances of the Mosaic law
[The Levitical sacrifices were renewed from year to year, because of their inefficiency: but Christs was offered only once, because it completely answered every end for which it was designed. The Levitical sacrifices perfected no man, either as to his acceptance before God, or as to the peace of his own soul: as far as they had any efficacy, they prevailed only for a year; and then must be repeated, in order to obtain a further remission: but Christs sacrifice rendered men perfect, both before God and in their own consciences. God was so satisfied with it, that he has nothing more to demand at the hands of those who trust in it: He considers it as a full discharge of all that the law requires of us, and a full price for all that our souls can need either in time or eternity. And the sinner who looks to it may well be satisfied, since God himself is satisfied, and all the demands of law and justice are satisfied. Thus, all who are sanctified to the service of their God, whatever their past sins may have been, are perfected, and that for ever: sins of the deepest die are purged by this sacrifice; and all who believe in it, are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.]
In this view, what a glorious truth it is!
[How honourable to Christ! how consoling to us! As it respects the Lord Jesus Christ, it shews how completely he has effected all which he came into the world to do. He has made an end of sin, and made reconciliation for iniquity; and obtained eternal redemption for us. Nothing is wanting to complete his work: his one offering has effected all. As it respects us, we have in Christs sacrifice all that we can desire. When once we recollect who he is, not man only, but God manifest in the flesh: when we recollect the covenant-engagements entered into between his Father and him; he on his part undertaking to make atonement for sin; and the Father undertaking to accept it in our behalf: when we recollect that he has been raised from the dead in proof of his having fulfilled all his engagements; and that he is now invested with all power in heaven and in earth to impart to sinners the blessings he has purchased for them: what can we want more? The soul acquiesces in this mysterious appointment, and confidently relies upon it, assured, that, if salvation is not to be found in him, it is not to be found at all.]
This truth being attested by the Holy Ghost, let us consider,
II.
The testimony adduced
The witness to this truth is no other than the Holy Ghost
[All Scripture is given by inspiration of God: and whether the writers of it were Prophets or Apostles, they all spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Throughout the whole Scripture, too, that Divine Spirit has one great object, which is, to testify of Christ. By the prophets he testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should follow. Indeed, the testimony of Jesus was the spirit of prophecy throughout [Note: Rev 19:10.], and in this light we should regard all that the prophets have written. We should consider their words, not merely as the words of the Holy Ghost, but as a testimony given by the Holy Ghost, in order to shew us what we should believe respecting the Lord Jesus, and to increase our faith in him. And, whatever his testimony be, we should give the most implicit credit to it, adoring him for his wonderful goodness in thus condescending to teach the inquiring, and to confirm the doubting, soul. On this occasion,]
His testimony is most convincing
[The passage cited by the Apostle, is taken from the prophecies of Jeremiah [Note: Jer 31:31-34.]. He has before cited it in a preceding chapter [Note: Heb 8:8-12.]. There it is adduced more at length, in order to shew that the Jews under the Mosaic dispensation were taught to look forward to a new covenant, and to regard their own as waxing old. In the passage before us, a smaller portion of it only is adduced, in order to mark in a peculiar manner the sufficiency of Christs sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Its force will be best seen by contrasting it with the provisions made for the forgiveness of sin under the Mosaic dispensation. There was no actual forgiveness of sins obtained by the sacrifices which the law prescribed: they were pardoned, so to speak, for a year only; at the expiration of which time, the same sacrifices were to be again offered, in order to the obtaining of a protracted pardon. Thus the very sacrifices which were offered for sin, were rather a remembrance of sins than a real expiation of them; so that the conscience of the sinner was never relieved from a sense of guilt, and never brought to the enjoyment of solid peace. But, under that very dispensation, the Holy Ghost testified, that provision was made by the new covenant, for the full and everlasting remission of all sin, since God expressly engaged, Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more: and consequently no further sacrifice was wanted to be offered for them. This testimony comes exactly to the point. The Aaronic priests repeated annually the same sacrifices; because the sins for which they were offered, were still kept in remembrance by God: but, in consequence of the offering which Christ has made, the sins of those who believe in him shall never be remembered: and consequently, without any repetition of his sacrifice, his people are perfected for ever, being brought into perfect peace with God, and perfect peace in then: own consciences.]
