Security of Salvation part 2

 Last time we began to discuss the controversial Hebrews 6 passage. A widely misunderstood and mysterious section of scripture that is difficult even for the scholars.

We made it through the first few verses last time but this week we really get to the nuts and bolts of the scripture as we ask the question, "once someone has come to faith in Jesus, can he/she lose or turn from that faith and lose salvation?" Of course one concern is the genuineness of ones profession and the authenticity of being truly "born again" in Christ.

Let's look at the text before breaking it down.

Heb 6:4  For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
Heb 6:5  and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
Heb 6:6  and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 

(NASB)

When we look at the text there are a few words that will need to be defined.

First we see the word enlightened. This does not pose any real confusion to our question, as it is simply the revelation of Jesus Christ. Once anyone has heard the gospel or been told of the grace of God they no longer walk in darkness regarding Jesus' sacrifice and the way of salvation. In fact if you simply look at the disciples, Judas Iscariot was enlightened, acted as if one of the followers but in reality had rejected the Light.

The second word that needs explained is "tasted". Some of the people addressed in this letter to the Hebrews had tasted the heavenly gift. The heavenly gift here is the Lord Jesus, his words, grace, miracles, etc. There is no mention of repentance and eating and drinking, only tasting. I would guess this concept is pretty straight forward as we see a similar idea in 1st Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.  (NASB) The teaching here is not that the unbeliever is saved because of someone else's faith, but they are receiving the blessings of the other persons faith. When God blesses the righteous those around them will be able to taste of those blessings, maybe even look like it is because of them. In Matthew chapter 27 Jesus was offered wine mixed with gall. A drink to help with the pain that had a bitter taste. Jesus tasted it but would not drink it. John 6:53 tells us tasting is not enough, Joh 6:53  So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. Joh 6:54  "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Clearly the people who have been informed and experienced Jesus have all but accepted Him. So what about the last part of verse 4 where it appears they are genuine because they have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit? Well hang on because this goes deep. The Spirit of God reveals the truth of God to the unregenerate, which is all of us at some point before coming to Christ. One author calls it the preconversion ministry of the Holy Spirit. In other words we in our own flesh are unable to discern spiritual matters and so the Spirit of God opens our eyes to Spiritual truth. In reality it would be impossible for us to choose Christ without the revelation or enlightenment, through whatever source, and the Holy Spirits revelation to us of these spiritual truths. The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost....you and me. According to John 16:8 He convicts unbelievers of sin, of righteousness and of judgment so a person can partake in these benefits without being indwelled by Him. Let me remind the readers that it would be foolish to believe every person in church on any given Sunday is truly regenerated. They are partakers in service and events, maybe even try to teach and direct, but God knows their hearts. They receive the glory they long for by being in and among the blessed believers and take the glory from God as if it is theirs. Every church has these people!

Verse 6 therefore is referring to those who appear by all indications to belong to the body of Christ but resemble Judas more than Jesus. When I was serving in missions I went through a tough phase when it finally occurred to me that if I share the gospel and someone rejects it that they are without excuse, they have been informed, invited and warned. Of course, how naive to believe anyone has a valid excuse, but I think you see my point. Those who hear and taste and reject the truth..ie Jesus, will be allowed to have their choice. God will not force them to come to Him. So the concept of verse 6 is once a person has come to this point of experiential faith and never personalized it, never repented, never trusted in Jesus and walked away, they will be turned over to their consequences. I have had two men in my life share the gospel and although I didn't respond until a third man shared with me, I never became hostile or flat out rejected Christ, I just didn't gravitate toward him at that time. I became increasingly curious, felt the hand of God leading me toward Him and eventually accepted His gift of salvation, through faith in Christ. I shudder to think it could have gone the other way, my attitude in those days very well could have rejected the truth and according to verse 6, once my decision has been made I am clearly disregarding God, betraying His invitation, spurning Christ, and joining the forces that oppose Him. This could be almost instantaneous or it could be years in the making. Billy Graham had a mentor who got him involved in ministry by the name of Charles Templeton. Charles was charismatic and a great speaker, enthusiastic and seemed to be on fire for Christ. Until one day he revealed he had been living a lie and was done with the charade. Billy and others were shocked and devastated, but Charles went on sadly to reject the Lord. Even Lee Stroble tried to reach him but it was unclear if he was able to complete Lees book before his death. 

