Putting it all Together|Hebrews 6:4-6
At our youth group ignite, we are working through the book of Hebrews. This past Wednesday we came across one of the most difficult texts in the Bible to interpret and apply (Hebrews 6:4-6). We breezed over it and made some big picture observations. In light of some questions, and because some of you are thinkers, I wanted to post a little deeper article on the issue. These are the facebook messages from earlier today:
Cory,
So I'm confused. The people who can't be saved are the ones who grew up around christianity and experienced things and then deny Christ? But I thought that happens like people grow up in church then turn away completly from the faith however; later on in life they come back. Idk [I don't know] it just seems like God wouldn't not accept people. I thought like the worst sin was lying to the Holy Spirit. I know God is perfectly fair but it seems like if that were true this isn't fair to those people.
Dear Student
That is the difficulty of the text... does God actually deny people repentance? Is this a hypothetical situation? Here are few arguments for the how this can be interpreted:
1)Its a threat. The idea behind this argument is that the author wants to shock the readers into persevering. I don't buy it. I had a teacher in high school that threw around threats but never ever followed through. We ruled that class and she [the teacher] was our puppet. In the same way a parent that never follows through on a threat doesn't actually make their kids behave by threatening them. I don't think God works like that either. As if He says, "If you turn from me I will NEVER GIVE YOU REPENTANCE!" then under His breath, "not really, I don't do that." So that argument doesn't work for me. Another argument is...
2) It is a manner of speaking (vs. 9)
This argument means that the Author is proving a point argumentum ad absurdum (R.C. Sproul says it this way, I am not that smart!). Meaning, let's follow out this line of thought and see where it takes us, the end result is absurd. The bible does this in other places too like 1 Cor 15. This is where Paul writes about if you think there really was no resurrection, what are the implications? You are still in sin, you are still dead, you have no hope of resurrection, basically the end result is absurd. So, with Hebrews, what may be happening is he is playing out the premise 'let us go back to Jewish practices'. The way this would role out is: If you leave the gospel to go back to Jewish practices then you are saying the cross is useless, Jewish religion is king, there is no hope of repentance because you already dismissed Jesus, he is not coming again to be crucified again... therefore,there is no hope for you. (Something like that) The way this could happen today is somebody experiences Christianity, gets 'saved,' then turns away from the gospel to something else. Let's say that something else could be social justice, missions trips, church growth, etc... (religion). So, you have moved away from the cross and the end result is an absurd reality. None of those causes can save just like the religion of the Jews void of Jesus cannot save. 'However, in your case we are confident of better things.' So really this argument is saying, don't graduate from the gospel because that is absurd as if there is something better than Jesus. A third argument is...
3) Mixed corpus. The church is made up of a mixed bunch of people. Some are authentic Christians and some are false, professing christians. So, this is actually saying you might be a professing christian that actually turns away from God because you were never really saved in the first place. This gains steam from Matthew 7:21, "not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom," and 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they belonged to us they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." So Hebrews is saying to someone who thinks they are saved (but doesn't know that they aren't) they will continue in their lost-ness. But, I would ask, 'why such strong language for false professors' because we know that God can grant repentance in the 11th hour. I do not think it is impossible for someone to repent when they never actually did in the first place. I would say very passionately, 'it is totally possible!' So, this argument also does not satisfy me.
1)Its a threat. The idea behind this argument is that the author wants to shock the readers into persevering. I don't buy it. I had a teacher in high school that threw around threats but never ever followed through. We ruled that class and she [the teacher] was our puppet. In the same way a parent that never follows through on a threat doesn't actually make their kids behave by threatening them. I don't think God works like that either. As if He says, "If you turn from me I will NEVER GIVE YOU REPENTANCE!" then under His breath, "not really, I don't do that." So that argument doesn't work for me. Another argument is...
