Hebrews 10:26-29 “For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, (27) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. (28) Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. (29) Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit gives us further insight into the sin to death, for He teaches us that the believer who wilfully tramples the Son of God underfoot, counts the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insults the Spirit of grace, faces a certain and fearful expectation of judgment. And so we see that believers commit the sin to death as a deliberate act of their will, for these individuals know exactly what they are doing when they decide to no longer follow the Lord Jesus. On the other hand, a believer who may be threatened with torture or even death if they do not deny Christ cannot commit this sin even if they do deny Him, because they are being forced to deny Him against their will. Nor can a believer commit this sin in an act of anger or passion for whatever reason, because at that moment they are not thinking rationally and are not deliberately denying Christ as an act of their free will. And so even though such actions would be regrettable, nevertheless the Lord would still forgive them.
2 Peter 2:18-22 “For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. … (20) For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. (21) For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. (22) But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and, "a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Peter is clearly referring to believers and not unbelievers, for he says that these individuals have “actually escaped from those who live in error” and, “they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”, and they “have known the way of righteousness”. In this passage Peter goes on to tell us that it would have been better for these believers to have never known the way of righteousness, rather than to have known it and to have since turned away from it. So why does Peter say that? The reason for that is because believers, who commit the sin to death, will receive a greater condemnation on their day of judgement than even the unbelievers who have never known Christ.
Michael E.B. Maher
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