Hebrews 10:26

Heb. 10:26. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice of sins,

Blank Bible:

sin willfully, etc.] By sinning after coming to the knowledge of the truth the apostle means apostatizing from Christianity after we are come to the knowledge of it as is evident by the context, particularly by the 23 and 25 verses and by the latter part of the chapter. So sometimes the word sinning is used as particularly in 1 John 3:9, Whosoever is born of God sinneth not for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God, i.e. he cannot fall away or apostatize as many that those (?) that the apostle John wrote were acquainted with had done. But they remained Christians because the seed of God of which they were begotten and became Christians remained in them.

Hebrews 10:26 sin willfully.] The apostle means the same as with proud malice or with a high hand in Numbers 15:30; Numbers 15:31 *, but he has here reference to that place in the law of Moses which he speaks of v. 28. vid. No. 230. Mystical (?) p. 362. Colossians 1:5.vid. Miscel. 475 that End (?).

The sermon "Of Endless Punishment" remarks briefly on this text:

In Hebrews 10:26; Hebrews 10:27, the apostle says, "If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries:" by which two things are manifest, (1,) that without a sacrifice for sin, there is no deliverance from punishment; and, (2,) that there is no other sacrifice for sin, by which sinners can be delivered, but that of Christ.

However, Misc. 475 to which Edwards refers is not only an important comment on this text but on the doctrine of unpardonable sin as Edwards understood it. We quote it in full:

475. SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST. There seem to be three things essential to this sin, viz. conviction (?) malice & presumption in expressing that malice. Christ says, Matthew 12:31; Matthew 12:32, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men and, whosoever speaketh a word against the son of man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost neither in this world nor in the world to come. Here I would observe 1st, in order to a man's speaking against or reviling the holy Ghost in the sense of this text, he must have some knowledge of him. If a man only hears the name holy Ghost, having no notion what is meant by it and reviles he knows not what, he don't blaspheme the holy Ghost in the sense of the text; or if he has only such a notion that he is one of the persons in the Godhead and speaks against him as he does against the other persons, having no notion in his mind of any thing that is a distinction of nature or work. One man would not be said to blaspheme or revile another if he spake against him having only heard his name having no notion at the same time in his mind of any thing belonging to him that distinguished him from the rest of mankind; or to revile his person in particular if he had no other notion of him than only of his being of such a company, if he has no notion in his mind of any thing that distinguishes his particular person that he expresses spite against. Therefore when men blaspheme the holy Ghost, they express spite against something that they have an idea or notion of in their minds that is particularly pertaining to & distinguishing of this divine person. Therefore I determine thus that those that blaspheme the Holy Ghost unpardonably express their contumely & spite against the holy Ghost with respect to those acts of his wherein consists his nature and office, viz. divine love either expressing the love of God or breathing (?) love to God, or, which is the same thing, with respect to his gracious & holy acts. It is no matter whether they have a distinct notion of a person of the holy Ghost if they, out of malice, revile those things wherein his nature & work consists. The Pharisees out of malice reviled the holy Ghost in his expressing the love & mercy of God to men in casting out devils and delivering men from captivity to that cruel enemy, a gracious & glorious work, some thing of the same nature with his casting Satan out of men's souls and an image of it. And we are not to understand it as though Christ charged them with this sin merely because they reviled the holy Ghost in this work; but in all his doctrine & works they, against conviction, laid all those things in Christ that were the fruits of the Spirit to the devil; they charged him with acting and being acted by an unclean spirit, Mark 3:30. In order to a man's blaspheming the Holy Ghost in the sense in which Christ speaks his so doing, it must be attended with conviction. He must be sensible that he does it; he must be sensible that the thing he reviles is God's Spirit, or at least that it is from God. He must have conviction that God is God & must have a malice against him and must from malice against him express his contempt; or despite of some gracious or holy spiritual operation of his, or in a word, he must revile the grace of God that he has light to know is his. A man is not said to blaspheme or revile another in the sense that the expression is used in this text if he don't know who he is. If a man meets another that is his father & reviles him, he don't revile his father if he don't know that it is his father.

A man may have light sufficiently to know a thing and may inwardly secretly be convinced & yet his spite & malice may keep him, as it were, from owning of it to himself. A man may have abundant evidence of some worthy qualification in another that he mortally hates & may, as it were, keep from owning of it to himself, & yet indeed be inwardly sensible of it. He does, as it were, willfully stop the mouth of his understanding - wont suffer it to speak out. So I believe it was with those Pharisees: that miserable unreasonable shift of theirs to take off the evidence of his miracles seems to shew that they were convinced but were willfully resolved to object & not to own, viz. that he had one of the strongest of the devils in him and so by him cast out the rest.

3. By speaking against the holy Ghost I understand any way [very?] outwardly & presumptuously declaring malice by reproaching & blaspheming. A having malice inwardly is not sufficient, though it be against convictions of conscience; but when a person has (?) with his malice also the presumption as to appear in it, he has that spirit of contempt that he is not restrain'd by any fear or awe, but is so horribly daring as outwardly to express his malice, by reproaching, then [therein?] he commits the unpardonable sin against the holy Ghost. Generally words & actions go together.

