The writer of the book of Hebrews writes about insulting the Spirit of grace.
Hebrews 10:29 says:
"How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?"
What does it mean to insult the Spirit of grace?
Who insults the Spirit of grace?
To find the answers to these questions, we must understand the book of Hebrews.
The book of Hebrews was written to convince Hebrews, Jewish people, the old covenant law of Moses was replaced by the new covenant grace of Jesus (Hebrews 7:18; 22; 8:7-8, 13; 9:10, 15; 10:5; 13:20).
For 1500 years, the Jewish people depended upon the blood of animals to temporarily cover and forgive their sins and make them holy...clean before God, thus, enabling them to be in fellowship or in close relationship with God.
Each committed sin once again made them unholy before God and required the blood sacrifice of an animal to forgive them, make them holy once again, and to restore them to fellowship with God (Leviticus).
With the next sin committed, they became unholy once again and cut off from fellowship (closeness) with God.
This was the pattern of life for the Hebrew people.
God promised in the old covenant that a new covenant would come where he would remember sins no more by providing eternal forgiveness (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:7-13; ).
Under the old covenant of law, endless sacrifices for sins were made, temporarily covering and forgiving the sins of people and making them holy, enabling them to have temporary fellowship with God (Leviticus).
Under the new covenant of grace, once eternal sacrifice for sins was made, permanently taking away sins by forgiving the payment for sins for all people for all time (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:14)
The temporary covering for the payment of sins of people under the old covenant of law came through the sacrifices and blood of animals.
The permanent payment for the sins of people under the new covenant of grace came through the one-time sacrifice and blood of Jesus for all time and for all people.
Fellowship with or closeness to God was now eternally provided - 24 hours a day 7 days a week (Hebrews 7:18)
Sin could no longer hinder fellowship with God because through faith in Jesus one experiences eternal forgiveness and becomes eternally holy before God (Hebrews 10).
The blood of Jesus cleanses (makes holy) a person from all sin for all time (Hebrews 10).
The blood of animals could never truly make a person holy, clean before God (Hebrews 10:1-3).
If the blood of an animal could permanently forgive a person's sins and make a person holy, then there would be no need for sacrifices to continue.
Only the blood of Jesus eternally forgives sin and makes us eternally holy.
In the book of Hebrews, the writer was seeking to convince the Jewish people of the truths of the new covenant of grace and to enter into the new covenant by faith in the blood of Jesus, which forgave their sins and made them holy.
By entering into the new covenant through faith, they would rest permanently from sacrificing animals and depending upon the blood of animals to temporarily forgive their sins and make them holy (Hebrews 3-4)
By faith in Jesus, they would eternally experience God's forgiveness and be eternally holy before God, resting completely in the blood of Jesus.
These were some of truths of the new covenant of grace the writer of Hebrews was seeking to convince the Jewish people.
But not only was the writer of Hebrews seeking to convince the Jewish people about the truths of the new covenant of grace - the sacrifice and blood of Jesus, eternally forgiving and making them holy, thus drawing them into endless fellowship with God - so was the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 3:7-11; 9:8; 14; 10:15-18).
However, many of the Jewish people rejected the teaching of the Holy Spirit by deliberately continuing to sacrifice animals (Hebrews 3:12; 10:26) and depending on the blood of animals to cover and forgive their sins and make them holy.
By doing this, they had a sinful, disobedient heart which rejected Jesus and trampled under foot his blood (Hebrews 3:12; 10:29).
With each animal sacrifice, they were treating the blood of Jesus, which ushered in the new covenant of grace, as unholy.
By rejecting the blood of Jesus, which forgave their sins and made them holy, and by rejecting his covenant of grace and choosing to remain under the law of Moses by practicing animal sacrifices, they were insulting the Spirit of grace.
The Spirit was trying to convince them of the truths of the new covenant; yet their hearts were hard to the blood of Jesus, choosing the blood of animals and casting aside the blood of Jesus to forgive their sins and make them holy Hebrews 10:29).
And in doing this, they insulted the Spirit of grace.
Today, the Spirit of grace is insulted by those failing to rest in the finished work of Christ as demonstrated in constantly asking God for forgiveness and seeking to stay in fellowship with God through constant confession or by practicing certain religious works.
Much like the Hebrews, the refuse to believe that God remembers sins no more now that Jesus was sacrificed for their sins.
The refuse to believe Jesus was the full, final, and forever sacrifice for sins and that his blood permanently forgave their sins and made them holy.
Therefore, in deliberate unbelief after being taught the truths of the new covenant of grace, they continually ask God for forgiveness so they can remain in fellowship with God.
As the Spirit seeks to convince them of the truths of the new covenant of grace through a pastor, friend, book, or even a FB post, they insist on depending upon their own endless confession of sins to remain forgiven by God and maintain fellowship with God.
By doing this, like the Hebrews, they, too, insult the Spirit of grace.
(c) Brad Robertson