Hebrews Chapter Six, If They Fall Away

 

Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit [5] and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

 

I have written rather extensively on this passage back in 2010, specifically Hebrews 6:4-8. If anyone wants to read the content, you can find it here. Nonetheless it is good to take in the whole counsel of God, so we’ll address this topic again.

I know the controversy surrounding this passage, and frankly over time I have become entirely convinced that it is blown wildly out of proportion. Yes, the verses are making some grave statements, but these warnings are for the betterment of the hearers. Bear in mind that the writer of Hebrews did not pen this epistle to unbelievers, but to the saints. He wrote to fellow Jewish Christians who had placed their faith in Christ but may have been slipping back into Judaism and needed correction. Correction is not always a pleasant matter, and sometimes a stern voice and a firm hand are needed to articulate a point for the sake of those who won’t listen any other way.

 

Yet the tenor of Scripture is whole and uniform. Falling away, similar to the term used in Galatians (fallen from grace) is seized upon to teach loss of salvation. The doctrine of conditional salvation is simply that: that salvation is something the believer is entrusted with and therefore may lose, give back or forfeit through conduct. Yet the Bible is rife with the concept that salvation is NEVER about conduct because conduct focuses on human effort. It focuses on us, and makes us the savior. If we are the savior, then why was there the need for the Christ to die on our behalf? Jesus died for the ungodly, we are told. Ungodly, more plainly, means not godly. He died when we were His enemies. He died when we were without hope. Does this portrayal of the human condition suggest that human effort can be applied in salvation’s reception or retention? Religion says “yes.” God Himself, however, affirms that the answer is no. He is the only Savior, as He affirms many times throughout the book of Isaiah. This image of God the Savior becomes clearer still in the person of Jesus Christ, the focus of Hebrews and the whole Bible.

 

The writer is motivating the saints to godly living; he is directing our eyes to Jesus Christ so we focus not on us, or effort, or works, or religion, but on Jesus, Hebrews 12:2. He doesn’t want us to change or amend what we’re doing; rather, he wants to change our perspective. The Hebrew Christians were looking back at the temple and animal sacrifice. In Judaism they worked to serve God in a manner that gave them something to do. However, the error crept in by equating doing something with meriting salvation. In Judaism obedience to the Law displayed the Jew’s faith in Yahweh. That faith saved; their works showcased saving faith by exercising a spirit that obeyed from the heart. The author of Hebrews commends Jesus, greater than angels, or Moses, the Law, or the temple. It is not about whether or not we serve God, but if we know Him. If we truly know Him, the motivation comes from love of Him and is directed outward. When we don’t know Him the motivation is tainted by obligation and fear, which will alienate us from Him rather than motivate us to selfless service. That being said, let us delve into the verses in question.

 

Straight way we come to the word “impossible.” It is impossible, says the author, if these persons fall away, to renew them to repentance. Repentance, if you recall from verse 1, is to change one’s mind from reliance on “dead works” to focusing our faith on God. To renew means to reintroduce someone to something. It is impossible if someone becomes a partaker of the church’s blessings to renew them again to repentance because they have traded Christ for works. They shame Him by trusting in human effort over the Savior’s blood. This same problem occurred in Galatia. Paul writes,” You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace,” Galatians 5:4. Human effort supplanted divine power, and the result was loss of position in the church. No longer living by grace through faith, the believers trusted in their works (circumcision, among other Jewish customs). Yet Paul does not call these men hopeless reprobates, bereft of spiritual life. Instead he says, “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind,” Galatians 5:7, 10. In Hebrews, after verses 4 through 8, we find a strikingly similar statement designed to comfort: “But beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner,” Hebrews 6:9.

 

What “manner” does the author speak in? One of extreme authority and gravity. The writer lists the benefits “those who were once enlightened” receive and have rejected first.

 

#1 They have tasted the heavenly gift.

#2 They have become partakers of the Holy Spirit. The Greek for partakers is “metochos” and is an adjective that means, “sharing in or partners. Those who share in a heavenly calling, or have held or will hold, a regal position in the messianic kingdom, ‘fellows or companions’ Hebrews 1:9.”