2) It is a manner of speaking (vs. 9)
This argument means that the Author is proving a point argumentum ad absurdum (R.C. Sproul says it this way, I am not that smart!). Meaning, let's follow out this line of thought and see where it takes us, the end result is absurd. The bible does this in other places too like 1 Cor 15. This is where Paul writes about if you think there really was no resurrection, what are the implications? You are still in sin, you are still dead, you have no hope of resurrection, basically the end result is absurd. So, with Hebrews, what may be happening is he is playing out the premise 'let us go back to Jewish practices'. The way this would role out is: If you leave the gospel to go back to Jewish practices then you are saying the cross is useless, Jewish religion is king, there is no hope of repentance because you already dismissed Jesus, he is not coming again to be crucified again... therefore,there is no hope for you. (Something like that) The way this could happen today is somebody experiences Christianity, gets 'saved,' then turns away from the gospel to something else. Let's say that something else could be social justice, missions trips, church growth, etc... (religion). So, you have moved away from the cross and the end result is an absurd reality. None of those causes can save just like the religion of the Jews void of Jesus cannot save. 'However, in your case we are confident of better things.' So really this argument is saying, don't graduate from the gospel because that is absurd as if there is something better than Jesus. A third argument is...
3) Mixed corpus. The church is made up of a mixed bunch of people. Some are authentic Christians and some are false, professing christians. So, this is actually saying you might be a professing christian that actually turns away from God because you were never really saved in the first place. This gains steam from Matthew 7:21, "not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom," and 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they belonged to us they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us." So Hebrews is saying to someone who thinks they are saved (but doesn't know that they aren't) they will continue in their lost-ness. But, I would ask, 'why such strong language for false professors' because we know that God can grant repentance in the 11th hour. I do not think it is impossible for someone to repent when they never actually did in the first place. I would say very passionately, 'it is totally possible!' So, this argument also does not satisfy me.
But, it gets even more complicated, why does Peter get repentance? Then, why doesn't Judas? Why does God tell Nathan to stop praying for Saul? It is hard to know the mind of God!
4) It is referring to someone who willfully and determinedly turns from Christ and hardens their heart to the things of God. This is the view that seems to make the most sense to me. And, it seems that the impossibility of 'being brought back to repentance' rests in the nature of sin, not necessarily the judicial sentence of God (if it is even possible to separate the two?).
It is important to recognize that some people do "fall away" (same term used in Hebrews 6:4) and eventually return. Even in scriptures Peter falls away when he denies Jesus three times then again when he starts observing Jewish practices (Galatians 2:11-12). Peter was restored in John 21 and he seemed to make it out of the Galatian issue after repenting. But, I think Heb 6:4-6 might be talking about the other case of people turning away and never being brought back, like in the case of Judas. Furthermore, I think Hebrews 6 is closely tied to sinning against the Spirit that Jesus warns against. So maybe it is a matter of willfully turning from God's Spirit and hardening your heart, and hardening your heart, and hardening your heart to the point where you seek repentance with tears and cannot find it like Esau (Hebrews 12:16-17). This fits the context of "slow to learn" (5:11) and "becoming lazy" (6:12). The idea here being: not listening to, responding to, and obeying the Spirit through the Word. John Owen in his work The Mortification of Sin, illustrates the hardening of heart this way:
"Sin will grow a light thing to thee; thou wilt pass it by as a thing of nought; this it will grow to. And what will be the end of such a condition? Can a sadder thing befall thee? Is it not enough to make any heart to tremble, to think of being brought into that estate wherein he should have slight thoughts of sin? Slight thoughts of grace, of mercy, of the blood of Christ, of the law, heaven, and hell, come all in at the same season. Take heed, this is that thy lust is working towards, -- the hardening of the heart, searing of the conscience, blinding of the mind, stupifying of the affections, and deceiving of the whole soul."Could anything be MORE terrifying than the hardening of heart that leads to 'deceiving the whole soul,' and results in eternal damnation?
I don't totally understand the contours of Hebrews 6, but I think the way we respond to this text needs to be the same no matter the argument. "So if you think you stand, be careful that you don't fall." (1 Corinthians 10:4) Then again, "We want you to show diligence to the very end in order to make your hope sure" (Hebrews 6:11). Do not assume that you are in the same case as Peter, who was able to be restored. It is a strong reminder not to bank on being granted repentance later... Nobody should hope that they can live wild then return later in life. There are certain cases where repentance doesn't happen. People fall away from God never to return... how are we to know which case is which? So don't turn from Him because you may end up like Esau. Keep following Jesus and never give up. Don't let sin harden your heart. "Be diligent to the very end, in order to make your hope sure" (Hebrews 6:11) We have a certain hope: "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf" (Hebrews 6:19,20). Our hope is bound up in the priestly work of Jesus Christ, who is currently in heaven before the throne on our behalf. Amen.
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