Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 10:26-31

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. A man that hath set at nought Moses law dieth without compassion on [the word of] two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." — Hebrews 10:26-31 (ASV)

After commending the superiority of Christ’s priesthood and adding an admonition to hold fast to it by faith and love, the Apostle now supports his admonition with reason. He does this in two ways: first, by inspiring fear, and second, by speaking gently . Regarding the first point, he does two things: first, he warns them to heed his admonition by pointing out that the remedy for sin is removed, and second, by warning of the judgment to come .

Therefore, he says, For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. This can be explained in two ways. According to one interpretation, a distinction is made between "willing sinners" and those "sinning voluntarily." A willing sinner is one led by passion to consent to a sin he had not previously considered. In contrast, one who sins voluntarily does so from deliberate malice, because his will is so inclined to sin that he yields immediately, as it is written, They are all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to battle (Jeremiah 8:6). Such a person does not repent afterward: They are glad when they have done evil (Proverbs 2:14).

Therefore, these are the ones who sin deliberately, meaning they persist in the will to sin. The Apostle adds weight to this by saying it is after receiving the knowledge of the truth, for it is better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back (2 Peter 2:21). For them, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. This means the sacrifice Christ offered for the remission of sins is of no benefit to them. While those who repent have their sins forgiven through Christ’s sacrifice—This is the blood of the new testament, which will be shed for you (Matthew 26:28)—for the wicked it is said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain (Isaiah 49:4), and, The founder has melted in vain, for their wicked deeds are not consumed (Jeremiah 6:29).

However, it is better to say, more in keeping with the Apostle’s purpose, that according to Augustine, free will exists in different states. Before being restored by grace, a person in a state outside of grace does not have the power to consistently avoid mortal sin. This is because of a preconceived orientation toward sin and inclining habits. While someone acting with premeditation might avoid a particular sin for a time, this state persists. But after a person has been restored by grace, it is entirely within his power to avoid mortal sin, and even particular venial sins, though not all venial sin in general. This ability is due to the help of sanctifying grace.

Therefore, when the Apostle says, for if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, he means sinning after receiving grace, through which true knowledge of sin is possessed. Before this knowledge, our sin is not imputed to us in the same way. But afterward, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Before the restoration accomplished by Christ, the sacrifice that was awaited still remained. Now, however, His death is no longer awaited. In the same way, after one is baptized, another baptism is not awaited.

Then, when he says, but a fearful prospect of judgment, he warns them with the expectation of God’s judgment. In this regard, he does two things: first, he inspires fear; second, he provides a reason .

So, it has been stated that no further sacrifice is left. What then? That which was stated above in chapter 9, namely, that after death comes the judgment: Know that there is a judgment (Job 19:29). The expectation of that judgment is dreadful, both because of the consciousness of our sins—We all offend in many ways (James 3:2)—and because of the imperfection of our righteous deeds: All our justices are as the rag of a menstruous woman (Isaiah 64:6). As the Psalmist says, I am afraid of your judgments (Psalms 119:120), and the prophet, I have heard and my bowels were troubled (Habakkuk 3:16). This expectation is also distressing; hence, he says, and a fury of fire, which is the punishment by fire, inflicted by the jealous zeal of divine justice: I am the Lord, you God, mighty, jealous (Exodus 20:5).

Zeal is the love of a husband for his wife. Therefore, just as a husband does not spare an unfaithful wife, neither does God spare a sinful soul: The jealousy and rage of the husband will not spare in the day of judgment (Proverbs 6:34). He continues, which will consume the adversaries: A fire shall go before him and shall burn his enemies round about (Psalms 97:3). This is because the fire that will go before the face of the Judge will burn the bodies of the living, cast the reprobate into hell, and consume their bodies—not by completely destroying them, but by torturing them forever.

