The Meaning of Hebrews 10:26: What Does It Mean to “Sin Willfully”?

Hebrews 10:26 reads: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”

The thought continues in verse 27: “but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”

Does this really mean that any sin committed after knowing God’s truth can remove us permanently from the forgiveness provided through Christ’s sacrifice? 

What is the correct meaning and understanding of this verse?

Background of Hebrews 10:26

To understand Hebrews 10:26, we need some background and context. 

The epistle to the Hebrews was directed at Jewish believers who were reverting back to Judaism, likely due to persecution or being ostracized for their belief that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah. 

Throughout the book, the author (likely the apostle Paul) establishes the supremacy of Jesus Christ and reminds the Jewish believers that the sacrificial system was fulfilled through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who is our “great High Priest” (Hebrews 4:14). 

He emphasizes that the first covenant is being replaced by the second, and that Christ’s perfect sacrifice was offered once for all—and He is now in heaven advocating on our behalf. “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).

Under the New Covenant, continual sacrifices to cover sins aren’t required. Christ’s one perfect sacrifice has the power to cover all sins. Because He now lives, He does what no animal sacrifice can do—He advocates on our behalf as He sits enthroned beside the Father. 

A closer look at Hebrews 10:26

Now, let’s look carefully at what it says in Hebrews 10:26: “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.”

Other versions of Hebrews 10:26 translate the phrase For if we sin willfully as:

• “For if we go on sinning deliberately” (English Standard Version).
• “If we deliberately keep on sinning” (New International Version).

These words describe a conscious, deliberate and calculated decision to reject God’s commandments wholly and openly adopt a sinful lifestyle in opposition to God. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary refers to this as “a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour.”

Hebrews 10:29 follows up on verse 26, stating: “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” 

The key ideas worth noting are falling away, turning aside, returning to sin as a way of life and committing apostasy. This verse describes the magnitude of the impact of a person choosing willful sin. This is a wholesale abandonment of God’s way of living. It also involves rejecting the knowledge of the truth previously possessed by a person, considering it common and of no value.

Hebrews 6:4-6 helps us understand this state of being even further:

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”

This speaks about those who are “enlightened” (called by God) and possess the Holy Spirit, but “fall away.” The Greek word translated “fall away” is parapiptō, which means: to fall away, turn aside or deviate. It implies a deliberate and conscious rejection of previously held truth. In other words, it is an act of total apostasy.

The key ideas worth noting are falling away, turning aside, returning to sin as a way of life and committing apostasy. These are very serious and conscious acts.

This should remind us of the warning Jesus gave in Luke 9:62: “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Taken together, these scriptures show the danger of falling away—turning back from God’s way of life, rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and returning to the very lifestyle that had once been left behind.

This describes something very different from making a mistake or stumbling into a sin due to weakness. 

Can a person be guilty of sinning willfully?

Peter also gave a warning about this, explaining that not only possible is it to sin willfully, fall away and commit apostasy—it has happened to some.

In his second letter, he writes of false teachers who introduce destructive heresies, leading others to return to the sinful lifestyles they had once escaped. Peter’s message is a clear warning: do not turn back.

Willful sin refers to a hardened state where a person no longer cares about sin and has no desire to repent or change. “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire’” (2 Peter 2:20-22).

A key point in these passages is that the individuals possessed genuine knowledge of Jesus Christ and the way of righteousness. But they made a conscious choice to turn back, becoming “entangled” once again in the corruption they had previously escaped and ultimately being overcome by it. 

This describes a deliberate, intentional rejection of God and His righteousness.

Sin and the reality of being human

Sin is defined in 1 John 3:4: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” (The King James Version says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”)

Christians who stumble but continue to seek growth and repentance are not in danger of willfully sinning as described in Hebrews 10:26. Breaking God’s commandments results in sin. Sin will lead to death, unless it is repented of and covered by the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is the realm all humans live in and deal with every day.

In Romans 7, Paul discusses the human condition at length, with its proclivity to sin. The things he focuses on are the mind and our desire to serve God, even though we are weak in the flesh.

“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:24-25).

When we love God and His law, and our mind is set on obeying Him and not practicing sin as a way of life, we can repent of our sins, receive forgiveness and move forward in our efforts to overcome sin.

Christians who stumble but continue to seek growth and repentance are not in danger of willfully sinning as described in Hebrews 10:26. Willful sin refers to a hardened state where a person no longer cares about sin, lives a sinful lifestyle without feeling guilt and has no desire to repent or change. It is a complete and conscious rejection of God’s way of life. 

Are you in danger of willful sin? 

Sinning willfully refers to a conscious and deliberate decision to turn back and fall away after receiving the knowledge of the truth. This shows a deep contempt for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

When a person gets to this point, Christ’s sacrifice no longer applies to him or her, and the sins remain on his or her record, unforgiven.

Rather than pursuing God’s way of life, such a person returns to sin as his or her chosen way of life. This reflects an arrogant and defiant state of mind, one that rejects the truth the person once had.

But Hebrews 10:26 is not describing a person who sins but repents and sincerely seeks forgiveness with the intent to change and overcome. Such a person can be confident in God’s willingness to apply the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and forgive his or her sins.

Date Posted: July 14, 2025