Hence we see,
1.
How amply the Scripture testifies of Christ!
[It is not merely of his Messiahship that the prophets speak: they enter fully into every part of his character, and work, and offices. There is not any thing which we are concerned to know respecting him, which is not revealed in the Old Testament. The revelation of him is indeed less clear than in the New Testament, but not a whit less glorious. When the true sense of the different passages is ascertained, there will be found truths, of which the superficial reader has no conception.
Our blessed Lord says, Search the Scriptures; for they are they that testify of me. And if we would fulfil that duty with care and diligence, and with earnest prayer to God for the teachings of his Spirit, we should find in the Scriptures an inexhaustible mine of wealth, and be enriched by them with all the unsearchable riches of Christ [Note: Pro 2:1-6.].]
2.
What loss they sustain who receive not its testimony!
[It is a lamentable fact, that the generality of Christians are looking out for some other offering to present to God, in order to effect their reconciliation with him. Every considerate person will sometimes put this question to himself, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? And the ignorant conceit of Balak is that which then presents itself to his mind; Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? But if men read even the Jewish Scriptures with attention, they might see how erroneous such views were, and how vain such hopes. They would see that the new covenant, which has been ratified by the blood of Christ, prescribes a very different method of acceptance with God: they would see that the one offering of Christ is a sufficient propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and that all attempts to add to it are vain. Dear brethren, believe, I pray you, the witness of the Holy Ghost on this all-important subject. Make not God himself a liar, as St. John expresses it, by denying or doubting this record. Be assured that he will not deceive you. If this were the testimony of a fallible man, you might well question it: but when Prophets and Apostles, all inspired by the Holy Ghost, concur in it, you should embrace it with your whole hearts, and rely upon it with your whole souls.]
3.
How exalted are the privileges of every true believer!
[All who are interested in the one offering of Christ upon the cross, are perfected for ever. God has cast all their sins behind his back into the very depths of the sea. He has not only forgiven, but, if I may so speak, has forgotten, all their sins. They are blotted out as a morning cloud. True it is, that they still need the application of the same blood to their consciences, because they are yet compassed with infirmities, so that even their holy things need to be cleansed from the iniquity that cleaveth to them. They are like persons who have been washed in a bath; they are clean every whit; yet need they to wash their feet, because they contract defilement in walking even from the bath [Note: Joh 13:8-10.]. But as to all their former sins, they are altogether blotted out of the book of Gods remembrance. Yet let it not therefore be supposed that they should be forgotten by us. No: they should be ever before us as a ground of humiliation, though not as a ground of fear: and the more assured we are that God is pacified towards us, the more should we lothe ourselves; and pant the more to be sanctified wholly, in body, soul, and spirit.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Ver. 14. He hath perfected ] tie would not off the cross till all was finished.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14 .] And He need not renew his sacrifice: For by one offering (we might read also , nominative: and Bengel prefers this, from the fact that in Heb 10:11 the sacrifices are the subject, . . . But here more probably Christ is the subject throughout, and therefore the dative is better: there being no relative to connect with , as there) He hath perfected for ever them who are being sanctified (“The Writer says not , but . Sanctification, i. e. the imputed and implanted purification from sins (for both these are alike contained in the idea), is the way whereby the objective perfection already provided in the self-sacrifice of Christ gradually renders itself subjective in men.” Delitzsch).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Hebrews
PERFECTED AND BEING SANCTIFIED
Heb 10:14
IN the preceding sentence there is another ‘for ever,’ which refers to the sacrifice of Christ, and declares its perpetual efficacy. It is one, the world’s sins are many, but the single sacrifice is more than all of them. It is a past act, but its consequences are eternal, and flow down through all the ages. The text explains wherein consists the perpetual efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice, and the reason why it needs no repetition while the world lasts. It endures for ever, because it has perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Now, in looking at these words, two things are noteworthy. One is the double designation here of the persons whom Christ influences by His offering, in that they are ‘perfected,’ and in that they are ‘sanctified.’ Another is the double aspect of our Lord’s work here set forth in regard to time, in that it is, in the first part of the sentence, spoken of as a past act whose consequences endure – ‘He hath perfected’ – and in the latter part of our text, according to the accurate rendering, it is spoken of as continuous and progressive, as yet incomplete and going on to perfection- For the text ought to read – ‘He hath perfected for ever them that are being sanctified.’ So there you have these two things, the double view of what Christ does, ‘perfects’ and ‘sanctifies,’ and the double view of His ‘work, in that in one aspect it is past and complete, and in another aspect it is running on, continuous, and as yet unfinished. I. First, then, look at the twofold aspect of the effect of Christ’s sacrifice.
