For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Hebrews 10:14 NIV
At the beginning of this chapter, we are told that the sacrifices offered under the law would never be able to make us perfect (Heb. 10:1). It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin (Heb. 10:4). So Christ came into the world to do that those sacrifices could not. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has made us holy (Heb. 10:10). And those who have been made holy, have also been made perfect.
Most of us would hesitate to apply words like holy and perfect to ourselves. But that is what we are. In the biblical sense, being holy and perfect does not mean sinless perfection. To be holy is to be set apart for God’s use. It means we “are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Pet. 2:9).
Being perfect refers, not to flawlessness, but to completeness. I am still a work in progress, but Christ’s sacrifice has taken me from a broken and fallen human to a redeemed child of God. I have been born again into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). And now I can live a life worthy of, and pleasing to, my Lord (Col. 1:10).
If you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus, his sacrificial death on the cross has made you holy and perfect. And that should make a dramatic difference in the way you live. Be faithful to the one who has called you and made you holy and perfect.