Then he proves what he had said about the terror of the judgment: first, by arguing from the lesser to the greater, and second, by citing an authority . He takes the first argument from the Law. A person deserves a greater punishment to the degree that he despises a more sacred thing. Therefore, since the Old Testament is not as sacred as the New, but a transgressor of the Old was punished very severely, it follows that a transgressor of the New should be punished even more severely. Regarding this argument, he does two things: first, he describes what was done under the Old Testament; second, what will be done under the New .

Regarding the Old Testament, he mentions the crime and the punishment. The crime is when he says, a man violating [making void] the law of Moses. A law is said to be made void when it does not achieve its proper end. Not only the Old Law, but every law, is given to lead people to virtue and make them abstain from vice. Therefore, a person who transgresses a law and gives himself over to vice, as far as he is concerned, makes the law void: You have made void the commandment of God for your tradition (Matthew 15:6); The male, whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he has broken my covenant (Genesis 17:14).

Then he describes the punishment when he says, without mercy. This punishment is very grievous because it inflicts death; hence, he says, he dies: Wizards you shall not suffer to live (Exodus 22:18). And because there is no pardon, he says, without mercy: He shall die, and you shall not pity him (Deuteronomy 19:13).

But did the Law exclude God’s mercy? It seems not: I desired mercy and not sacrifice (Hosea 6:6). I answer that there is a difference among mercy, clemency, and pardon. Mercy occurs when a person, moved by an emotion of the heart and mind, forgives a punishment; but this can sometimes be contrary to justice, which forbids it. Pardon occurs when part of the debt of punishment is forgiven for the public good. Clemency occurs when not only the punishment but also the guilt itself is judged more leniently. The last two are not forbidden by the Law, but mercy as described in the first way is forbidden, because it opposes justice and encourages licentiousness.

He dies, therefore, convicted under two or three witnesses: By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand (Deuteronomy 17:6). According to Augustine, the reason the Law fixes the number of witnesses is to symbolize the unchangeable nature of the truth, which is in the Holy Trinity. Furthermore, it makes no difference if two or three persons are named, because the third is always understood in the two, namely, the Holy Spirit, who is the bond between the other two. That, of course, is a symbolic reason. The literal reason is that in a judgment where one person affirms and another denies, one is not to be believed more than the other; but a group must be believed. A group is complete when there are three; therefore, it is enough if there are two accusers, and a third witness is added for extra measure.

Then he describes something that refers to the New Testament. First, he states the punishment; second, the crime.

Regarding the punishment, he asks, how much worse punishment do you think he deserves? Since the New Testament was preached by Christ, a person who sins under it is punished more severely: But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you (Matthew 11:22).

But is a Christian who sins punished more than an unbeliever? If so, it would be better for everyone to be an unbeliever. I answer that the case of those who scorn the faith is one thing, for they are scorners in the full sense of the word. The case of those who, from ignorance, do not hold to a faith that was not announced to them is another. For the latter, the sin of unbelief is not imputed. But those who scorn the faith announced to them are punished more severely, because the sin of unbelief is the greatest. Therefore, if we compare a Christian with a Jew who does not scorn the faith, and each is an adulterer, the Christian is punished more severely than the Jew, not only for being an adulterer but for being more ungrateful.

But is it generally true that the same specific sin is punished more severely in a person of higher standing? I answer that there are two ways of sinning. One way is to sin suddenly. In this case, if a person dedicated to the things of God sins suddenly, he is punished less: The Lord who is good will show mercy to all of those who with their whole heart seek the Lord, the God of our fathers (2 Chronicles 30:18); When the just man falls, he shall not be bruised (Psalms 37:24). But if he sins from contempt, he sins more grievously, because, being in a higher state, his contempt is greater. It is of these that the Apostle is speaking here, because they are more ungrateful.

Regarding the guilt, he says, who has spurned the Son of God. Here it should be noted that the Apostle evaluates the gravity of the guilt in those who sin under the New Testament based on the benefits God has conferred on us in it. God has given us what He considered most important and precious, namely, His only begotten Son, by whom he has given us most great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:4). He also gave the Holy Spirit: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28); The love of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Romans 5:5). Ingratitude after such favors aggravates the sin.

