To “take away sins” in Hebrews 10:4 refers to the taking away of sins (plural). In Hebrews 10:2, “Would have no longer had the consciousness of sins” is also sins (plural).
Why do we no longer have consciousness of sins after the Lord’s blood has cleansed our conscience? Our conscience accuses us of sins (plural), specific sins, such as temper, pride, etc., before God. Since the blood of the Lord Jesus has obtained for us the forgiveness of these sins, our conscience is no longer conscious of sins. The plural sins do exist, but the blood has dealt with them. If the Lord’s blood cleansed sin (singular), then sin would no longer be in our experience. For if the blood washed sin (singular), it would mean that we would never again feel the power of sin, which is the power that drives us to commit sins. This is certainly not so. The blood of the Lord Jesus has cleansed us so that our conscience is no longer conscious of our past sins. This does not mean that we no longer have sin but that our conscience is no longer conscious of sins. We are not condemned by our conscience, because we are cleansed by the blood.
How then are we to be freed from the dominating sin (the singular sin)? “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves” (Rom. 6:6). Three things are mentioned here: (1) the body of sin; (2) the old man; and (3) sin. The body acts as the puppet. Sin causes the body to sin through the old man. When sin works in the body, the body is called the body of sin. The old man on the one hand accepts the motivation of sin and, on the other hand, instigates the body to sin. The old man stands between sin and the body. The old man is our personality. Sin tempts, and the old man agrees and directs the body to sin. Some say that the death of the Lord Jesus has eradicated the root of sin. This is wrong. The Lord Jesus accomplished the removal of the old man. Sin is still here and so is the body of sin, but the old man, which is in between, has been removed. Man as a person still remains; however, sin is now unable to manipulate the new man. Sin can never direct the new man. Sin (singular) still exists, but we are no longer its slaves. We are no longer slaves to sin, because the old man that directly instigated the body to commit sins has been crucified. What about the body? Originally it practiced sins; now it is unemployed.
Hebrews 1:3 says, “Who...having made purification of sins.” The sins mentioned here is plural, referring to the removal of punishment for sins and not to the purging of the root of sin (singular).
How then do we explain “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)? Since sin of the world is singular, does this indicate that the root of sin is eradicated? If so, then not only would the root of sin in the believers be eradicated, but even the root of sin in the whole world would be eradicated. This is not true. The meaning here is that the Lamb of God has solved the problem of sin for the whole world; it does not mean that He has eradicated the root of sin in the whole world. This agrees with the verse, “Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world” (Rom. 5:12). Just as sin entered into the world by one man, it is taken away by another man. The Lord has dealt with the sin of the world and solved this problem.
How do we deal with sin (singular)? “So also you, reckon yourselves to be dead to sin” (Rom. 6:11). Sins (plural) are dealt with by the death of Christ, while sin (singular) is solved by dying together with Christ. This death is a reckoning of oneself as dead. If we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, even though sin still has dominating power, it cannot overcome us.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin” (1 John 1:7). Again, sin here is in the singular form. This does not mean that the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses the root of sin. The preceding part shows that if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we will have fellowship one with another. After this it says that the blood of His Son also cleanses us from every sin. If this cleansing referred to our sinful nature, and we walked in the light as God is in the light, we would have no sin. How then would there be sins for the blood of the Lord Jesus to cleanse? It is when we walk in the light of the gospel, as God is in the light of revelation, that we see the blood of the Lord Jesus solving all the problems related to our sin. In verse 9 it clearly says that we have sins (plural). Again, we have sins! Therefore, we can see that sin (singular) refers to the sin that dominates within us as master, while sins (plural) refer to our outward conduct. Sin (singular) refers to the whole problem of sin, while sins (plural) refer to specific sins.
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