#3 They have tasted the good word of God.

#4 They have tasted the powers of the age to come, that is the new Heaven and new earth.

 

What is the heavenly gift? Salvation, or eternal life. “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 6:23. How is eternal life given? “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand,” John 10:28-30. We are held first by Christ, and also by the Father. He is the Shepherd, and we the sheep. We follow Him and He knows us, and He gives us (we don’t earn, we receive it freely) eternal life. Jesus states that we will never perish. Perish is, “appollumi,” and means, “to destroy fully and is translated variously in the New Testament as, perish 33x, destroy 26x, lose 22x, be lost 5x, lost 4x. The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being.” This definition also strongly opposes cessation of existence theology since the terminology for “destroy” means to ruin in a moral sense, not to annihilate or make extinct. Unequivocally and in the clearest terms we have a concise statement that salvation cannot be lost from the lips of the Savior. If we believe our Lord then it would behoove us to reconsider what “falling away” actually means in this passage.

 

It seems that the writer refers to genuine believers who have transgressed, after having received sanctification and partnership with the Holy Spirit, falling away positionally from Christ and no longer walking by faith. James says, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins,” James 5:19, 20. James describes a fellow saint, laden with “a multitude of sins” on his way to death, that is, physical death by reason of his sinful choices or divine chastening. In this instance there is hope. The soul laden with sins may still be turned back from the wrong path, forgiven sins, and saved from the chastening of premature death. Jude adds, “And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” Jude 22, 23. Jude advises making a distinction, having compassion on some, and pulling others out of the fire. The fire once more suggests chastening because of how defiled the choices these men have made is. In one case there is tenderness; the other case represents urgency if that person is to be saved from his own foolishness. Finally, John writes, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that,” 1 John 5:16. The apostle of love mentions sin that leads to death, and does not say that intercession should necessarily be made. It is clear that Christians are the subject of John’s warning; but it is also clear that John is discreetly suggesting when one has fallen too far, intercessory prayer is not encouraged.

 

Another example can be cited in 1 Corinthians. While the Roman Catholic looks to chapter 3 and sees Purgatory, Purgatory is not a Christian doctrine, but an invention of Popes hundreds of years after Paul’s writing. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 3:9 that the saints (us) are God’s field (for planting) and building. Verse 10 indicates that Paul laid the foundation, preaching the gospel through which the Corinthian Christians believed. We are admonished to take heed how we build upon this foundation, which is Christ, the Cornerstone, verse 11.

 

Verse 12 (like Hebrews 6:7, 8) depicts durable (spiritual) building material and perishable (carnal) building materials in the form of gold, silver, precious tones, then wood, hay, straw or stubble (KJV) which of course means cut down, dried up straw lying on the ground. Verse 13 declares that each one’s work (whether we lived in the Spirit or in the flesh) will become clear in the day when all believers are brought before Christ’s judgment seat, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:10. Saints whose work endures (verse 14) having been done in the Spirit selflessly for the sake of others and the love of God, receives reward, or a crown. Crowns are depicted especially in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 as symbols of reward for service, things “that accompany salvation,” Hebrews 6:9-12.

 

Conversely, verse 15 reveals that if the work is made from perishable goods, or carnal, dead works (Hebrews 6:1) the saint suffers loss. Paul pointedly adds that such a one will be saved, yet through fire. That is, through the fire of loss of reward. Scriptures is painfully clear that salvation is not a reward for service, but a free gift of God’s grace. The emphasis in 1 Corinthians (and Hebrews 6:4-8) is on the position of the believer and the consequences living positionally in such a way does to their witness, reward, and life. Paul reminds the Corinthians Christians in verses 16 and 17 that we are the temple of God, and God the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Verse 17 culminates with a very grave warning that if we defile God’s temple, He will destroy us, such as when this same church abused the Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:30-32. Like Ananias and Sapphira, or Saul, David’s predecessor, God reserves the prerogative of the ultimate disciplinary action on wayward saints when we have gone beyond renewal: physical death.