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Would you
please explain Hebrews 6:4-6 ("If they shall fall away...")?
Would you please
explain Hebrews 6:4-6, we get a lot of questions about this passage of scripture.
Thank you & God bless.
Hebrews 6:1-9 says, "Therefore
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the
doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of
eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the
world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the
earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet
for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns
and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be
burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany
salvation, though we thus speak."
The
passage starts right out saying, "We know the basic principles and doctrines
(repentance, salvation, baptism, ordination, resurrection, eternal judgment, etc.), so now
let us grow as Christians."
GROWTH is
the EMPHASIS of this passage. But what about those who do not grow? What about those who
do not ever seem to get a grasp of the basic doctrines, let alone go on to grow? What
about those people? The ones who have heard all of the preaching? The ones who have seen
God work in hearts and lives? But the ones who never seem to get grounded Scripturally?
What about THEM?
Those
people (the ones who never seem to grow) are the ones that are not being discussed
starting in verse 4, "For it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy
Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they
shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves
the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is
dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected,
and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are
persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus
speak."
The whole
question, of course, is whether these people being described are saved and then lose that
salvation, or whether they actually are rejecting the clear evidence put forth to them.
Lets see what the passage says about this group.
First, this group has been
"enlightened." That word is defined as "to furnish knowledge, to instruct,
to give spiritual insight to" (Merriam Websters Seventh New Collegiate
Dictionary). That DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY ACCEPTED what they heard, but it DOES MEAN THAT
THEY UNDERSTOOD what they heard.
Second, of
this group it is said, "And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the
world to come." They have "tasted" the good Word of God. They have been
around other Christians enough to know that when you practice what the Bible says, then
you receive the promises that the Bible gives. Maybe they were having marital trouble at
home, and could not get along with their husbands or wives. So some Christians told them
about Proverbs 15:1, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up
anger." They then went home and tried it answering in a soft way, instead of
an argumentative way. Amazingly, it worked! Their mates then calmed down, and did not
start the usual fight. Or maybe they were the nervous type that gets all tied in knots on
the inside worrying about everything, and some Christians shared with them Proverbs 16:3,
"Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established."
Amazingly, it did calm them and help them not to worry and fret over things, while they
were helping the Christians do work around the church and other things for the Lord. So
this group of people had "tasted" the good Word of God. They had been witness to
miraculous answers to prayer among Gods people, and God had even done some
miraculous things for them, since they had started to inquire more about this matter. But
everything that you "TASTE," you do NOT necessarily "SWALLOW," or
really give yourself to without reservation.
The next
phrase in the passage needs to be coupled with the beginning phrase to complete the
thought, "For it is impossible... If they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to
an open shame." If these people come to the point of understanding what it is takes
to get saved, and why; and are around other Christians long enough to see the benefits of
knowing the Lord; and are around the Word of God long enough to see that its principles
are true, and do work. If these people then reject what they have heard, and fall away
from it as the true and only way of salvation, then there remains no other way for them to
be saved. If they are saying that Jesus sacrifice is not the only way to be saved,
then they are bringing Him to an open shame, and there remains no other sacrifice that
could be made which could obtain their salvation.
This group
of people is now illustrated by the earth and the rain. "For the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is
dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected,
and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned." This group was in
a position to often receive the Word of God like the rain falling down from heaven.
They had the same opportunity to receive that and grow and bear good fruit (like some
others did). But they chose not to do so. Instead, they cultivated seeds of thorns and
briers, so they will meet with destruction.
Some
religious groups try to come to this passage and teach that a person can "fall
away" in the sense of "losing salvation." That is easily proven to be the
wrong interpretation by other clear passages of Scripture. John 10:28,29 says, "And I
give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
Some of
them foolishly answer that passage by saying, "I know that NO PERSON can pluck me out
of Gods hand, but I CAN FALL OUT MYSELF." That is very noble that they
acknowledge that no other man is strong enough to pluck them out of Gods hand, but
they quickly lose their humility when they then turn right around and say that they can
get out of Gods hand themselves. That is saying that they are strong enough to pluck
themselves out of Gods hand.
John 6:37
says, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I
will in no wise cast out." The promise is clear, that Jesus will never cast out
anyone who comes to Him for salvation. But once again, the crowd who believes that
salvation can be lost makes a very foolish interpretation here. They say, "That is
true, Jesus will never CAST me out, but I CAN FALL OUT MYSELF."
Please stop for just a
moment and read the last two paragraphs over again. Do you notice their emphasis and
problem? It is SELF. Their total trust and faith is NOT in Gods righteousness, and
in His finished work in the cross. The bottom line for them is THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Their hope for salvation depends upon their own righteousness to keep saved and to go to
heaven. That means that their salvation depends upon their own good works, and that is not
salvation, but a false gospel. Ephesians 2:8,9 says, "For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast."
The group
that believes that salvation can be lost, tries to base that upon Hebrews 6, but the
strange thing is that that group always teaches that if you lose your salvation, then you
can get it back. If Hebrews 6 is teaching that salvation can be lost, then it is also
teaching that salvation can never be gotten back by someone who loses it. Notice the
entire passage again, "FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for those who were once enlightened, and
have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY,
TO RENEW THEM AGAIN UNTO REPENTANCE; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh, and put him to an open shame." To be consistent with their
interpretation, they would have to say, "If you fall away, it is impossible to ever
get it back." But strangely, they never teach what the passage really says.
The false
doctrine that salvation can be lost is probably the most subtle form of a works salvation
that has ever been devised. It brings people so close to the truth, but still leaves them
hanging onto their own good works to ever successfully get to heaven. Notice how many
religious people are going to stand before God one day and argue not on the basis
of Jesus finished work on the cross and His righteousness but on the basis of
their own good works for God. Matthew 7:21-23 says, "Not every one that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. MANY WILL SAY TO ME IN THAT DAY, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many
wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity."
MANY will
stand before God and argue that THEY HAVE DONE ALL OF THESE GOOD THINGS, and upon that
basis, should be let into heaven. That is a "works salvation," which is a false
gospel doomed to send people to hell, just like the above crowd. Please notice the three
things in the above passage EXACTLY DESCRIBE THE EMPHASIS OF THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT of
today prophesying in Jesus name; casting out devils in Jesus name, and
doing miracles in Jesus name none of which gained one person entrance into
heaven. It is no wonder that a common doctrine held by the Charismatics is that salvation
can be lost. The Scripture clearly shows us the end of that false doctrine deceived
multitudes trusting in their own works.
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