4. The spite & malice that they do this from may be against God or against the Son of God, or against the people of God, but if [it?] is not any spite or malice against God or the Son of God or the people that being declared is the sin against the holy Ghost, but their spite must be because of the holy Ghost. If their spite is declared against God, it must be because of the gracious or holy breathings & operations of the Spirit that he is the Author of; if it be against the Son of God, it must be because of what of the Holy Ghost appears in him: his holy doctrine, holy precepts, holy life, or what of the gracious or holy influences of the holy Ghost come from him; or if it be against the people of God, it must be because of the holy Ghost in them, their holy religion, holy graces. Their spite and malice is evermore terminated upon the holy Ghost or [as?] the holy Ghost is the foundation of their malice. Their spite and contumely, when it is declared, it must be declared against that, or for that. They need not declare that their spite is for the Holy Ghost but they must declare that it is for that which is indeed, & which they are convinced, is divine, the holy Ghost. For instance, if a man, when convinced, appears in avowed enmity against another for his holiness, his love to God, or his humility & faith in Christ alone, if he openly appears in avowed hatred & contumely against him for those things, either by reproaching him for them, or maliciously persecuting of him declaredly for those things, whether he will call them the holy Ghost or no, yet if he is convinced that they are, or that they are divine things in him, he commits the unpardonable sin. The Pharisees, though they were inwardly convinced, yet had a mortal spite against Christ for his holy doctrine & manner of life and precepts & miracles, because they were so contrary to them & therefore [they] reproached them as though they were hellish & from the devil.

We have reason to think that conviction is one thing essential to this sin, for this is every where in Scripture spoken of as a sin the more difficultly pardon'd, speaking there of the sacrifices that were to be offered for sins of ignorance, God says, but the soul that doth ought presumptuously whether born in the land or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord & that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Luke 23:34, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. 1 Timothy 1:13, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly & in unbelief. So in the beginning of the 6th chapter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 6) speaking probably there of this unpardonable sin, & 10th chapter (Hebrews 10).

Here a question may arise, viz. why is this more unpardonable than to have a spite against and to blaspheme the divine being in general, or either of the other persons of the Trinity? If a man that was convinced of the being of a God should blaspheme & reproach him & charge him with folly, or with injustice & cruelty or wickedness, that is not unpardonable. But he that blasphemes against the holy Ghost, willfully and maliciously reproaches that [which] should attract our love, & win our hearts, viz. the beauty & grace of God. They are malicious against God for his love & loveliness; they are malicious against God's saving grace and presumptuously blaspheme it. Wherefore God never will bestow it upon them.

When men blaspheme the Father or the Son and may yet be pardoned, they blaspheme him by denying that of him wherein the Holy Ghost consists, by denying goodness or holiness and attributing contrary qualities to him, or else by denying wisdom of them.

Mr. Baxter says that it don't appear that the Pharisees were convinced. But we have to think that many of them were convinced by their behaviour at other times as well as now, Matthew 28:11, particularly by their behaviour when the watch came and shewed them of Christ's rising from the dead. Their actions plainly shew'd that they believed them for they did not blame the watch at all, that they had not been faithful in watching & keeping the body of Jesus; but gave them large money to hide (?) them, to keep it secret, & invented a lie for them to tell, & told 'em they would plead their cause with the governor, & would perswade [sic] him & secure (?) them. By the 6 of Heb it appears that 'tis against a great degree of light & 10 of Heb., 'tis said if they sin willfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth.

Christ in mentioning the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost has respect to their laying all that he did, as acting by the holy Ghost, to an unclean spirit. He has not only a respect to this particular instance of casting out devils, for they did not only moan that this, but that all was from the devil. He rather takes occasion to mention it now because such a miracle was a powerful argument to convince them. The people were all amazed and said, is not this the Son of David, Matthew 12:23, and they were now convinced by the strength of it, as he sees who knew their thoughts, as it is said, Matthew 12:25. And they shewed their conviction by what they said as we observed before.

The Pharisees did but repeat what they used to say upon this occasion. They used to say he hath an unclean spirit & that he had Beelzebub, Matthew 10:25. And 'tis this that Christ has respect to as Mark 3:30. They repeat that now with this addition, that the unclean spirit he had was the prince of 'em, to take off the objection [he] did or might raise against them: you say that he acts by the spirit of the devil? If so, how does he cast out devil[s] out of others? They answer that the devil that he has is the chief of 'em & by that he is able to cast out the rest.

The apostle says, Hebrews 10:26, if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, etc. Now persons may be said to sin willfully in three senses: 1st, as all sins are willful, even sins of ignorance, the actions are voluntary actions, and they spring from a depraved disposition or inclination; 2. when men know that acts are sins at the same time that their wills determine them, as a man may do when he is overpowered by a temptation, by fear or some appetite; 3. when his will is determined to wickedness for opposition's sake, without any cause for it but a mere spite against, & contumacy towards that to which sin is the opposite: against true religion & its principles & exercises, or against the Holy Ghost in his actings & fruits. For the holy Ghost is the opposite to sin, Hebrews 10:29; he hath done despite to the Spirit of grace. This is to sin spontaneously, ekousiw", or willingly in the sense of this text.

They rebel for the sake of rebelling, oppose for the sake of opposition, or, which is the same thing, out of spite to that which is opposed.

Heb. 10:27