Hebrews 10:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Let us draw near," he says, "with a true heart." Who are those who draw near? Those who are holy by faith and by spiritual service.

"With a true heart, in full assurance of faith," because here there is nothing visible. The priest, the sacrifice, and the altar are invisible. There too the priest was not visible. He stood within, while all the rest, the whole people, were outside.

But here the Apostle expresses not only that our Priest entered the holy place. He had indicated this with the words, "a great Priest over the house of God." He also says that we enter. Therefore he says, "in full assurance of faith."

"Let us draw near." To what? To faith and spiritual service, or to heaven, where our High Priest is. "With a true heart," that is, with a heart free from guile, without hypocrisy toward the brethren. Or it means a heart that does not doubt, waver, or hesitate concerning the good things to come, and therefore does not fall into faintheartedness.

He continues: "in full assurance (εν πληροφορίοι) of faith." He teaches us on what condition we do not fall into faintheartedness. It is if we have the fullness (πληροφορίαν) of faith, that is, faith firm and most perfect. For one may believe, yet not fully. Thus, for example, some say that resurrection will belong to some, but not to others. This is not full faith, but imperfect faith.

Let us draw near to Him with a true heart, so that we may attain perfection in the faith which He planted in us. And let there be sprinkling upon our hearts, that is, let our hearts be washed through Him, so that we may be cleansed from an evil conscience manifested in the thought of evil. And let us wash our body with the baptism of sanctification.

Of necessity he added, “in the full assurance of faith.” Since the sanctuary of the tabernacle, the Sacrifice, and the High Priest are all invisible and are contemplated only by faith, the meaning of what is said is this. Since it has been shown, says the Apostle, that under grace everything is far higher than what was under the Law, and that heaven has been opened to us, and the way is splendid, and the Master Christ Himself passed through it first, let us then draw near with sincere disposition. Let us believe that this truly is so, giving no place in the soul to any wavering of thoughts. This is what the Apostle called “full assurance.”

"Let us draw near" to heaven with a true heart, that is, without hypocrisy. Let us not act as people commonly do, thinking one thing and saying another.

"In the assurance of faith." This will be so only if we believe that we shall truly ascend to heaven, and if in this faith we receive firm conviction. It is necessary to believe with conviction, because we have nothing visible: neither priest, nor altar, nor sacrifice.

"Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." That is, being pure in soul and thought, so that there may be nothing evil in our conscience.

Since man consists of two parts, soul and body, the cleansing too is twofold. There is a bodiless cleansing for the bodiless part, and a bodily cleansing for the body. Water cleanses the body, and the Spirit seals the soul, so that we may draw near to God with the heart sprinkled and the body washed with pure water.

Therefore, when you go down into the water, do not imagine mere water. Rather, expect salvation from the action of the Holy Spirit. Without both, it is impossible for you to attain perfection. I do not say this, but the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has authority in this matter.

“Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” The Apostle does not leave behind his former manner of speaking. Just as in the Old Covenant bodily purity, sprinkling with blood, and washing with water were required of the priest entering the sanctuary, so a Christian is required to have sprinkling with blood, probably communion in the Blood of Christ, and washing of the body, as is thought, by baptism.

By the sanctuary he means here heaven, or the Kingdom of Christ, the New Testament Church of God, filled with heavenly blessings. For entrance into it the Apostle indicates the blood of Christ as the means.

How is this means to be used? The answer is found in verse 22, where it says, "having our hearts sprinkled." Therefore, to enter the heavenly Kingdom of Christ, sprinkling with Christ's blood is required.

By sprinkling is meant an action in which water or another liquid is scattered, as though broken up, and distributed in small parts to many objects or persons. Thus Moses sprinkled all the Israelites with the blood of the covenant. Falling upon them in small drops, it made each of them a participant in the covenant.

These words of Peter show that repentance is required of one who is baptized. The same is evident from other passages in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 3:19; Acts 20:21; Acts 26:20). It is also evident from the fact that in Scripture baptism is called a self-burial to sin (Rom 6:3-5; Heb 10:22-25).

The conditions that every person approaching God in prayer must possess are these: 1. sincerity of heart; 2. firmness of faith; 3. freedom of conscience from the heavy awareness of our sinfulness, “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience”; and 4. the sanctification of our whole bodily life and outward conduct, which begins from the time we receive baptism, “having our bodies washed with pure water” (v. 22).