Regarding ingratitude after receiving the Son, two things must be considered: the mystery of the incarnation, in which He was given to us , and the sacrament of the passion, in which He offered Himself for us: The blood of Christ who by the Holy Spirit offered himself unspotted unto God (Hebrews 9:14). Therefore, regarding the first, he says, who has spurned the Son of God made incarnate for us. This means to have belittled Him by believing that faith in the Son of God is not sufficient for salvation: Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been set forth (Galatians 3:1). It also means not obeying His commandments and not living according to His teaching: They that despise me shall be despised (1 Samuel 2:30).

Regarding the second, he says, and profaned the blood of the testament. This refers to Christ’s blood, which confirmed the New Testament: This is my blood of the new testament (Matthew 26:28). One has profaned it by considering it unable to cleanse, just as something unclean cannot itself cleanse: What can be made clean by the unclean? . This is like saying that only the blood of animals can cleanse. Furthermore, one has esteemed it unclean who, after being washed by its power in baptism, sins by returning to his vomit: He loved us and cleansed us from our sins in his blood (Revelation 1:5). Therefore, he says, by which he was sanctified: But you are washed, but you are sanctified, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:11); In every place there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles (Malachi 1:11). Again, one who sins after receiving the other sacraments can also be said to esteem Christ’s blood as unclean.

Furthermore, the sin is aggravated by scorning the Holy Spirit; hence, he says, and outraged the Spirit of grace. This is done by not believing that the grace of the Holy Spirit is given through Christ, as it says in John: I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete (John 14:16). It is also done by believing grace is not sufficient for salvation without the ceremonies of the Law, thereby attributing the remission of sins to the observances of the Law.

Or, one treads Christ under foot by receiving Him unworthily after He has been given freely by the Holy Spirit—For it is the gift of God; not of works (Ephesians 2:8)—and he injures Christ by expelling Him through sin: He shall not abide when iniquity comes in . As the Apostle warns, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30), and, Extinguish not the spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

Then he cites authorities to prove what he has said. In this regard, he does two things: first, he cites the authorities; second, he draws a conclusion .

Therefore, he says: We know him who has said, vengeance is mine (Deuteronomy 32:35), where another version has "Reserve vengeance for me." But will He repay? Indeed, I will repay. On the other hand, if vengeance is reserved for God alone, why do judges take vengeance? The Apostle answers in Romans 13:4 that a judge is God’s minister; hence, he does not judge on his own authority, but on God's. The second authority is this: The Lord will judge his people. If He will judge His own people, then how much more His enemies: If a just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (1 Peter 4:18). Or, He will judge his people, meaning those who do not scorn his faith, because unbelievers will be condemned and not judged in the judgment of deliberation. For, according to Gregory, there are four orders in the judgment: some will not be judged but will judge and be saved (the Apostles and apostolic men); others will be judged and be saved (the moderately good); still others will be judged and be damned (wicked believers); finally, some will not be judged but will be damned (all unbelievers).

Then, when he says, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, he gives the conclusion. Since vengeance is reserved for God who will judge His people, it is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For the stronger and more just a judge is, the more he is to be feared: God is a just judge, strong and patient (Psalms 7:11). Therefore, it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands: It is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord (Daniel 13:23); If we do not repent, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men .

On the other hand, David considered it better to fall into the hands of God (2 Samuel 24:14). I answer that a person sins by offending man and by offending God. It is better to fall into the hands of a man by offending him than into the hands of God by offending Him. Or one might say that it is better for a contemptuous sinner to fall into the hands of a man, but for a repentant sinner, it is better to fall into the hands of God. This is the way David chose. Or it might be said that until the day of judgment, it is not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God, who judges mercifully as the Father of mercies. But after the judgment, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God, who, as the God of vengeance, will judge even our righteous deeds. For at present, as one who has experienced weakness, He judges mercifully out of pity.