Hebrews 10:27

But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. A CERTAIN - an indescribable. The indefiniteness, as of something special, makes the description the more terrible [cf. tina (G5101), James 1:18 ]. LOOKING FOR, [ ekdochee (G1561)] - 'expectation.' Alford strangely translates 'reception,' the classic sense. Contrast Christ's "expecting" [the kindred verb, ekdechomenos (G1551)] (Hebrews 10:13) and Abraham's 'looking for a city which hath foundations,' which refutes Alford....

27._But a certain fearful looking for, etc. _He means the torment of an evil conscience which the ungodly feel, who not only have no grace, but who also know that having tasted grace they have lost it forever through their own fault; such must not only be pricked and bitten, but also tormented and lacerated in a dreadful manner. Hence it is that they war rebelliously against God, for they cannot endure so strict a Judge. They indeed try in every way to remove the sense of God’s wrath, but all in vain; for when God allows them a short respite, he soon draws them before his tribunal, and harasses them with the torments which they especially shun. He adds, _fiery indignation, _or the heat of fire; by which he means, as I think, a vehement impulse or a violent ardor. The word _fire _is a common metaphor; for as the ungodly are now in a heat through dread of divine wrath, so they shall then b...

26-31 The exhortations against apostacy and to perseverance, are urged by many strong reasons. The sin here mentioned is a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life. Of this destruction God gives some notorious sinners, while on earth, a fearful foreboding in their consciences, with despair of being able to endure or to escape it. But what punishment can be sorer than to die without mercy? We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance! All this does not in the least mean that any souls who sorrow for sin will be shut out...

Verse 27. _A CERTAIN FEARFUL LOOKING FOR OF JUDGMENT_] From this it is evident that God will pardon no man without a sacrifice for sin; for otherwise, as Dr. Macknight argues, it would not follow, from there remaining to apostates no more sacrifice for sin, that there must remain to them a dreadful expectation of judgment. _AND FIERY INDIGNATION_] και πυρος ζηλος. A _zeal_, or _fervour_ _of fire_; something similar to the fire that came down from heaven and destroyed Korah and his company; Numbers 16:35. Probably the apostle here refers to the case of the unbelieving Jews in general, as in chap. Hebrews 6: to the dreadful judgment that was coming upon them, and the burning up their temple and city with fire. These people had, by the preaching o

BUT A CERTAIN FEARFUL LOOKING FOR OF JUDGMENT - The word “certain” here does not mean “fixed, sure, inevitable,” as our translation would seem to imply. The Greek is the same as “a (τις tis) fearful expectation,” etc. So it is rendered by Tyndale. The idea is, that if there was voluntary apostasy after having embraced the Christian religion, there could be nothing but an expectation of the judgment to come. There could be no other hope but that through the gospel, and as this would have been renounced, it would follow that the soul must perish. The “fearful apprehension” or expectation here does not refer so much to what would be in the mind itself, or what would be experienced, as to what must follow. It might be that the person referred to would have no realizing sense of all this, and still his situation be that of one who had nothing to expect but the terrors of the judgment to come....

EXPOSITION HEBREWS 10:1 CONCLUDING SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT WITH RESPECT TO CHRIST'S ETERNAL PRIESTHOOD. HEBREWS 10:1 FOR THE LAW, HAVING A SHADOW OF THE GOOD THINGS TO COME, AND NOT THE VERY IMAGE OF THE THINGS, CAN NEVER WITH THE SAME SACRIFICES YEAR BY YEAR, WHICH THEY OFFER CONTINUALLY, MAKE THE COMERS THEREUNTO PERFECT. The Law is said here to exhibit a _shadow _(σκιὰν)_ _of _the good things to come _(τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν), viz. of the "good things" of which Christ is come as "High Priest" ...

BUT A CERTAIN FEARFUL LOOKING FOR OF JUDGMENT,.... Either of some outward visible judgment in this life, which sometimes falls on such persons; or of the particular judgment which immediately follows after death; or of the universal judgment, after the resurrection, and the dreadful sentence of condemnation which will then pass, and be immediately executed; and which will be done by Christ, and according to truth, and in strict justice; it is certain, and there will be no escaping it, for it will be general. Now there is in this life an expectation in men of a future judgment, and in wicked men it is a fearful one; it is dreaded by them, and more especially in such men before described, when their consciences are awakened; it is a very dreadful one, inexpressibly so: AND FIERY INDIGNATION, WHICH SHALL DEVOUR THE ADVERSARIES; which is to be understood, not of the fire of purgatory, for t...

Hebrews 10:1. _For 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. For then would they not have ceased to be offered»_ If the sacrifice had really put away sin, surely it would never have needed to be offered again. If one sacrifice had put away the guilt of Israel, there would have been no need to bring another. Hebrews 10:2. _Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins._ Once cleansed from sin, we are cleansed from sin; the great deed is done once for all, Hebrews 10:3. But in

CHAPTER 10 _ 1. The all-sufficiency of the one offering (Hebrews 10:1)_ 2. Exhortations (Hebrews 10:19) 3. Warning (Hebrews 10:26) 4. Encouragements (Hebrews 10:32) Hebrews 10:1 The precious truth the apostle has unfolded in the preceding Chapter s concerning Christ, His one offering He made, His own blood by which He entered once for all into the holy place the one all sufficient sacrifice, which has an eternal value and can never be repeated, is now still more practically applied. This one off

The mention of the judgment suggests the dreadful consequences of falling away from faith. It is assumed, as in Hebrews 6:4 ff_.,_ that no second repentance is possible. If men persist in sinning after they have once accepted the Christian message, they cannot again expect forgiveness through Christ's sacrifice (Hebrews 10:26). They have nothing to look for now but that condemnation which the Scripture so often threatens when it speaks of the wrath of God that burns like fire (_cf._ Psalms 79:5; Isaiah 26:11; Zephaniah 1:18;...