By it we are ‘perfected,’ ‘sanctified.’ Now, these two words, so to speak, cover the same facts, but they look at them from two different points of view. One of them looks at the completed Christian character from the human point of view, and the other looks at it from the divine. For, what does ‘perfect’ mean in the New Testament? It means, as many a passage might be quoted to show, ‘mature,’ ‘full grown,’ in opposition to ‘babes in Christ.’ This very Epistle uses the two phrases in that antithesis, but the literal meaning of the word is that which has reached its end, that which has attained what it was meant to be; and, according to the New Testament teaching, a man is perfected when he has all his capabilities and possibilities of progress and goodness and communion with God made into realities and facts in His life, when the bud has flowered, and the flower has fruited, When capacity is developed, privileges enjoyed, duties attended to,. relationships entered into and maintained – when these things have taken place the man is perfect. It is to be observed that there is no reference in the word to any standard outside of human nature. If a man has become all that it is possible for him to be, he is, in the fullest sense, perfect. But Scripture also recognises a relative perfection, as we have already remarked, which consists in a certain maturity of Christian character, and has for its opposite the condition of ‘babes in Christ.’ So Paul exhorts ‘as many as be perfect’ to be ‘thus minded’ – namely, not to count themselves to have apprehended, but to stretch forward to the things which rare before, and to press towards the goal which still gleams far in advance. Consider, now, that other description of a Christian character as‘sanctified.’ The same set of facts in a man’s nature is thought of in that word, only they are looked at from another point of view. I suppose I do not need to enlarge upon the fact which, however, I am afraid a great many good people do not realise as they should, that the Biblical notion of ‘saint’ and ‘sanctified’ does not begin with character, but with relation, or, if I might put it more plainly, it does not, primarily and to start with, mean righteous, but ‘belonging to God.’ The Old and the New Testament concur in this conception of ‘sanctity,’ or ‘holiness,’ which are the same thing, only one is a Latin word and the other a Teutonic one – namely, that it starts from being consecrated and given up to God, and that out of that consecration will come all manner of righteousness and virtues, beauties of character, and dispositions and deeds which all men own to be ‘lovely… and of good report.’ The saint is, first of all, a man who knows that he belongs to God, and is glad to belong to Him, and then, afterwards, he becomes righteous and pure and radiant, but it all starts with yielding myself to God. So the same set of characteristics which in the word ‘perfected’ were considered as fulfilling the idea of manhood, as God has given it to us, are massed in this other word, and considered as being the result of our yielding ourselves to Him. That is to say, no man has reached the end which he was created and adapted to reach, unless he has surrendered himself to God. You never be ‘perfected’ until you are ‘sanctified.’ You must begin with consecration, and then holiness of character, and beauty of conduct, and purity of heart will all come after that. It is vain to put the cart before the horse, and to try to work at mending your characters, before you have set right your relationship to God. Begin with sanctifying, and you will come to perfecting. That is the New Testament teaching. And there is no way of getting to that perfection except, as we shall see, through the one offering. II. In the next place notice here the completed work.
