by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
This verse gathers up the whole argument before it: our standing before God rests on God's will, carried out in Christ's body, in an offering made only once. Two questions press on the reader: what does "sanctified" mean here, and why does "once for all" settle the matter for good?
The will that replaces the law
The phrase "by that will" points back to the sentence just before it. There, God takes one thing away so another can stand. Commentators read the "first" as the law, and the "second" as God's own will:
So it is said here, "Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He does away with the first" (that is, the law), "in order to establish the second" (that is, God's will). People often confuse God's will with the law without realising it, but here the two stand in the sharpest contrast.
That will is the reason we are set apart at all. And whose will it is matters.
He came to do the will of the LORD. Now faith understands that it is by this will of God that those He has called to Himself for salvation are set apart to God — in other words, are sanctified. This is the will of Him who, in His eternal wisdom, prepared a body for His Son. It is by the will of God that we are set apart for Him, not by our own will, and that by means of the sacrifice offered to God.
What "sanctified" means here
The word trips up many readers. They assume it describes a change in their character, so they doubt it applies to them. Commentators take it in another sense, drawn from the furnishings of Israel's tent of worship:
Many believers have very mistaken thoughts about sanctification, because they have not searched the Scriptures on the subject. Many who would say they are justified would hesitate to say they are sanctified. Why? They hold the false notion that being sanctified means being holy in nature. They do not find this true of themselves. So they go on hoping to be sanctified, and can never say they are. But sanctification is not to be understood that way. The vessels of the sanctuary were sanctified; but did the gold of those vessels differ from ordinary gold? Certainly not. They were set apart for God according to His will. The sprinkling of blood and the anointing with oil made them vessels for His service.
A body prepared to be offered
The verse speaks of the offering of Christ's body. Scripture says that body was "prepared" for Him. The choice of word matters:
There is no hint of "creation" here. In this important passage the Spirit's purpose is to teach us the unique nature of that body. It was suited to become the sacrificial offering to God "once for all" (v. 10). So the word "created" is avoided, and "prepared" is used. Because of how it came into being, this "body" had its own special feature: a holiness that belonged to it and had no equal. The Holy Spirit secured that holiness, so that the Son's obedience "to the point of death, even death on a cross" might be shown in it.
Once for all, and never again
"Once for all" is not a detail of timing. It governs the believer's whole standing, moment by moment:
The offering is offered, never to be repeated. He is not busy with continual sacrifice as the priests under the law were. He has sat down at the right hand of God, not needing to rise again on this account. Nothing more remains to be offered: "by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified." There is never a moment when they are not in the full value of that work before God.
This has a sharp edge. It weighs any practice that still offers a sacrifice for sin day after day:
Is it not a sacrifice going on day by day, with the same proof of ineffectiveness as in the Jewish sacrifices? The letter to the Hebrews sets those sacrifices against the offering of Christ's body once for all (Heb. 9, 10), and against its result now to the believer. For where there is forgiveness of sins, "there is no longer any offering for sin."
Where the troubled conscience should look
The verse names God's will and Christ's offering, and nothing else. So it tells an anxious reader where not to look:
It is useless and unnecessary to look within. Our faith, our repentance, our experiences and our feelings hold nothing that will bring relief or peace to a burdened conscience. This Scripture takes our thoughts right away from ourselves and fills them with the will of God and the work of Christ.
Summary
- The will — Our setting apart begins in God's will, not ours; the law is taken away so that this will may stand.
- The body — That will required a body prepared for the Son, holy in its very origin, and therefore fit to be the offering.
- The offering — Made once, never repeated; the Priest sat down because nothing remains to be done about sin.
- The result — "Sanctified" means set apart for God, like the sanctuary vessels. It is a standing, not a level you reach.
- The rest — So peace comes from looking away from our feelings to God's will and Christ's finished work.