John Calvin Commentary Hebrews 9:28

"so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation." — Hebrews 9:28 (ASV)

The second time without sin, etc. The Apostle urges this one thing: that we should not be troubled by vain and impure longings for new kinds of expiations, because the death of Christ is abundantly sufficient for us. Therefore, he says that he once appeared and made a sacrifice to abolish sins, and that at his second coming he will clearly show the effectiveness of his death, so that sin will have no more power to harm us.

To bear, or take away sins, is to free from guilt by his satisfaction those who have sinned. He says the sins of many, that is, of all, as in Romans 5:15. Yet it is certain that all do not receive benefit from the death of Christ; but this happens because their unbelief prevents them. However, this question is not to be discussed here, for the Apostle is not speaking of the few or of the many to whom the death of Christ is available; but he simply means that he died for others and not for himself; and therefore he opposes many to one.

But what does he mean by saying that Christ will appear without sin? Some say, without a propitiation or an expiatory sacrifice for sin, as the word sin is understood in Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; and in many places in the writings of Moses. But in my judgment, he intended to express something more suitable to his present purpose: namely, that Christ at his coming will make known how truly and really he had taken away sins, so that there would be no need of any other sacrifice to pacify God. It is as though he had said, “When we come to the tribunal of Christ, we will find that there was nothing lacking in his death.”

And to the same effect is what he immediately adds, unto salvation to them who look, or wait for him. Others render the sentence differently, “To them who look for him unto salvation”; but the other meaning is the most appropriate, for he means that those will find complete salvation who rely with quiet minds on the death of Christ, as this looking for (or waiting) refers to the subject being discussed. Scripture indeed does elsewhere ascribe this in common to believers—that they look for the coming of the Lord, in order to distinguish them from the ungodly, by whom his coming is dreaded (1 Thessalonians 1:10); but as the Apostle now contends that we should be content with the one true sacrifice of Christ, he calls it the looking for Christ when we are satisfied with his redemption alone and seek no other remedies or helps.