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

This is one of the verses that is often quoted as an example showing that a believer can lose his salvation.

I want to say right away: if you are listening to a preacher and something frightens you, know that it is not from God, because the Bible says: “perfect love casts out fear” [1 Jhn.4:18], and also: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” [2 Tim.1:7]

Wrong interpretations of Bible verses often arise because the Scriptures are interpreted by human wisdom rather than by the Bible itself. The Bible explains itself perfectly, for the Word of God is spiritual, and spiritual things must be explained by spiritual things.

Paul writes: “These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” [1 Cor.2:13] This is what makes the Old Testament so good: it helps us understand New Testament truths, for the New Testament is hidden in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New.

So what is this willful, or deliberate, sin for which there no longer remains a sacrifice?

In 1 Samuel there is an interesting story about the high priest Eli, whose sons sinned against God. The Lord said to the boy Samuel: “For I have told him [Eli] that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.” [1 Sam.3:13-14]

Interestingly, this speaks of the iniquity of Eli’s house, which will not be atoned for by any sacrifice forever. Isn’t it very similar to what Hebrews chapter 10 says?

So what were his sons doing?

At first glance it may seem that their guilt was that they lay with the women who served at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. [1 Sam.2:22] But Eli did rebuke his sons for this, whereas the Lord told Samuel that he did not restrain them, or rebuke them. So they must have been doing something quite different.

Here is what the man of God said to Eli: “Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place…” [1 Sam.2:29] I want to draw your attention to the word kick: the sacrifices were treated with the feet, and Hebrews 10:29 says the same: “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot…” The sacrifices and grain offerings in the Old Testament were types of the sacrifice of the Son of God.

Metaphorically, the Greek word for “trample” means “to reject with contempt”. In other words, Eli’s sons, and he himself too, did not regard the sacrifices and grain offerings as holy, but as ordinary food to stuff their stomachs with. [1 Sam.2:29]

The same happens today with those who “reject with contempt” the Son of God, count as a common thing the blood of the new covenant shed for the forgiveness of sins, and so insult the Spirit of grace. [Heb.10:29] Clearly, a believer in Jesus cannot fall into this category, because he has already received Christ’s sacrifice, which is effective forever.