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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. Let’s 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 Webster’s 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 God’s 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 God’s 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 God’s hand, but they quickly lose their humility when they then turn right around and say that they can get out of God’s hand themselves. That is saying that they are strong enough to pluck themselves out of God’s 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 God’s 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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