The guilt and doom of apostasy.
This is a terrible passage even to read. It is fitted to fill with alarm the hearts of those who refuse to "draw near" to God, or confess his Name, or hold communion with his people. It is introduced here, like the similar warning in Hebrews 6:4-8, as a motive to Christian steadfastness.
I. THE GUILT OF APOSTASY. This tremendous sin is described:
1. Generally. (Verse 26) The context shows that to "sin willfully" refers neither to any isolated act of apostasy, nor to any other peculiarly heinous transgression, but to the specific sin of finally abandoning Christianity. The question here is not about the destiny of the millions of heathendom, who have never heard the gospel. The Bible does not encourage curiosity regarding them. The sin spoken of is that of the man who had "received the knowledge of the truth," and who has rejected the gospel after having perceived its beauty, realized its suitableness, and in some degree experienced its power.
2. More particularly. (Verse 29) Saving knowledge centers in the revelation of the three Persons of the Godhead, who are seen in the gospel working together to accomplish our redemption. So the apostate is described by his conduct towards each.
II. THE DOOM OF APOSTASY. An awful punishment shall descend upon those who sin away their souls, after rejoicing for a season in the light and love of Christ. The fearful penalty of their guilt is represented here in different aspects.
1. Negatively. (Verse 26) "There remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins." Those Hebrews, in professing Christianity, had renounced the Levitical sacrifices. But, should they now reject the propitiation of Christ—the only possible means by which God's justice can be satisfied and man's guilt cancelled—what would such rejection entail? It would follow, first of all, that the guilt of their ordinary sins against the Divine Law would remain unpardoned, and that even on that ground they must certainly perish.
2. Positively. (Verse 27) It would also follow that the guilt of their special sin of apostasy would bring upon them a heavier penalty than that which shall overtake the other "adversaries" of God. This tremendous sin may fill the soul even here with a horror of great darkness. It may destroy happiness by causing scorpion stings of conscience. It may cover the horizon of life with vague anticipations of a terrible eternity. And, whether such anticipations be present or not, there remains the devouring "fierceness of fire" itself. Not elemental fire, indeed; but spiritual loss, final reprobation, eternal despair. The apostate shall be shut out forever from the presence of God, and such exclusion is itself the hell of hell.
3. Comparatively. (Verses 28, 29) Under the Mosaic Law any Jew who lapsed into idolatry was to be stoned to death, for "transgressing God's covenant;" and this stern doom was admitted to be just (Deuteronomy 17:2-7). But, asks the apostle, are not apostates from Christianity guilty of a vastly greater sin? and shall they not receive a much more dreadful punishment. He rears the matter to the judgment and conscience of his readers. To reject the gospel is a more heinous crime than to set at naught the Law. To tread underfoot, the eternal Son of God involves more aggravated guilt than to turn away from Moses, who was a merely human messenger. So if the sentence of death for rejecting the old covenant was a righteous arrangement, it is evident that the Divine justice must demand a retribution still more awful for the more terrible sin of apostasy from the new covenant.
III. AN ASSERTION OF THE MAJESTY OF GOD'S JUSTICE. (Verses 30, 31) "We know him." The gospel itself has revealed to us his infinite power, his inflexible justice, his spotless holiness, his absolute faithfulness. We know that he has said, "Vengeance belongeth unto me," and "The Lord shall judge his people" (Deuteronomy 32:35, Deuteronomy 32:36). We know his prerogative as the Governor of the universe. We know that the principle of retribution belongs to his moral nature. And we know that he defends and. saves his people by punishing their enemies. Our nineteenth century, no less than the first century, stands greatly in need of faithful teaching on the subject of retribution, both as a principle of moral law and as a doctrine of Christianity. For:
1. The spirit of the time tempts everywhere to a life of self-indulgence, rather than to the Christian life of self-denial. And habits of self-pleasing tend to bring a man to the edge of the inclined plane which slopes towards the abyss of apostasy. "He that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption."
2. The spirit of the time tempts even true believers to misconceive the nature of the Christian life. Many speak as if after their conversion they should have no experience whatever of spiritual unrest. They forget that it is not "the primrose way" that leads to glory; and that, while the new life begins with an Eden and ends with heaven, "the great tribulation" comes between. The passage before us, in warning of the apostate's sin and doom, reminds us of the difficulties of the Christian life.
3. The spirit of the time labors to thrust into the background the doctrine of retributive justice. But this great principle is found everywhere: in nature, in providence, in history, in systems of civil government, in the human mind and conscience, in the spiritual experience of believers, and in the inspired Word of God. The justice of the Almighty is asserted here, as elsewhere in the New Testament, with peculiar emphasis. Those religious teachers, therefore, incur a terrible responsibility who try to persuade their fellow-sinners that it is by no means such "a fearful thing" after all "to fall into the hands of the living God." The Lord Jesus Christ has not sent any such message. Rather, he has solemnly warned us to "fear him" (Luke 12:5). And, if men do not fear the living God, whom will they fear?