I want us to consider this next scripture in terms of what the modern Protestant view of God is - the one in which He is very largely looked upon as being a nice, snuggly teddy-bear.
This is a New Testament picture of this snuggly teddy-bear! And it shows that God punishes those who are contemptuous of Him. I would put a pretty strong English word in there. Contemptuous means to disdain, despise, look down upon, to treat as negligible. What these verses are doing is emphasizing the fact that God will act.
God looks upon the heart and He sees right through all of the pretenses that we put up, all the facades that we put around us. And this series of verses, in a New Testament context, is warning us that the sinner should not regard the judgment of God lightly.
Admittedly, the apostle Paul is talking here about the willful sinner. He is not talking about those who occasionally sin as a result of weakness, but those who have actually become apostate. He did not hesitate to warn Christians about such backsliding in a letter and, apparently, felt that those to whom he was writing (part of a Christian congregation) were slipping in that direction. The scriptural context reveals that the sinner, by his conduct, shows his disregard for God. His actions indicate that the relationship, in his opinion, requires little or none of his attention.
Remember that this is shown by his conduct and that it may not be something that he says, verbally, with his tongue - he does not say, I am contemptuous of God. I think He is negligible. By his conduct, then, he actually assesses the sacrifice of Christ as being nothing more than an ordinary death!
What we must understand is that a person's conduct springs from an inner disposition. It is something that we have come to call attitude. Or we may say that it is something that is in the heart, Out of the heart the mouth speaks. But it is also from the heart that conduct springs. And so this contemptuous attitude is carried in the heart and not necessarily something that is uttered. It is revealed by the person's conduct. This person is a sinner regardless of what he is saying with his tongue because his conduct is revealing what is in his heart.
Verse 30 reads, For we know Him. . . Do we know Him? This is the question for us, today. Do we know Him enough to rightly fear Him?
Paul here focuses on the character of the judge. The judge is God. God would not be a righteous God if He allowed sinners to escape punishment for their contempt. And the warning is that, because God is a righteous God, He will punish His people. We are not talking about people in the world. We are talking about His people. The verse quotes from Deuteronomy which says, The Lord will judge His people.
Paul indicates that, if we know Him, the quality of fearing to face Him in judgment will be very much a part of our thinking. We are being reminded that Christians bear more danger in this one respect than the unconverted because to whom much is given much is required. Those judged under the Old Covenant (those referred to in verses 28-30) were not in danger of rejecting Christ. But we must take heed because God's grace has absolutely no meaning to us if there is not a fiery judgment from which we are to be saved. We must know, however, that we do have this grace and that there is, indeed, a fiery judgment that we need to fear.
The book of Hebrews is somewhat infamous for its warnings against falling away and willful sin. Hebrews 6:4-6 says that for those who have been enlightened (and so forth) and yet fall away, it is impossible to restore them again. And Hebrews 10:26-31 says there is no sacrifice for willful sin, and it promises vengeance against those who count the blood of the covenant a common, unholy thing.
But chapter 2 shows the beginning of the path that leads to that fiery end. The verses here do not speak of outright rejection, but rather of drifting and neglect. It is a subtle process that involves regularly prioritizing things of lesser importance above the opportunity that has been opened to us. In time, and with a continual focus on lesser things, faith begins to wane and one's spiritual strength is sapped. A callous forms on the heart, such that God's word can no longer get through.
The falling away and willful sin, then, are the late-stage result of a person routinely prioritizing something - anything - above God and His message. Through his or her own training, the person becomes essentially unable to make the right choices, and willful sin is the result. The heart becomes so calloused that it no longer cares what God says or thinks. But it begins with drifting and neglect.
Thus, it is imperative for us to identify what things in our lives - even very good things - could cause us to devalue our calling, our sanctification, our salvation - what things occupy our minds more than God and His word and His way.
