10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
This verse is a summary of the argument of chapter six to this point. The dominion of death ended with Jesus’ work on the cross once and for all.
10 For the death that He died,
This is the physical death of Jesus.
He died [at one point in the past; a single event] to sin once for all;
When Jesus died physically on the cross, He died in reference to sin once and for all. The Greek word “once” indicates that Christ’s death for sin is never to be repeated. Some churches believe that Jesus offers a perpetual sacrifice for sin. This is error.
“Once” in this phrase means once for all. It is an event that never needs to happen again. This was an irreversible event dealing with sin, never to be repeated again. His death was a single event whereby God dealt with all sins for all people forever. Jesus never needs to repeat death again or ever die again. Jesus’ sacrifice need not and cannot be repeated. There is no need for God to inflict a penalty again. Note the word “once” in the following passages:
He 7:27, who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
He 9:12, Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
He 9:26-28, 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
He 10:10, By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
1 Pe 3:18, For Christ also suffered once 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 Jesus’ death “to sin,” His entire relationship to the penalty of sin ended. He no longer needed to voluntarily pay any further price for the sin of mankind. Jesus satisfied the righteous demand of God regarding payment for sin. His death dealt with the sin issue decisively. He forever ended the sin issue by meeting the Father’s legal demand, paying the penalty of sin for all mankind by death. Jesus died once, for all and forever. Nothing can be added to His sacrificial death. To add anything to the finished work of Christ is to diminish the finished aspect of it.
PRINCIPLE:
Jesus forever broke the sin issue before God for all and for eternity.
APPLICATION:
Jesus broke the despair that comes with death. Christ’s death “once for all” marked the end to eternal death for the believer. No one ever has to deal with sin and its death-dealing effect again. Jesus’ death was a once and for all event on behalf of the believer.
