Hebrews 10:26. For if we sin
willfully after we have received the knowledge of truth,
From the most beneficial, he
convinced them that we have boldness, that we are granted forgiveness and now
he frightens with the most sorrowful thing. See how he is compassionate. “If we
sin willfully,” he says—as if to say, if one sins not involuntarily, there is a
certain moderate forgiveness. Note also: he did not say “sinned,” but “sin”—that
is, persist in sin unrepentantly. Thus, if we do not remain in sin, but show
repentance, there will be forgiveness. So, where are those who say that
repentance is here rejected? “Having received the knowledge of the truth”—he means
either of Christ or of all the doctrines.
there no longer remains a
sacrifice of sins,
He says this not to reject repentance,
as some have falsely devised, but to show that there is no second baptism, and
thus no second death of Christ. He calls Christ’s death a sacrifice, as in the
following verses. For by one sacrifice He perfected forever: our baptism
portrays Christ’s death. Therefore, as that death was one, so also baptism one.
So then, why do you sin so fearlessly, when there is no hope that you can
easily wash away sins again through baptism. Therefore, instead, engage in good
deeds.
Hebrews 10:27. but a certain
fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation, which will devour the
adversaries.
See how he almost personifies the
fire. Just as an enraged beast does not rest until it has seized and devoured someone
to satisfy its fury, so also that fire, as if kindled by zeal against the breakers
of God’s commandments and raging on their account, seizes and forever devours
whoever it takes. For he did not say: “ready to consume” but “to devour”—evidently,
eternally. “Adversaries” he calls not only unbelievers, but also believers who
act against God’s commandments.
Hebrews 10:28. Anyone who has
rejected Moses’ law
From the lesser he proves the
justice of the coming punishment, so that his words may gain more belief. He
calls the law Moses’, because he established much.
dies without mercy on the
testimony of two or three witnesses. (Deuteronomy 17:6)
The connection of the speech is
this: if anyone rejected the law of Moses, then upon the testimony of two or three
witnesses, “he dies without mercy”—that is, if it was declared by two or three
that he broke the law.
Hebrews 10:29. Of how much
worse punishment, do you suppose, he will be thought worthy who has trampled
the Son of God underfoot, and counted the blood of the covenant by which he was
sanctified a common thing.
He hands the judgment over to
them, which is what we usually do regarding universally acknowledged truths—making
the hearers the judges. What does “trampled” mean? That is, despised. Just as
we count despicable people as nothing, so we treat Christ as nothing—and thus
come to sin. “And has counted the blood of the covenant by which he was
sanctified a common thing”—that is, considers it no better than anything else. “Of
the covenant,” because by it the covenant was established with us, granting us
an inheritance of blessings, as we said above. This is said of the Mysteries.
For when we, partaking of the Most Pure Body and Blood, plunge the flesh that
received the Mysteries into the filth of carnal uncleanness—do we not thereby
trample the Son of God? The dust of the earth is not so unworthy of the Divine
Body as is uncleanness. Use this also against the Nestorians. They, considering
Christ a mere man, deem His Blood impure, no different from other blood.
by which he was sanctified
Here he shows insensibility and
ingratitude. For, he says, one should treat with fear the sanctification he
received through the Blood.
and insulted the Spirit of
grace?
For he who unworthily uses the
gift insults the Giver. Did He not make you a son of God? Yet you become a
salve of passions. Did He not come to dwell in you? Yet you invite the devil
into yourself. Is this not an insult to the Spirit? (The New Testament
Commentaries of Saint Theophylact of Ohrid, 3 vols. [trans. Dean Marais;
Based Books, 2025], 3:248-49)