‘By one offering He hath “perfected”‘ us, the Christian people of this generation, the Christian people yet to be born into the world, the men that have not yet learned that they belong to Him, but who will learn it some day. Were they all ‘perfected’ eighteen centuries ago? In what sense can that perfecting be said to be a past act? Suppose you take some purifying agent, and throw it in at the headwaters of a river, and it goes down the stream, down and down and down, and by degrees purifies it all If you like to use long- winded words, you can say that ‘potentially’ the river was purified when the precipi-rating agent was flung into it, though its waves were still foul with impurity. Or you can put it into plainer English and say that the past act has its abiding consequences, for there has been thrown into the centre of human history, as it were, that which is amply adequate to the ‘perfecting’ and the ‘sanctifying’ of every soul of the race. And that is what the writer of this Epistle means when he says ‘He hath perfected,’ because that sacrifice, like the precipitating agent that I have spoken about, has been flung into the stream of the world’s history, and has power to make pure as the dew-drop, or as the water that flows from melting ice, every foul-smelling, darkly dyed drop of the filthy stream.‘By one offering; Now the word that the writer employs there is a very unusual one in Scripture. He has just been using it in a previous verse, where he speaks about ‘the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.’ Did you ever notice that remarkable expression ‘the offering of the body,’ not as we usually read, the ‘blood.’ What does that mean? I think it means this, that the writer is contemplating not only the culminating sacrifice of Calvary, but Christ’s offering of Himself all through His earthly life; and knitting together in one the life and the death, the totality of His work, as that by which He has ‘perfected for ever all them that are being sanctified.’ And that, I think, is made quite certain, because he has just been speaking, and the words of my text refer back to the declaration in one of the psalms ‘Lo! I come to do Thy will, O God,’ as expressing the whole meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That saying of the psalmist was fulfilled not only on the Cross but in all His daily life. Jesus Christ, then, in His whole manifestation, in His life, but not only in His life; and in His death, but not only in His death, has offered Himself unto God, ‘the Lamb without blemish, and without spot.’ And in that offering culminating in the death upon the Cross, but not confined thereto, there does lie the power which is triumphantly more than adequate to deal with all the foulnesses and sins of the world, and to perfect for ever any man that attaches himself to it. It deals with our guilt as nothing else can. It speaks to our consciences as nothing else can. It takes away all the agony and the pain, or all the dogged deadness, of a seared conscience. It deals with character. In that great offering, considered as including Christ’s life as well as His death, and considered as including Christ’s death as well as His life, you have folded up in indissoluble unity the pattern, the motive, and the power for all righteousness of character; and he reaches the end for which God created him, who, laying his hand on the head of that offering, not only transfers his sins to it, but receives its righteousness into him. By one offering that dealt with guilt, and wiped it all out, and that deals with the tyranny of evil, and emancipates us from it, and that communicates to us a new life formed in righteousness after the image of Him that created us, we are delivered from the burden of our sins and perfected, in so far as we lay hold of the power that is meant to cleanse us.
There is no other way of being perfected. You will never reach the point which it is possible for you to attain, and you will never fulfil the purpose for which God made you, unless you have joined yourself by faith to Jesus Christ, and are receiving into your life, and developing in your character, the power which He has lodged in the heart of humanity for redemption and purifying. III. Now one last word. We have here the continuous and progressive work of Christ, and the growing experience, of Christians. As I have remarked, the last clause of my text would be more completely rendered if we read, ‘them that are being sanctified.’ The same idea is set forth by the apostle Paul in that solemn passage in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, where he speaks about the double effect of the gospel upon ‘them that are perishing; and on them that are being saved.’ In both cases there is a process going on. The same idea is brought out, too, in the other expression in the Acts of the Apostles, about the ‘Lord adding to the Church daily,’ not, as the Authorised Version has it, ‘such as should be saved,’ but ‘them that were being saved.’ We may speak of salvation as past, as all included in the initial act by which we are knit to Jesus Christ through faith, when as guilty sinners we come to Him and east ourselves on Him. We may speak of salvation as being future, and lying beyond this vale of tears and battlefield of sins and sorrow. But we can speak of it more accurately than in either of these aspects, as a point in the past, prolonged into a line in the present, and running on into the future. For salvation is a process which is going on day by day, if we are right, and which I am afraid is not progressive in a very great many professing Christian people. Perfected, I said, meant full-grown. I wonder about how many of us it would need to be said, ‘Ye are babes in Christ, and when for the time ye ought to be teachers ye have need that one teach you which be the first principles of the oracles of God.’ Salvation is a progressive process. That is to say, if we are truly joined to Jesus Christ, we are growingly influenced by the powers of His Cross and the gift of His Spirit.
