Albert Barnes Commentary Hebrews 10:22

"let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water," — Hebrews 10:22 (ASV)

Let us draw near with a true heart. In prayer and praise; in every act of confidence and of worship. A sincere heart was required under the ancient dispensation; it is always demanded of people when they draw near to God to worship him. See John 4:23-24. Every form of religion which God has revealed requires the worshippers to come with pure and holy hearts.

In full assurance of faith. The meaning of the phrase used here is explained in the comments on Hebrews 6:11.

The "full assurance of faith" means unwavering confidence; a fullness of faith in God which leaves no room for doubt. Christians are permitted to come in this way because God has revealed himself through the Redeemer as in every way deserving their fullest confidence. No one approaches God in an acceptable manner who does not come to him in this manner. What parent would feel that a child came with any right feelings to ask a favor of him who did not have the fullest confidence in him?

Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. This is by the blood of Jesus. This was fitted to make the conscience pure. The Jewish cleansing or sprinkling with blood related only to that which was external, and could not make the conscience perfect (Hebrews 9:9); but the Sacrifice offered by the Savior was designed to give peace to the troubled mind, and to make it pure and holy.

An "evil conscience" is a consciousness of evil, or a conscience oppressed with sin; that is, a conscience that accuses of guilt. We are made free from such a conscience through the atonement of Jesus. This freedom does not come because we become convinced that we have not committed sin, nor because we are led to suppose that our sins are less than we had previously supposed—for the reverse of both these is true. Rather, it is because our sins are forgiven. Since they are freely pardoned, they no longer produce remorse and the fear of future wrath. A child that has been forgiven may feel that he has done very wrong, but still he will not then be overpowered with distress in view of his guilt, or with the apprehension of punishment.

And our bodies washed with pure water. It was common for the Jews to wash themselves, or to perform various ablutions in their services. See Exodus 29:4; Exodus 30:19–21; Exodus 40:12; Leviticus 6:27; Leviticus 13:54, 58; Leviticus 14:8–9; Leviticus 15:16; Leviticus 16:4, 24; Leviticus 22:6. .

The same thing was also true among pagans. There was usually, at the entrance of their temples, a vessel placed with consecrated water. In this vessel, as Pliny says (Natural History, Book 15, Chapter 30), there was a branch of laurel with which the priests sprinkled all who approached for worship.

It was necessary that this water should be pure, and it was drawn fresh from wells or fountains for this purpose. Water from pools and ponds was regarded as unsuitable, as was even the purest water of the fountain if it had stood for a long time. Aeneas sprinkled himself in this manner with fresh water as he was about to enter the invisible world (Aeneid 6.635).

Porphyry says that the Essenes were accustomed to cleanse themselves with the purest water. Thus Ezekiel also says, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. Seawater was usually regarded as best adapted to this purpose, as the salt was supposed to have a cleansing property.

The Jews who lived near the sea were for that reason accustomed, as Aristides says, to wash their hands every morning in seawater. (Potter's Greek Archaeology, 1.222; Rosenmüller, Alte und Neue Morgenland, in loc.). It was from the pagan custom of placing a vessel with consecrated water at the entrance of their temples that the Roman Catholic custom is derived of placing "holy water" near the door in their churches, so that those who worship there may "cross themselves."

In accordance with the Jewish custom, the apostle says that under the Christian dispensation it was proper for us to approach God having performed an act emblematic of purity by the application of water to the body.

That there is an allusion to baptism is clear. The apostle is comparing the two dispensations, and his aim is to show that the Christian dispensation contained everything that was regarded as valuable and important in the old system. So he had shown this to be true regarding the Lawgiver, the great High Priest, and the sacrifices and ordinances of religion, which were present in the Christian dispensation as well as the Jewish.

Regarding each of these, he had shown that they existed in the Christian religion in a much more valuable and important sense than under the ancient dispensation. Similarly, it was true that just as they were required to come to the service of God, having performed various ablutions to keep the body pure, so it was with Christians.

Water was applied to the Jews as emblematic of purity, and Christians also came, having had it applied to them in baptism as a symbol of holiness. It is not necessary, in order to see the force of this, to suppose that water had been applied to the whole of the body, or that they had been completely immersed, since the full force of the reasoning is retained by the supposition that it was merely a symbol or emblem of purification.

The whole stress of the argument here turns not on the fact that the body had been washed all over, but that the worshipper had been qualified for the spiritual service of the Most High in connection with an appropriate emblematic ceremony. The quantity of water used for this is not a material point, any more than the quantity of oil was in the ceremony of inaugurating kings and priests.

This was not done in the Christian dispensation by washing the body frequently, as in the ancient system, nor even necessarily by washing the whole body—which would contribute no more to the purity of the heart than applying water to any part of the body. Instead, it was done by the fact that water had been used as emblematic of purifying the soul. The passage before us undoubtedly proves:

1. that water should be applied under the new dispensation as an ordinance of religion; and

2. that pure water should be used—because only that is a proper emblem of the purity of the heart.