Hebrews 10 and Ultimate Redemption — Part 4

A friend asked me to reconcile Ultimate Redemption and the supposed unpardonable sin found in the Letter to the Hebrews. In Part 1, we established that the part of our Bibles labeled the “New Testament” is about the end of the Old Covenant Age and System and the anticipation of the fully established New Covenant Age. It’s about the overlapping of those two ages. In Part 2, we determined that the Old Covenant Age and System (hereafter OCAS) was still fully operational by the time the Letter to the Hebrews was written. In Part 3, we’re addressed Jesus as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. We saw that he was serving at the true holy of holies — God’s presence — and would soon return to the waiting people, bringing their salvation with him.

In this Part 4, we’re going to look at some warnings in the New Testament which show us how the people of the first century had to continue in their faith “until the end” to receive their full redemption.

New Testament Warnings 

As we saw from Hebrews 9.28, Jesus was to leave the Most Holy Place of God’s presence and “come again … to bring salvation.” During the time between his ascension and return, the people in the last days of the OCAS were only given the promise of salvation:

Ephesians 1.13-14 (NET[1]; adapted):

And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) — when you believed in Christ — you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of God’s glory (emphasis added).

Ephesians 4.30 (TPT[2]; adapted):

The Holy Spirit of God has sealed you in Jesus the Christ until you experience your full salvation (emphasis added).

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (CSB[3]; adapted):

Now I want to make clear for you, sisters and brothers, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you’ve taken your stand 2and by which you are being saved … (emphasis added). 

2 Corinthians 1.22 (MSG[4]; adapted):

By God’s Spirit we’ve been stamped with an age-enduring pledge — a sure beginning of what God’s destined to complete (emphasis added).

Philippians 1.6 (NLT[5]; adapted):

And I’m certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue the work until it’s finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns (emphasis added).

From these passages (and more besides) we see that salvation was started but wouldn’t be complete “until … Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1.6; NLT). This lines up perfectly with what we saw above — Christ brings salvation at his return — and leads right into the warnings in the New Testament.

Repeatedly the writers of the New Testament warned their original audiences that in order to receive salvation they must continue in their faith. To start with, let’s look at Paul’s first letter to the followers of Jesus at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 10.1-11 (CEB[6]; adapted):

Sisters and brothers, I want you to be sure of the fact that our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all went through the sea. 2All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3All ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5However, God was unhappy with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. 6These things were examples for us, so we won’t crave evil things like they did. 7Don’t worship false gods like some of them did, as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and they got up to play.’ 8Let’s not practice sexual immorality, like some of them did, and twenty-three thousand died in one day. 9Let’s not test Christ, like some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. 10Let’s not grumble, like some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. 11These things happened to them as an example and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of the [ages] has come.

There are several things we could dig deep into here but we’ll only brush over them quickly. Paul wrote this letter roughly 20 years after the time of Jesus (mid 50’s CE). In referring back to the Exodus, Paul’s making a connection that he and his contemporaries were living in the New Exodus. For Paul, the original Exodus was an “example” for him and his generation (i.e., the same generation of Jesus and the disciples; see Matthew 23.36; 24.34; cf. Acts 7.54-8.3). He then pulls several threads from that 40 year Exodus and shows similarities to their own 40 years of New Exodus. What is this New Exodus? It’s the Exodus from the age of bondage to the age of freedom; the Exodus from the age of sin and death to the age of righteousness and life; the Exodus from the Old Covenant age to the New Covenant age.

Paul stated that all of their “ancestors” in the faith were “baptized into Moses,” just like all the followers of Jesus were baptized into Christ. All of their ancestors “ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink” just like all the followers of Jesus consumed their covenant meal. However, none of those things saved their ancestors from God’s judgments. Some of them were idolaters. Some were sexually immoral. Some of them showed “smoldering discontent”[7] or “grumbled.” Some tested God. And “their bodies were scattered in the wilderness” (verse 5; NIV[8]).

Paul’s point is that the Hebrews of the Exodus were God’s people, baptized into Moses, and consumed the covenant meal but those things didn’t guarantee they’d obtain what God promised them. In fact, “most of them … were struck down in the wilderness” (verse 5; CEB). Likewise, just because people in the first century were followers of Jesus didn’t guarantee they’d obtain what God promised either. They must “continue in the faith” until the very end:

Colossians 1.22-23 (NIV; adapted): 

But now you’ve been reconciled by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in God’s sight, without blemish and free from accusation — 23if you continue in the faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel (emphasis added).

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 (CSB; adapted): 

Now I want to make clear for you, sisters and brothers, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you’ve taken your stand 2and by which you’re being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you — unless you believed in vain (emphasis added).

Hebrews 3:6, 14 (CSB; adapted):

But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we’re that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast … 14For we’ve become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start (emphasis added).

Here’s why this is important: Paul wrote, “[Those] things happened to them [the people of the Exodus] as an example for us [Paul and his contemporaries] and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of the ages has come.” There’s no question here. Paul maintained that “the end of the ages” had come to him and his contemporaries — not will come someday, but had already arrived when he wrote this letter. The “end of the ages” began with the Incarnation. Going back to the Letter to the Hebrews, the writer stated that Christ “appeared at the end of the ages to remove sin” (Hebrews 9.26; NLT; cf., 1 Peter 1.20).

As we saw above, salvation was not yet complete. Paul wrote that “salvation is nearer now than when [they] first believed” (Romans 13.11; NLT), but they would need to continue in their trust to receive their full salvation (Ephesians 4.30; TPT). Again, if we look to those of the Exodus, we see that Israel was not fully absolved from bondage until they entered the Promised Land (Joshua 5.9). And God “at one time delivered people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 1.5; NIV). And in another place — 

Hebrews 3.12-19 (CEB; adapted):

Watch out, sisters and brothers, so that none of you have an evil, unfaithful heart that abandons the living God. 13Instead, encourage each other every day, as long as it’s called “today,” so that none of you become insensitive to God because of sin’s deception. 14We’re partners with Christ, but only if we hold on to the confidence we had in the beginning until the end.

15When it says, “Today, if you hear his voice, don’t have stubborn hearts as they did in the rebellion,” 16who was it who rebelled when they heard his voice? Wasn’t it all of those who were brought out of Egypt by Moses? 17And with whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with the ones who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18And against whom did he swear that they would never enter his rest, if not against the ones who were disobedient? 19We see that they couldn’t enter because of their lack of faith (emphasis added).

This circles back to 1 Corinthians — “These things happened to them as an example [for us] and were written as a warning for us to whom the end of the ages has come. So those who think they’re standing need to watch out or else they may fall” (1 Corinthians 10.11-12; NLT; emphasis added). In other words, the people of the New Exodus — the first century followers of The Way — like the people of the ancient Exodus, needed to continue in their faith to the end to receive the salvation they’ve been longing for.

Now, with all of this information, we’ll turn our attention to the passage in question in the concluding post.

Click here for the last post in this series.

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In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

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[1] Scripture quotations marked (NET) are taken from the New English Translation. Copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

[2] Scripture quotations marked (TPT) are taken from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com.

[3] Scripture quotations marked (CSB) are taken from The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

[4] Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

[5] Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation, Inc. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

[6] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

[7] The Greek word translated “grumbled” is ἐγόγγυσαν (egongysan) and it means, “to murmur or mutter (grumble) with muffled undertones; (figuratively) murmur, grumble; to show ‘smoldering discontent’ (Souter), droning on in a low, constant murmur.”

[8] Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.