What does “full assurance of faith” mean (Hebrews 10:22)?

Entering into the presence of God is the privilege of every believer. The writer of Hebrews stresses that, because of the blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross, we now have complete access to God: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19–22, ESV).

Christians are called to come boldly, confidently into “God’s throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). We can draw near to the Lord in personal worship and devotion. But to have authentic fellowship with God, we must prepare ourselves spiritually. The writer of Hebrews evokes images from the Old Testament in which the priests underwent a thorough cleansing ritual before entering the Holy Place on the Day of Atonement (Hebrews 10:11–22; cf. Exodus 30:18–21; Leviticus 16:1–34).

When we come into God’s presence today, we must still concern ourselves with purity (1 John 1:5—2:2). Hebrews 10:22 contains four preparatory conditions for New Testament worshipers: We must have “a sincere heart,” “the full assurance that faith brings,” “hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience,” and “bodies washed with pure water.”

Full assurance of faith can be understood as “complete confidence, conviction, and trust in Jesus as detailed in the message of the gospel.” It means we have taken hold of the good news about who we are in Christ and all He has done for us. The apostle Paul affirms: “For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true” (1 Thessalonians 1:5, NLT). The Spirit of God fully convinces us that it is through Christ alone that we are cleansed from sin and given access to God: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NLT). His broken body on the cross is the only sacrifice that atones for our sins—past, present, and future (Romans 8:3).

We have full assurance of faith when we no longer live under the weight of a guilty conscience. We realize that we are completely clean, inside and out, because Jesus Christ is our perfect, spotless sacrifice: “So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins” (Hebrews 9:11–14, NLT; see also Hebrews 7:27; 1 Peter 1:18–19).

The full assurance of faith is a deep, unshakable confidence in the promises of God in Christ. To have full assurance of faith means we are convinced that Jesus is who He says He is and will do all He has promised to do in His Word. Paul prayed for the Colossians “to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2–3, ESV). He wanted them to have unwavering trust in God’s plan of salvation for them in Jesus Christ.

With the full assurance of faith, we commune daily in intimate fellowship with God. His Spirit in us affirms that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16). We no longer vacillate (James 1:6–8), tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching (Ephesians 4:14). “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love” (1 John 4:16, NLT). With “the full assurance of hope,” we remain steadfast until the end (Hebrews 6:11). We “hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm” (Hebrews 10:23, NLT). We “hold fast to the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18), grounded in sustaining faith as we live in full expectation of reaching the finish line of our faith, which is eternity spent forever in the presence of God (2 Timothy 1:12; 4:7–8).