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

We are called to live a life of faith. For many people, however, belief is equated with faith. In other words, they assume that if you “believe” in Jesus, then you have faith. However, saving faith is not just intellectual belief expressed through verbal consent. Saving faith is expressed as a life lived for Christ on his terms (cf. Mark 8:34-38; Luke 14:25-33). James echoes the same truth (cf. James 2:14-18).

We live in a day, however, where false assurances of “belief” abound. People are commonly called to make decisions for Christ. Churches that lead many people to make decisions for Christ are heralded as models to emulate. If those decisions are translated into an active life of discipleship through intentional training and equipping, they are worthy of emulation. If no discipleship takes place and people are told they can now have assurance of eternal life while they continue to live life on their terms, then such a church is not to be emulated.

The author of Hebrews sends a strong warning to those who fail

to live by faith. It is commonly understood that this verse refers to people who, though initially making a decision for Christ, are now, under pressure and the threat of persecution, walking away from their profession of faith. While that certainly provides context, a more nuanced understanding is in order.

There seems to be some ambiguity in the warning. People have read these verses with alarm, believing that if they “sin” after their profession of faith, they are in danger of receiving the wrath these verses promise. To assuage such fear, the answer usually given is that the sin in question is walking away from their profession of faith—practicing a form of apostasy as they return to their former religion and way of life, with the hope of relieving themselves of the persecution they have experienced.

However, what if the Holy Spirit wanted the reader to be alarmed as He inspired the author to pen these words? In other words, maybe the sin in question is not just denying one’s need for Christ. Is it possible that the Western mind that has succumbed to the idea that intellectual belief and verbal ascent equals salvation has missed the jarring reality of this warning? While certainly walking away from Christ is a sin, so too is sinning in the general sense of the word. When a person chooses to sin (pick your poison), that person is, in effect, walking away from Christ in that moment. To be restored to Christ, repentance for that sin is required (cf. 1 John 1:8-10).

However, when faith is seen as something qualitatively more robust than intellectual and verbal accent, this warning begins to lose its ambiguity. If faith is living for Jesus on His terms, then sinning is living for self, in denial of His will. All sin can then be seen, making the warning refer not just to apostasy but to real, everyday sins that steal one’s affections from God. There is a direct line between choosing sin and walking away from God. The two are mutually exclusive. The heart that yearns for sin cannot yearn for and desire Christ at the same time. The heart that longs for Christ will detest the sin for which the Savior died. There is no neutral ground. The heart is always moving in one of those two directions.

The ambiguity disappears when faith becomes more than belief in the intellectual sense. True faith is expressed as living for Christ. Saving faith, then, is a life lived—and that faith is expressed in every decision one makes. The gospel does not compel one to believe; it compels one to surrender to Christ and live life on his terms. Choosing to continue in sin is a rejection of His will and will, in time, lead to a falling away—if not through outright rejection, then through (and most likely) complacency (cf. v. 36 & Revelation 3:14-22).

The sinful heart may cling to a verbal profession of faith but reject the Lordship of Christ in everyday practical matters. If saving faith is then defined as belief expressed through verbal ascent, then such a person will be assured of salvation and feel comfortable while living for self and sin. If, however, saving faith is defined as a life of surrender, living for the will of God as revealed in scripture, then choosing to live a life of habitual sin is no different than apostasy—it is an outright rejection of Christ’s claim on one’s life.

A practical application is that truth (or doctrine) is not something to be simply understood but something to be lived. We are not called to believe the truth inasmuch as we are called to live the truth. Living the truth requires belief but encompasses so much more. Paul told Titus that, “Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn (κοσμῶσιν) the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10). To adorn is to put on. Peter uses the same word in 1 Peter 3:3-5 to describe how holy women become beautiful by adorning themselves with a gentle and quiet spirit in submission to their husbands instead of “the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear.” True beauty is a life thus lived.

True doctrine, then, is expressed by putting on the truth and wearing it every day. If we take off the doctrine of God, we will replace it with something else, as we by necessity must wear something (cf. Romans 6:16). To choose sin is to put on a new doctrine. One can claim they are wearing a tuxedo while walking around in shorts and a tank top. However, to claim belief while wearing the doctrine of sin is akin to the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. For a while, he believed he was wearing the finest of clothes, and even convinced his people, until a child pointed out the obvious. We can continue in sin, but one day the obvious will be revealed.

Only by choosing to live the truth through perseverance and endurance can one enter the great hall of faith evidenced in Hebrews chapter 11.