Who was the he in Hebrews 10:29?

"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" - Hebrews 10:29

Secondly, the defector has 'counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing'. This second error, says Kistemaker, is 'even more significant because it relates to the meaning and purpose of the new covenant'. In effect, those who offend in this respect reject the new covenant, for the blood of Christ provides both the essence and effectiveness of that covenant. In treating this blood as 'common' they deny the uniqueness of Christ's death and equate it to the death of animals under the old covenant. Such people 'draw back' (or timidly withdraw) from the new covenant and revert to the old. And that, avows the Writer, leads to perdition (10:29). Most commentators discuss the problem of interpretation attaching to the statement, 'he was sanctified'. Some conclude that the apostate can be said to have been 'sanctified' in the outward sense of being ritually purified by profession or baptism. We must remember that apostasy, by scriptural defintion, occurs only in those who remain unregenerate, despite their claim to be Christians (see, e.g. 1 John 2:19). Owen also argues, however, that the sanctification in question may well be that of Christ who, by analogy with the Aaronic priests, was consecrated to his saving office with his own blood (cf. Lev. 8:30). Brown concludes that the one sanctified is neither Christ nor the apostate person. Rather, he suggests, the verse should be understood impersonally as 'the blood by which there is sanctification'. - Edgar Andrews, A Glorious High Throne

I do agree with Owen and will say that it is Christ who is sanctified. 

Sanctification is not a process but it is definite act of God

"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

5Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

6In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

7Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

8Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." - Hebrews 10

The focus is on Hebrews 10:6-10 in this section, however, I added verses 1-5 for context.




"Note that 'sanctified' is in the perfect tense (indicating a complete work) and the passive voice (indicating a work of God, not man). Just as Christ's offering was once for all, so is the setting apart (consecration) of God's elect. Kistemaker writes, 'The verb [been sanctified] indicates that at a given moment someone acted on our behalf to sanctify us, and we have become pure.' Delitzsch adds, 'In [God's] will we are or have been once for all sanctified.' What does this mean in practice?
Invariably in Hebrews, sanctification is the once-for-all act of consecration by which God 'sets aside' the believer from a profane and empty way of life to serve and glorify the living God. Peter describes the sequence of God's saving work in the soul of man. We are, he says, (1) 'elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,' (2) 'in sanctification of [or by] the Spirit, (3) 'for obedience [to the gospel] and' (4) 'sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:2).
The New Testament writers usually thought of sanctification as that work of the Holy Spirit in which he delivers an individual from the authority of darkness and translates him into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13). For example, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they had once lived in rebellion against God, then adds, 'Such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God' (1 Cor. 6:11, emphasis added). The believer's sanctification is not so much a thing that he must strive towards, as an accomplished work of grace by which he is obligated to live for God (1 Cor. 6:19-20)." - Edgar Andrews, A Glorious High Throne

"11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." - Hebrews 10




"We next notice that perfection attaches to 'those who are being sanctified'. What does this mean? It can be taken in one of two ways. It might refer to a process of sanctification ('progressive sanctification') in which the believer grows more Christ-like with the passage of time; or it could simply mean that Christ makes perfect those whom he first sanctifies or sets apart ('positional sanctification'). The words translated 'those who are being sanctified' (NIV and NKJV) or 'them that are sanctified' (AV and others; almost all older translations use this simple present tense) mean literally ' the sanctified'. Young's Literal Translation renders it: '... he hath perfected to the end those sanctified.'
Because 'sanctified' is a present participle in the original Greek, many authorities today represent sanctification as an ongoing process rather than an accomplished fact. However, it would be more consistent with general New Testament usage if the Writer is employing the present tense to signify ' those who are now in a state of sanctification'.
This, I believe, is the correct interpretation. Only four verses earlier (10:10), Hebrews clearly refers to the believer's sanctification as a completed work, accomplished by Jesus' death upon the cross. It is unlikely that the Writer now wishes to teach that sanctification is an ongoing and as yet incomplete process. Indeed, the idea that believers are being made more holy with the passage of time would sit uncomfortably with the primary statement of this verse, namely, that the elect have been perfected for ever by the death of Christ." - Ed Andrews, A Glorious High Throne

Pursuing holiness means pursue it in Christ.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: 15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." - Hebrews 12



"The second thing to be pursued is 'holiness'. The Greek word uses here is sometimes translated 'sanctification', and many consider it refers to 'progressive sanctification'. Thus Kistemaker comments, 'The word in the original Greek refers to the sanctifying process that occurs in the life of the believer . . . the believer . . . becomes more and more like Christ.'
However, we need to be cautious here. Of the five cases where this word is translated 'sanctification' in the New Testament (AV), most refer unambiguously to 'positional sanctification' -- the believer's standing as one 'set apart' in Christ (for example, 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2). Furthermore, if 'progressive sanctification' is intended here, salvation itself (seeing the Lord) becomes dependent on such sanctification. What, then, of those who repent on their deathbeds and have no opportunity to 'progress' in sanctification? And how far beyond justification by faith must we progress before we are qualified to 'see the Lord'? A theological quagmire confronts us!
The context, therefore, seems to rule out 'progressive sanctification' as an explanation of this exhortation - as other commentators have recognized. Lane declares, 'In Hebrews human endeavor is never the subject of sanctification. Christ alone is the one who consecrates others to God through his sacrificial death. Holiness is . . . the objective gift of Christ achieved through his sacrificial death on the cross (10:29; 13:12).'
Where does this leave us? It means that the injunctions to 'pursue peace' and to 'pursue holiness' are emphasizing the same need -- to strive to lay hold upon the gift of God, the pure promise of grace in Jesus Christ. He alone is our peace, our sanctification, our holiness, and we are 'complete in him' (Col. 2:10). To seek these things outside of him -- in ceremonies, in shadows, in law-keeping, or anywhere under the old covenant -- is to turn aside from the race that is set before us, to depart from the Highway of Holiness." - Edgar Andrews, A Glorious High Throne