What is "the blood of the covenant" in Hebrews 10:29?

The warning which follows is one of those which in Hebrews are so frequent. The "wilful sin" here spoken of supposes, as in the sixth chapter, the knowledge of the truth, with the will in error. Sin is here, in the root-meaning of the word (hamartia), "missing the mark," "going astray." Here is a class whom he has to warn, as those before, against treading under foot the Son of God, going back to a Judaism all the impotence of which has been exposed, and which now, therefore, has manifestly "no more sacrifice for sins." The sacrifices were still going on at Jerusalem, but there was no reality any more in anything there. They are not failing saints, but adversaries, who, as such, must expect sorer judgment than under Moses' law, so much more as what they despised was greater. The blood of the covenant could not avail for one who had given it up as common, or having no virtue; and grace itself must fail those who insult the Spirit of grace. "Wherewith he was sanctified" is naturally a difficulty, though the reference to the day of atonement helps us to realize what is intended. The blood put before God then was the blood of the covenant as being that in virtue of which the relation between God and Israel was maintained: in God's sight, the type of what truly sanctifies. Thus it sanctified the people, every one among them abiding in the value of it. The Christian assembly now abides under the blood of a better covenant, and of this assembly the person spoken of had formed a part. If his profession had not been true, he still had the responsibility of it in giving it up, as all the blessing of it had been open to him to enjoy. He is thus credited with that which on God's part was never hindered being made good to him, and which he had claimed to be his own.

You will notice, also, that the apostle says: "The blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified." As we have already seen, "sanctification," in Hebrews, is outward and positional rather than that work of the Spirit of God in the soul by new birth. So far as the efficacy of the work of Christ is concerned, it is of eternal value; but it is always presumed that the objects of this work have a saving faith wrought in their souls in connection with the new birth. Thus, if a man in Israel was associated with the nation, he participated in that outward sanctification or setting apart to God which was done for the whole nation. The Hebrew was familiar with this thought, and therefore the expression would have no difficulty to those to whom the apostle was primarily writing. Nor can it easily be misunderstood by any of us. Neither here, nor elsewhere, as we well know, does Scripture mean to say that a single sheep of Christ can ever perish. Our Lord's own words: "I give unto them eternal life," "neither shall any one pluck them out of My hand" give the seal to this. But there is such a thing as positional, outward sanctification, and this is what is contemplated by the apostle.

The Spirit of grace has borne witness to the value of that blood of the covenant: therefore, to deny its value is a direct insult to the Holy Spirit. It is through Him that the precious truth of the accomplished Sacrifice and the sprinkled blood has been declared. His testimony has been given, as we read in the sixth chapter: the works of the coming age have been done by the power of the Holy Spirit. His testimony was unequivocal in the companies of those who had been led to true faith in the Lord Jesus. Therefore, for one to turn away from Christ would be a distinct insult to that Spirit of grace who had made Him known. How true it is, also, that sin against one of the persons of the Godhead involves sin against all. Thus, if the Son of God has been trodden under foot, theHoly Spirit has also been insulted, and God the Father, giver of the Son, has been denied.

It is instructive to see that a different tense again is used in verse 29: ‘the blood of the covenant, whereby he has been sanctified’. Here it speaks of a person with Jewish background who has professed to being a Christian but then abandons this profession and in this way has ‘trodden under foot the Son of God’. In this case the Holy Spirit uses neither the present participle (sanctification is not characteristic for this person) nor the perfect tense (no sanctification has been effected for him) but the aorist,[5] which, in the indicative mood, simply means that an event occurred in the past, but without implying a lasting consequence. It is the sad case of a person who made an empty profession, got baptised, and was thereby outwardly set apart but without lasting consequence.

When it says that such a person had been 'sanctified' by the blood of the covenant we need to bear in mind the true meaning of 'sanctified' ('set apart') and the fact that the letter was addressed to Hebrews: as members of God's earthly people they had been set apart from other nations. It was only 'with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah' that God would conclude the new covenant. This privilege was an outward or external one, related to being born an Israelite and has nothing to do with saving faith. But this outward privilege made the sin of despising the blood of Jesus so much more solemn.

Moses' law, with which the Jews were familiar, sternly demanded death in the case of any who rebelled against it, when the case was established by competent witness. But the revelation of God's glory in the Person of His Son infinitely transcends God's speaking by the law of Moses. If the judgment under law is so severe, then the far greater enormity of the crime against the Son of God demands a far greater judgment. Three solemn charges are brought against the apostate; first, his treading underfoot the Son of God. This is similar to Ch. 6:6. It is cold contempt for the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in flesh. How dreadful an insult to the Eternal God! Secondly, the blood of Christ he treats as unholy, despite the fact that God's covenants with Israel demanded shedding of blood. Thus if the Son of God Personally is cast aside, so is His great work of redemption. Such a man plainly has never been born again, yet is said to have been "sanctified" by the blood of the covenant. Taking a public stand with Christians, he had been publicly set apart by the acknowledgment of the virtue of the blood of Christ. But his heart had not actually been reached: all was merely on the surface.

