Tuesday, December 15, 2020

B.J. Oropoeza on Hebrews 10:29 and Truly Justified Believers Losing their Salvation

  

For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy "on the testimony of two or three witnesses." How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:26-29 NRSV)

 

Commenting on this pericope, and in particular, how v. 29 (in bold above) teaches that a truly justified Christian (not a false believer) can fall from their salvation, B.J. Oropeza wrote:

 

Regarding the first description (Heb 10:29a), καταπατεω is used of trampling something underfoot (cf. Matt 5:13; Luke 8:5; 12:1). In Matt 7:6 the “pigs” that trample on pearls probably identify apostates and false teaches as unclean persons who reject the gospel message, perhaps violently (cf. 2 Pet 2:22). At its most basic level the notion of trampling in Hebrews refers to the apostate rejecting the Son of God. More specifically the thought may connote breaking an oath (cf. Homer, Iliad 4.157), or it conveys a “cosmic reversal of fortune” when compared with Christ placing his enemies under his feet (Heb 1:13; 10:13). Another alternative relates the trampling to πατεω, which is associated with the profanation of that which is holy, such as Jerusalem or its temple being trampled underfoot. If so, then to trample on the Son of God conveys for our author a profanation similar to the enemies of God defiling God’s holy places. In any case the author’s use of the term “Son of God” implies repudiation of Jesus as the Son of God and eschatological ruler of the cosmos (Heb 1), a reversal of the Christian confession that was considered a brash challenge to Caesar according to Roman opponents and blasphemy according to Jewish opponents.

 

Regarding the second description (10:29b), the thought of reckoning unclean the blood of the covenant refers to a repudiation of the new covenant work of Christ involving his sacrificial death that provides the forgiveness of sin (cf. Heb 9:12, 13-14, 20; 10:19; Acts 21:28; Rev 21:17). Here the atoning death of Christ related to the new covenant is being denied, Johnson astutely writes, “The apostasy, in effect, reverses the effect of God’s priestly work” (Johnson, Hebrews, 265). Also significant in 10:29b is that the apostate was at one time “sanctified” (εν ω ηγασθη) through Christ’ sacrifice. There is no doubt that the author considers the apostate as being once a genuine Christ-follower thoroughly converted and cleansed from sin before his repudiation of the new covenant.

 

The third description (10:29c) asserts that the apostate outrages or insults (ενυβριζω) the Spirit of grace, implying insolence of the arrogant sort. Some interpreters associate the thought with blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This is certainly possible, but the author probably intends to convey something more than this. The “Spirit of grace” relates to the arrival of the eschatological era and may echo Zech 12:10, a passage that our author would probably interpret as Christ’s death on the cross (cf. John 19:34-37; Rev 1:7). The idea, then, may refer to a repudiation of the baptism and outpouring of the Spirit during the end times, which was considered a gift (i.e., “grace”) associated with miraculous signs, conversion, and the believers’ new life in Christ (cf. Heb 2:4; 6:4; Acts 2:4, 38-39; 11:15-18; 1 Cor 12:13; Rom 8:9; John 3:5).

 

The person in Heb 10:26-29 commits the sign of apostasy: he repudiates the confession of Jesus as Son of God, reverses his atoning death, and arrogantly rejects the gift of God’s Spirit. This apostate seems antagonistic towards his former faith. There is no longer remains a sacrifice that could bring this person back to right standing with God. Since Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice is considered unrepeatable, and this person has rejected this sacrifice, he cannot be renewed, nor can he turn to the old covenant priestly sacrifices that were offered yearly to cover sins, because according to our author such things were rendered obsolete by Christ’s sacrificial death (cf. 10:9, 18). In essence 10:26, similar to 6:4-6, teaches that it is impossible for the apostate to be restored (Lane, Hebrews, 2.291 adds some interesting parallels between 6:4-6 and 10:26-29, including past experiences [6:4-5; 10:26], the apostasy [6:6; 10:29], impossibility of renewal [6:4, 6; 10:26], and covenantal curse due to the apostasy [6:8; 10:27]. The main distinction for Lane is the cultic formulation of the last passage), and in 10:29, similar to 6:4-6, teaches that the apostate was once an authentic believer. (B.J. Oropoeza, Churches Under Siege of Persecution and Assimilation: The General Epistles and Revelation [Apostasy in the New Testament Communities 3; Eugene, Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2012], 50-52, italics in original)

 

In a footnote for the above, Oropeza, responding to another commentator on the phrase “ by which they were sanctified,” noted:

 

Contrast Guthrie, Hebrews, 230, who translates the phrase εν ω ηγασθη as impersonal: “by which one is sanctified.” However, all the other singular verbs in 10:29 refer to the apostate (i.e., αξιωθησται, καταπατησας, ηγησαμενος, ενυβρισας). Also, if the author wanted to express that he was not referring to the apostate, he could have easily used a first or second person plural instead of a third person singular for αγιαζω in order to clarify this, similar to what he does by using οιδαμεν in 10:30 and δοκειτε in 10:29. More on target is Lane, Hebrews, 2.294, who writes: “This phrase [“by means of which he was consecrated”] in v. 29 corroborates that 10:26-31 is descriptive of the Christian who has experienced the action of Christ upon his life. (Ibid., 51 n. 218)

 

There is absolutely no exegetical “wiggle room”: eternal security/perseverance of the saints is explicitly refuted by this pericope.

 

Further Reading

 James White (and John Owen) on Hebrews 10:29

Hebrews 6:4-9: Only Hypothetical?