Complete and Continuing Action - Hebrews 10:14
Scripture will never cease to amaze me. It truly is “living and active” as the book of Hebrews says. So often I will come across a verse that I’m sure I’ve read before but all of a sudden it will become alive and breathe amazing new life into me. It is also amazing that God chose to use Greek as the primary language of the New Testament. More on that in a minute.
Hebrews 10:14
One of the verse that has jumped out at me lately and spoken to me over and over again is Hebrews 10:14. Let’s take a look:
For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
At first glance this might not look like a particularly amazing verse of Scripture - but it is so packed full of truth that it is mind-blowing. The part I want to take a quick look at now is the phrase “perfected for all time.”
Greek’s Perfect Tense
Unlike the English language, Greek has a lot more ways of saying things just by switching to a different tense. We English-speaking folks think of past tense, present tense, and future tense. In Greek there is the perfect tense, combining all three tenses into one, signifying that:
- Something happened in the past.
- Even though it already happened, the results of what happened are continually happening in the present.
- The results of what happened will continue to happen forever in the future.
The phrase “perfected for all time” is in the perfect tense in Greek. So what’s amazing is, Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross not only happened - it happened with lasting results. And these lasting results won’t fade. In fact, they’re eternal. Do you realize what that means for us? We change daily. We can’t rely on ourselves. We will not go a day in our lives without sinning. But if we trust in the Cross and what Jesus did there, the power of what happened didn’t stop! It is continually applied to us if we are trusting in the blood of Christ! Even though we waver and fall, our status in Christ doesn’t! Even though we offer imperfect offerings because of our sin - Jesus has made them perfect forever through His blood!
What an amazing promise!
Good post, Ryan. The perfect tense does communicate “past action with continuing results.” However, that continuing of results is only valid from the author’s point of view. In other words, the results continue through the time of writing, at least. Thus there really isn’t a future claim made.
In Hebrews 10:14, though, the force of the future promise is found in the words “for all time.” The phrase, quite literally rendered, is “For by one sacrifice He has made perfect for all time the being sanctified ones.”
It’s a great gospel statement of Scripture! Good work.
Comment by Wade Mobley — July 23, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
Thanks for the clarification - I had wondered about that. I thought it was future as well - but this is good to know.
Comment by Ryan Egan — July 23, 2008 @ 1:37 pm