Saturday, May 11, 2024

Amy Peeler on Hebrews 10:10, 14

  

The author’s assertion that through his offering Jesus has perfected those who are sanctified, which includes the addresses (3:1), stands in tension with his charge that they are not among the mature (5:14) and need to press on to perfection (6:1). The same difficulty applies to how he names them as those who are being sanctified. As a present passive participle, it conveys continuous action or a process of sanctification, but the author has previously said that they are those who have been sanctified (10:10).

 

The key to the riddle, it seems to me, lies in the intervening phrase forever, appearing here for the third time in this section. In each instance, it indicates continuous action instead of a static state. The continual multiple offerings (10:1) stand in contrast to the singular perpetual offering of Christ (10:12). This occurrence in 10:14 asserts that the perfection that Christ has secured for all time is available continually. This is how to solve the tension between the completion of Christ’s work with regard to sin and the continuing battle with sin in the lives of Christ’s followers. By this one-time, ever-effective offering, they have access to continual perfection and continual sanctification. As lone as confessors stay tethered to him, they can approach God’s throne of grace (4:16) to have access to the perfection and holiness he offers. (Amy Peeler, Hebrews [Commentaries for Christian Formation; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2024], 272-73, emphasis added)

 

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