It has now been almost nine years since I darkened the doors of a church made with men’s hands to partake of their “worship service.”  Most people who learn this are shocked.  “Don’t you remember what Hebrews 10:25 says?  You must not forsake the gathering together of the saints!”  But, Hebrews 10:25 has nothing to do with this.  It speaks of something else altogether.  Let’s look at the passage that contains this verse.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:19-31 KJV)

All of the Book of Hebrews, including this passage, remains seriously misunderstood by God’s people.  The book deals almost entirely with the salvation of the soul, not the spirit.  It contains five profound warnings that concern missing one’s soul salvation; yet most people interpret the book to mean that a Christian can lose his ultimate salvation or, on the other hand, that the people warned were not really Christians at all.  Both are wrong.  The first puts people in perpetual unwarranted fear of an “eternal hell.”   The second gives people a false sense of sercurity because it teaches them to think that the warnings are not for them.

Verse 22 of this passage begins, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” concerns the effect of faith in Jesus upon us.  Once we know that Jesus indeed died for our sins and thus reconciled us to God, we receive a good conscience toward him.   Our heart is our innermost being, our spirit.  Our spirits have been “sprinkled” by the blood of Jesus and given new life.  This is our new birth, but we only become aware of it by faith.  What is commonly called “salvation” comes when a person realizes (believes, has faith) that he sins, that his sins separate him from God, and that Jesus shed his blood and died for those sins so that he could be reconciled to God.  At this point of time, the moment which men call coming to “saving faith,” a person’s conscience no longer condemns him before God.  He knows that his heart (spirit) has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ and that his ability to stand before God has been restored.  This is his spiritual new birth.

Verse 22 ends, Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having … our bodies washed with pure water.  This part deals with our ongoing responsibility to God once our relationship is restored.  The writer here conveys the same thing Peter did when he said, “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit: By whom also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, by which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. The like figure unto which even baptism does also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ….” (1 Peter 3:18-21 KJ2000)

What is the “like figure?”  Is it Jesus preaching to the souls in prison?  In other words, is it coming to initial faith in who Jesus is?   No, baptism which “does also now save us” is like Noah’s family being saved through water from the destruction that kills all other flesh.  This baptism is the “answer of a good conscience toward God.”  First, we hear God speak, telling us that Jesus has reconciled us to him.  This is when we make our confession of faith, what most people call “salvation.”  But, then, we are to answer, we are to respond to God by washing in his Word.  We read, learn, and apply God’s Word to our lives in an ongoing way, just as we wash ourselves daily to keep clean. 

Hebrews 10:22, therefore, speaks of both our spiritual and soulical salvation.  The emphasis here deals with our soul (our mind, will, and emotions) for the writer tells us the responsibilities we (our mind, will, and emotions) have once we come to faith in Jesus.  Next we will see how this applies to “assembling ourselves together.”  Part 2.