Hebrews 10:1-18
One Sacrifice for Sins
1For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
2If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins.
3Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,
4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.
6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.
7Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’”
8In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law).
9Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.
10And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11Day after day every priest stands to minister and to offer again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.
13Since that time, He waits for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet,
14because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says:
16“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”
17Then He adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
18And where these have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed.
Berean Standard Bible
The law is a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. Its repeated sacrifices could not make worshipers perfect. If they had, the offerings would have stopped, and the worshipers would no longer carry the same consciousness of sin.
Those sacrifices served as an annual reminder, because the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sins. Hebrews is not criticizing the sacrifices for failing to do what God never intended them to do. It is showing why something greater was necessary.
The writer places words from Psalm 40 on Christ's lips: God did not desire sacrifice and offering as the final answer, but prepared a body for the Son. Jesus came to do God's will. He takes away the first arrangement to establish the second, and by that will believers are sanctified through His body once for all.
The contrast is simple and strong. Priests stand day after day offering again and again, while Christ offers one sacrifice and sits at God's right hand. By that single offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. The Spirit's testimony says God writes His laws on hearts and remembers sins no more.
Where sins have been forgiven, no further offering for sin is needed. The earlier sacrifices were signs pointing beyond themselves. Jesus' obedient offering accomplishes the forgiveness they could announce but never complete.
How We Know
Psalm 40:6-8 supplies the words Hebrews applies to Christ: God does not delight in sacrifice as the final goal, and the speaker comes to do God's will. Hebrews uses that text to explain the obedience and completed offering of Jesus.
Questions
1 What was the law a shadow of?
AnswerThe law was a shadow of the good things to come, not the complete reality itself.
2 What could the repeated sacrifices not do?
AnswerThey could not make worshipers perfect or take away their sins, which is why they had to be repeated.
3 What did Jesus come to do?
AnswerJesus came to do God's will and establish the new arrangement through His obedient body.
4 What is no longer needed where sins are forgiven?
AnswerWhere sins are forgiven through Christ, no further offering for sin is needed because His sacrifice is complete.
What This Means for Us
The Christian life is not an endless attempt to convince God to forgive. Jesus' offering is complete. Repentance remains real, but it is a return to mercy rather than a payment that adds to the cross.
Let worship become grateful obedience. We do not offer our suffering to compete with Christ; we offer our bodies, choices, and love because His sacrifice has already opened the way.
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for doing the Father's will and offering Yourself once for all. Write Your truth on our hearts, free us from self-punishment, and make our obedience a grateful response to forgiveness. Amen.