There is no limit to that growth. It is like a spiral which goes up and up and up, and in every convolution ‘draws nearer to the centre, but never reaches it. Our hearts and spirits are wonderfully elastic. They can take in a great deal more of God than we think they can, or than they ever have taken in. We can receive just as much of that infinite Life into our finite spirits as we will. Let us each strive to get more and more of Jesus Christ in us, that we may know Him, and the ‘power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,’ more fully, more deeply, and may keep it more constantly. Oh, brethren! if we are not ascending the ladder that reaches to heaven, which is Christ Himself, we are descending; and if we are not growing we are dwindling; and if we cannot say that we are being sanctified, we are being made more and more common and profane. I am not going to say one word about whether absolute perfection or absolute sanctification can be reached in this life. If you and I were many hundreds of miles farther on the road, it would be worth discussing whether we could reach the goal or not. Never mind about the possibilities of abstract and perfect sanctification, we are a good long way off that.
Look after the next step in advance, and leave the ultimate one to take care of itself. Only remember, that whilst Christ’s past work has in it perpetual and absolute power to make any man perfect, no man will be sanctified unless he is sanctified by ‘faith that is in Me,’ and by the effort to work into his life and character the gift of the Divine Spirit and of the life of Christ which he receives by faith. It is ‘them that are being sanctified’ to whom the large hopes of this great text apply, and who may be sure that one day they will be absolutely perfected.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
14.] And He need not renew his sacrifice: For by one offering (we might read also , nominative: and Bengel prefers this, from the fact that in Heb 10:11 the sacrifices are the subject, … But here more probably Christ is the subject throughout, and therefore the dative is better: there being no relative to connect with , as there) He hath perfected for ever them who are being sanctified (The Writer says not , but . Sanctification, i. e. the imputed and implanted purification from sins (for both these are alike contained in the idea), is the way whereby the objective perfection already provided in the self-sacrifice of Christ gradually renders itself subjective in men. Delitzsch).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Heb 10:14. , for by one offering) Or should we rather read , for one offering?[63] For the language is framed (moves on) in the abstract also in Heb 10:11; and with the same verb , to perfect, which here sustains the Apodosis, it was similarly framed, ch. Heb 7:19, Heb 9:9, Heb 10:1.-, for) The assigning of a reason (tiology, Append.) is to be referred to (has reference to) Heb 10:12.- , those who were sanctified) A participle of the imperfect tense. For this sanctification was accomplished in the very act of offering the sacrifice, Heb 10:10.
[63] The Germ. Vers., following the reasons assigned by the Gnomon, prefers this reading, which was considered of equal authority by the margin of both Ed.-E. B.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
One Offering
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Heb 10:14
Gods elect are a sanctified people. All believers are sanctified. There is no such thing as an unsanctified believer. If we are saved, we are saints. If we are not saints, we are not saved. This is exactly what Paul told the Corinthian believers (1Co 6:11).
Sanctification is altogether the work of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ. Our sanctification, like our redemption and justification, is the work of God almighty in the trinity of his sacred Persons. We are sanctified by God the Father in election, by God the Son in redemption, and by God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Sanctification is not something we do for ourselves. It is something God does for us and in us.
The words sanctify, sanctified, sanctifieth, and sanctification are used more than thirty times in the New Testament. We are said to be sanctified by the purpose of God, by the blood of Christ, by the Spirit of God, by faith in Christ, and by the Word of God. But never, not even once, are we said to sanctify ourselves. Sanctification is the work of God alone.
Sanctified In Eternity
All who are Gods were sanctified by God the Father in eternal election (Jud 1:1). All believers were sanctified by God the Father in eternal election, set apart for him by Gods decree, and separated unto him (Jud 1:1).