In case you were unfamiliar with what an apostate is, it is someone who hears the gospel, makes a profession of being a Christian, becomes identified with a christian church, then abandons their profession of faith, decisively repudiate Christ, desert the christian fellowship, and take their place among the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. By default if your not with Christ, your against Christ, this isn't the NFL where you can pick your team. One more thing, the apostate can only be a non-Christian. Not to be confused with the average person who hears the gospel and does nothing about it.

For those apostates it is impossible for them to be renewed again because they were never renewed to begin with. This would be suggesting a second crucifixion of Christ which would suggest the first one wasn't enough or appropriate. 

This is a condensed exhortation of these verses and certainly many other aspects and considerations could be followed up for even more clarity. But if you are like me and this text has caused you to question your security in Christ, let me remind you...Joh 10:26  "But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. Joh 10:27  "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
Joh 10:28  and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. Joh 10:29  "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. Joh 10:30  "I and the Father are one."

Maybe in my next blog I will try to answer the question that is closely related to today's topic, "is there such a thing as a carnal Christian and if so are they truly saved?"

Till next time.

P.M.

Security of Salvation part one

 Paul tells the Corinthian church, 2Co 6:2  for He says, "AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION"— . (NASB) The Corinthian church was full of milk drinking infant Christians and Paul had written to them multiple times to address their infancy in faith.

Today i want to touch on a scripture that gave me a wrestless year of trying to figure it out and is one of the deep subjects of scripture. I in no way feel adequate to explain such complex spiritual issues but I know others have struggled with this scripture as well. The scripture in reference here is Hebrews chapter 6 which some would suggest support the loss of salvation. I had been taught once saved always saved but never could reconcile my stance with this verse. Probably because I was looking to support what I already believed instead of approaching the text to see what it actually teaches. That would be the difference between eisegesis and exegesis.

We must understand that in chapter 5 the author was discussing the priesthood of Jesus until verse 11 where he digresses to rebuke the Hebrews. He says that they have become dull of hearing and by this point ought to be teachers but are still infants in need of being taught the elementary teachings of the faith. In short what the author is doing is warning the Hebrews not to become apostates, or someone who falls away from their original beliefs.

So when we get to chapter 6 we see the word therefore, which is a continuation of thought. Another way to say it might be, "in light of this warning, let me press on and stress the need for your spiritual growth.

Remember he his writing to the Jews who held to a stringent code of rules and regulations.They struggled with the mere idea of faith as opposed to works, even though it has always been about faith the code required obedience which is key to understanding this passage. 

In verses 1 and 2 the author contrasts the Jewish faith with the christian faith. One could say that the Jewish faith was the infancy and beginning words of God. After all the prophets, the historical writings and the patriarchs were taught about the foundation, or the coming of a messiah. The messiah that we would need to approach with faith. We see this further in these first verses as many of the Jewish doctrines were to prepare them for this messiah. These basic doctrines stopped shy of the death and resurrection. The Old Testament believers believed that God would send a messiah but not everyone recognized Him when He came. Christianity then, would be the advancement to maturity living under grace and not law. (Romans 6:14-15). 

According to verse 3 maturity will follow, God permitting.

One final thought before we approach the core of the text found in verses 6:4-6. The phrase "faith toward God" found in verse one is very Jewish oriented. This is a phrase that was much more common in the Old testament than in the New testament where the phrase is usually faith in Christ or in Jesus. This reminds us of who the main recipients were of this letter.

Well thats all we have time for this week, be sure and catch the conclusion to this fascinating scripture next week in part two. 

Till next time.

P.M.