The Fate of the Apostate

March 3rd, 2026
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.

The writer’s appeal to his Christian audience in vv. 22-25 concerned three applications vital for Christians in light of who Jesus Christ is as our great High Priest: 1) boldly draw near to God daily with a sincere heart full of faith and confidence; 2) grip tightly to the confession of faith we espouse in Christ, knowing that God always keeps His promises; 3) and, gather regularly in corporate worship of Christ while seeking out ways to encourage other believers to love and good deeds. These are the three vital applications that follow one’s genuine faith in Christ.

Now in v. 26, instead of writing about all the blessings that could be had for Christians who might implement his divine counsel, the author of Hebrews addresses those who might not do so. Of course it is a given that true believers in Christ—genuine Christians—will indeed put their faith into action (cf. Jas. 2:14-26), but sadly there have always been some who claim to know and love Christ who either apply their faith occasionally or who stop doing so altogether, willfully walking away from their faith in Christ. It is these who are in view in vv. 26-31.

In v. 26 the author uses the first person plural pronoun “we” in this particular warning passage, the fourth in his epistle (cf. 2:1-4; 3:6-4:13; 5:11-6:8). After all, the author’s purpose from the outset of his letter is exalt Jesus Christ as superior to all things and people, warning recently converted Jews to Christianity of the dangers of falling back into Judaism. So, in using “we” is the author putting himself in the category of those who might fall away from true faith in Christ? Perhaps, but more likely the author was a Jew. And since he was writing to Jewish converts, he was writing from their standpoint, saying, “we.” Also, he was likely willing to put himself in the same category as the people he addressed in his epistle, refusing to believe he was above those who were teetering on the edge of apostasy—of falling away from his faith.

Notably, the author has already made the cogent point that the one-time death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), is superior to the annual Day of Atonement on Yom Kippur (Heb. 9), for Christ forgives not only ignorant sins but clears the guilty conscience of those who have sinned willfully. In v. 26, however, there is a vital contrast in the willful, ongoing sin of a professed Christian and willful sins of the past. For a professed Christian to “go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” In other words, if a professed Christian decides to forsake the application in 10:22-25 and goes on sinning “willfully,” or voluntarily, the blood of Jesus Christ no longer retains its power to forgive their sins! The term “willfully” (Gr. hekousiōs) is only used twice in the NT (cf. 1 Pet. 5:2), and means just what it implies—willful, voluntary action. One might conclude that a true Christian would never willfully reject the fruitful works of being a Christian. Conversely, a false convert sins willfully and without a conscience in so doing.

In v. 27 the author gives the sentence for the willfully sinning person—whether they merely claim to be Christian or if they reject Christ outright: “a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.” Quoting from Isaiah 26:11, the author simply affirms what the OT prophets taught, namely that there are severe, eternal consequences for those who reject God, but more so for those who have received the knowledge of the truth (v. 26) and then rejected it. The author is of course talking about hell, a “terrifying” (Gr. phoberos) place of “judgment” containing “the fury of a fire”—the eternal lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14-15). Clearly, it matters not that a person once claimed to know and love Christ. For if one abandons their faith, their fate in eternal fire is the same for all who never believe, only hotter.