This is the character of Gods distinguishing grace. — It sets some people apart from others and sanctifies them unto the Lord. Grace makes men to differ (1Co 4:7). We were secretly set apart for God in his secret, eternal decree of election before the world began. We were legally set apart from Adams fallen race by the purchase of Christ at Calvary when he ransomed us from the curse of the law. And we were manifestly set apart and separated unto God by the effectual call of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
Every believer has been, in this sense, eternally sanctified, completely set apart by God and for God. The practical importance of this glorious doctrine is this: — That which has been set apart for God ought never be used for common purposes again. Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods (1Co 6:19-20). We belong to the Lord our God. Let us therefore consecrate ourselves to him and serve him in all things (Rom 12:1-2). We belong to God. Be assured, God almighty will protect all who belong to him in all their appointed ways, even as he protected the ark of the covenant in the Old Testament (Psa 91:3-13).
Sanctified At Calvary
We were sanctified by God the Son in redemption at Calvary. All of Gods elect were perfectly sanctified by the blood of Christ when he died as our Substitute (Heb 10:10-14). Christ is our Sanctification (1Co 1:30). We have been and are forever sanctified in Christ Jesus (1Co 1:2). Believers are addressed throughout the Epistles as saints, that is as sanctified ones in Christ.
This is what I want you to see and rejoice in: — In the Lord Jesus Christ we who believe are regarded by God as perfectly holy, treated as if we were perfectly holy, and declared to be perfectly holy, because in Christ we are perfectly holy! We do no believe in imputed sanctification any more than we believe in imputed justification. We believe in imputed righteousness, by which we are both justified and sanctified. The righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us; and we are by his righteousness both justified from all things and declared to be holy. Sanctified in the sight of God. — With His spotless garments on I am as holy as Gods Son!
Sanctified By The Spirit
Every chosen, redeemed sinner is sanctified by God the Holy Spirit in the new birth. All believers are actually made holy by God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Through the instrumentally of gospel preaching, the Spirit of God effectually applies the blood of Christ to the hearts of Gods elect, purifying our hearts and implanting a new, holy nature within us. This is regeneration, the new birth. This is our sanctification by the Spirit (2Th 2:13-14; 2Pe 1:4; 1Jn 3:9; 1Jn 5:18).
Someone once wrote, We are a people with two natures, one that is holy and seeks after righteousness, and one that is corrupt and seeks after sin. However, these two natures are not equal in power. The divine nature rules and reigns; but the evil nature will not bow nor serve.
While we live in this world we must continue to live with this old, sinful nature. But we do have a new nature created in us, in the image of Christ, a nature that cannot sin (1Jn 3:9). It is the old man that sins, not the new. It is written, Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me (Rom 7:20) In glorification the old man shall be totally eradicated from us, but not until then. That eradication of the old man is not a gradual, progressive thing. It is the radical, climatic change experienced by Gods saints in death, and ultimately in resurrection glory.
Understanding that sanctification is altogether the work of God, the work of Gods grace, it is obvious that there is no such thing as progressive sanctification taught in the Book of God. Believers grow in grace, but not in holiness. We grow in faith, but not in righteousness. There is no sense in which our sanctification depends upon us. It is Gods work.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
perfected
(See Scofield “Mat 5:48”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
he: Heb 10:1, Heb 7:19, Heb 7:25, Heb 9:10, Heb 9:14
them: Heb 2:11, Heb 6:13, Heb 6:14, Heb 13:12, Act 20:32, Act 26:13, Rom 15:16, 1Co 1:2, Eph 5:26, Jud 1:1
Reciprocal: Exo 12:7 – General Lev 4:31 – a sweet Lev 8:28 – Moses Lev 15:14 – General Lev 16:34 – once a year Lev 23:28 – General Isa 53:5 – But he was Dan 9:24 – and to Act 26:18 – sanctified Rom 8:3 – For what Rom 10:4 – Christ Col 1:28 – perfect Heb 10:10 – the offering Heb 10:18 – General Heb 12:2 – finisher
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Heb 10:14. This is equivalent to chapter 9:26; and verse 12 in this chapter.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Heb 10:14. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever, in unbroken continuance, them that are being sanctified. Here the word used is the present participlenot as in Heb 10:10, the perfectand calls attention to the progressive purification that belongs to the redeemed. The word sanctified implies both the imputed and the imparted righteousness of Christ. When the perfect is used, and we are said to be sanctified in Christ, imputed purification from the guilt of sin is the predominant thought; when the present is used, it points rather to the subjective process whereby Christs work is realized in the peace and holiness of believers.