Scripture likewise teaches that believers are SANCTIFIED through the blood of Christ. "Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate." (Heb. 13: 12; see also Heb. 10:29.) These passages doubtless have a special application, but beyond this they teach a most precious truth. The sanctification of which they speak is neither practical nor progressive, this being effected by the Holy Ghost through the Word, but indicates the setting apart of believers to God as His people on the earth. That is, every one who comes through faith under the shelter of the blood of Christ, is thereby separated from all the world, and set apart to God. The nature of this sanctification may be illustrated by the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the office of the priesthood. We read that Moses took of the blood of the ram of consecration, and "put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot" (Ex. 29:20.) Thereby they were set apart to hear, to act, and to walk for God according to the perfection of the blood of Christ. It is so with believers now; and the blood in this aspect sets forth privilege and responsibility rather than actual blessing received, reminding the believer that he belongs to God, according to the value of the blood under which he is sheltered.

Another illustration of this may be gathered from Exodus 24. When Moses had read to the people the covenant which was made by the Lord at Sinai, he sprinkled half of the blood of the sacrifices upon the people (having sprinkled the other half upon the altar), saying, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning these words." (v. 8.) This will explain the words in Hebrews concerning an apostate, who is said to have "counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing." (Heb. 10:29.) The blood sprinkled upon the people, while it set forth death as the penal sanction of the law, brought them thereby under the obligation of obedience. It was for this they were set apart. (Compare 1 Peter 1:2.) So to the eye of God all His people now on the earth are seen, as it were, sprinkled under the value of the blood of Christ, and thus set apart to Him for His service. They are sanctified through the blood.

But evidently this sanctification is outside and not within ourselves. It is a sanctification by position. We were formerly aliens, away from God, and under the guilt of all our sins. Through the blood of Christ our Lord we have been made nigh — taken from our position of distance and set apart to God as belonging to Him. This is the general theme of Hebrews, together with priesthood. Thus you have, "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified" (Heb. 2:11). "For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, … purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb. 9:13-14). So also even the apostate is spoken of as having been sanctified by the blood of the covenant (chap. 10:29), that is he was set apart, outwardly in his case, as belonging to a people connected with the blood of the covenant. The allusion is to the blood of the first covenant, spoken of in Heb. 9:19-20. In Ex. 24:8, we see that Moses did this in connection with the legal covenant; the People engaged to be obedient. Under grace there is a new covenant and a better sacrifice, even the precious blood of Christ. It sanctified, or set apart, men to God. Where the faith was real, the sanctification or setting apart was real; and where it was mere profession, a dreadful responsibility was incurred.

They who despised the law of Moses died without mercy. What then would not those deserve at the hand of God, who trod under foot the Son of God, counted the blood of the covenant, by which they had been sanctified, as a common thing, and did despite to the Spirit of grace? It was not simple disobedience, however evil that might be; it was contempt of the grace of God, and of that which He had done, in the Person of Jesus, in order to deliver us from the consequences of disobedience. On the one hand, what was there left, if with the knowledge of what it was, they renounced this? On the other hand, how could they escape judgment? for they know a God who had said that vengeance belonged unto Him, and that He would recompense; and, again the Lord would judge His people.

Observe here the way in which sanctification is attributed to the blood; and, also, that professors are treated as belonging to the people. The blood, received by faith, consecrates the soul to God; but it is here viewed also as an outward means for setting apart the people as a people. Every individual who had owned Jesus to be the Messiah, and the blood to be the seal and foundation of an everlasting covenant available for eternal cleansing and redemption on the part of God, acknowledging himself to be set apart for God, by this means, as one of the people — every such individual would, if he renounced it, renounce it as such: and there was no other way of sanctifying him. The former system had evidently lost its power for him, and the true one he had abandoned. This is the reason why it is said, "having received the knowledge of the truth."

Heb. 10:29. If the gospel heard at B is rejected, he "has trodden under foot the Son of God," and has "counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing," for he was "sanctified" through the blood of Christ by being brought to B (or perhaps as we have seen, been born at B), severed from the darkness of A, and he "has done despite to the Spirit of Grace," refusing His convictions of sin, and all His other testimony.

In the gospel there is presented to us, first, the Son of God; second, His precious blood, as the blood of the new covenant; third, the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of grace. Now what is it that the apostate does — especially the Jew, who having professed Christianity, abandons it, and reverts to Judaism. He treads under foot the first. The second he counts an unholy thing. The third he utterly despises. He treats with the utmost scorn and contempt the very things that bring salvation. There is nothing beyond them, nothing but judgment. He will deserve every bit of judgment he gets. All this, be it noted, is a vastly different thing from a true believer growing cold and unwatchful and consequently falling into sin.