Hebrews 10:28

He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: DESPISED, [ atheteesas (G114)] - utterly and heinously set aside, not merely in minor detail, but the whole law, as by idolatry (Deuteronomy 17:2). So apostasy answers to such utter violation of the old covenant. Compare Hebrews 2:2; Hebrews 12:25. DIED, [ apothneeskei (G599)] - 'dies:' the normal punishment then still in force. WITHOUT MERCY, [ oiktirmoon ...

28._He that despised, etc. _This is an argument from the less to the greater; for if it was a capital offense to violate the law of Moses, how much heavier punishment does the rejection of the gospel deserve, a sin which involves so many and so heinous impieties! This reasoning was indeed most fitted to impress the Jews; for so severe a punishment on apostates under the Law was neither new to them, nor could it appear unjustly rigorous. They ought then to have acknowledged that vengeance just, however severe, by which God now sanctions the majesty of his Gospel (182) Hereby is also confirmed what I have already said, that the Apostle speaks not of particular sins, but of the entire denial of Christ; for the Law did not punish all kinds of transgressions with death, but apostasy, that is, when any one wholly renounced religion; for the Apostle referred to a passage in...

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 28. _HE THAT DESPISED MOSES' LAW_] αθετησας. He that rejected it, _threw it aside_, and denied its Divine authority by presumptuous sinning, _died without mercy_-without any extenuation or mitigation of punishment; Numbers 15:30. _UNDER TWO OR THREE WITNESSES_] That is, when convicted by the testimony of two or three respectable witnesses. See Deuteronomy 17:6....

HE THAT DESPISED MOSES’ LAW - That is, the apostate from the religion of Moses. It does not mean that in all cases the offender against the Law of Moses died without mercy, but only where offences were punishable with death, and probably the apostle had in his eye particularly the case of apostasy from the Jewish religion. The subject of apostasy from the Christian religion is particularly under discussion here, and it was natural to illustrate this by a reference to a similar case under the Law of Moses. The Law in regard to apostates from the Jewish religion was positive. There was no reprieve; Deuteronomy 13:6. DIED WITHOUT MERCY - That is, there was no provision for pardon. UNDER TWO OR THREE WITNESSES - It was the settled law among the Hebrews that in all cases

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" ...

HE THAT DESPISED MOSES' LAW,.... By breaking it wilfully, and presumptuously, for which there was no sacrifice; meaning the law which Moses was the minister of not the author; and it respects the whole body of laws given by him, from God; and is instanced in for the sake of the comparison between him and Christ, and between the law and the Gospel, and for the illustration of the case in hand. Now one that transgressed that law, either in whole, or in part, by denying it entirely, or by breaking any particular precept of it presumptuously, DIED WITHOUT MERCY; a corporeal death; there was no atonement nor sacrifice for him, nor pity to be shown him, Deuteronomy 13:8. UNDER TWO OR THREE WITNESSES; who "stood by", or were present, as the Arabic version renders it, when the transgression was committed; or that "accused him", as the Ethiopic version; 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;...