I'm having some trouble understanding Hebrews 10:26, et al.
It reads:
"For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?"
I can't help but think that this relates to the falling away mentioned in Hebrews 6:4-6
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, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 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."
Now I am not any kind of authority on NT Greek, but believe this is a mistranslation in v. 6. In the original Greek, where it is translated "since they again crucify", the word is "Anastauroo", "To crucify again or afresh". It is used as a present participle, expressing repeated or continuous action, but not neccesarily the time of the action. The "since" or "while they" found in many translations is not found in the Greek. I believe it was added in an attempt to convey the present participle.
My reading of the passage, however, is that it is impossible for them to be "renewed again to repentance", because doing so would mean crucifying the Son of God again themselves and putting Him to public disgrace. It's a bit awkward, but I can't honestly imagine the alternative reading holding true or making any sense in the context of the book as a whole, unfortunately.
Going back to chapter 10, it discusses the "once for all" nature of Jesus' sacrifice, saying "....By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (v10) and, "Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin." (v.18), and then in vv 26-29 it says that "if we sin willfully (here also the present participle is used, suggesting continuous, repetitive willful sin) after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." This is where I'm stuck. It strikes me that it refers to the falling away mentioned in 6:4-6, however ... as I stated previously.
I am at the point, now, where I am almost fully convinced that I am going to hell and there is nothing I can do about it. All I can do, is to point this stuff out to people with the hope that maybe it will prevent them from making the same mistake that I made. Ugh!
As a Minister of the Gospel I want to tell you that is is true that there is nothing we can do that can keep us from hell. But in the light of the Gospel, and the Word of truth, it is not up to us to keep us from hell and from falling, but it was and is in the hand of Jesus- the hand that never fails. Remember, it was not good works that saved us, and it is not bad works, that shall cause us to loose. So if you are saved if you are a Christian, or even if you're not do not think that there is nothing you can do about it, because Jesus is our Mediator and he can do all things.
I will quote from my book to answer your Question:
"A lot of times biblical scholars along with opinionist and false teachers cause certain scriptures to become controversial that if read and studied are quite simple. Such as Hebrews 6:4-6,
"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." (Emphasis added)
Those who advocate the idea that we can loose our salvation, from this verse. Often believe that we can be restored unto salvation. However if they are to draw the idea that we can loose our salvation from this verse, they must also draw the idea that once you loose your salvation you cannot regain it, however most of them do not. The word once in this verse signifies that the writer is talking about those who are already saved. Therefore his audience (those to whom he was writing) were already saved and had "tasted of the heavenly gift [of salvation]"
If we assume that a believer could fall, that would be making Christ’s sacrifice without significance because then it would be up to us to keep ourselves saved, although we did not save ourselves in the first place, and still cannot. We cannot re-crucify God, the Bible says, "…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" Hebrews 10:10,12. This same author wanted it to be understood that Christ died once for our sins and this sacrifice and offering would never spoil, but had good till eternity written on it. We cannot fall away from salvation as though we reached it in the first place, Jesus gave it to us. "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" John 10:28 Hebrews 6: 4-6 is actually a hypothetical question. The author wrote, "it is impossible." This is significant because it connects to what is said in verse six, "if they shall fall away." Something to look at is genuine salvation. How can anybody who has tasted of the heavenly gift, who has been saved, who layed on hands, and who taught the resurrection of the dead, fall away from salvation? God judges the heart and knows whether a man or woman is truly saved or not, but like Jude said, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen" Jude 1:24-25. There is no falling away from Salvation, but there is a falling to sin (2 Peter 3:17)."
I want to remind you that Jesus died for all of our sins. And what Hebrews 10:26 teaches is the same as what John teaches in 1 John chapter 3.
1jo 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
1jo 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Now as a Christian when we sin, and i mean, willfully sin, do we then loose our salvation? THe Bible clearly says that all men have sinned and shall continue to sin, the bible alsop says that all of our righteoussness is as flithy rags. So, our goodness did not save us, and our sin condemns us.
It was the blood of Jesus that forgave us, that cleansed us, and that allowed us to attain the promised gift of Heaven. John reminds us that:
1jo 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1jo 2:2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1jo 2:12I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
1jo 4:10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1jo 1:8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1jo 1:9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Hebrews just hits on the fact that a Christian should not be willingly practicing sin, and using the grace of God as a tool to sin. Paul said :
Ro 6:1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Ro 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
A True Christian, although we sin should be willing to live God's way and repent of our sins.
MarkTwain, you had me a little startled there, but I have to agree with Jerrell on what he said about it, using the grace as a tool to sin is not something I would have thought of myself though.
and using the grace of God as a tool to sin
I have read Hebrews but am yet to study it, this will have to be looked into further for me though for more concrete answers. Although I'm not sure why I didn't notice it in the first place. Wondering what others make of it.
One question that I do have, is: where exactly do we draw the line?
One extreme example: early in the book of Acts, (maybe around chapter 9? ) Phillip takes the gospel to the Samaritans, and they are baptized in Jesus' name but none of them received the Holy Spirit until, I think it was Peter, came and laid hands on them.
Or perhaps a more contemporary example, let's say someone is converted but the doctrine that they receive is just *wrong*, and as a result they never truly become "saved". I'm actually speaking from my own experiences here. I was actually 5 or 6 when I became a believer. I was watching a preacher on the TV talking about the Kingdom of Heaven, and it sounded right to me, and then he said all I had to do was say this prayer; well, I wasn't quite so sure about that, so I went to talk to my parents and I asked them if I could become a Christian, and all I got from them, was "You already are", which also didn't quite seem to strike the right chord; but for years and years after, they dragged me to church with them, in a stiff suit and tie, all the while of which I was in a complete state of confusion regarding the covenant; so that, by the time that I got the inclination that perhaps baptism was the answer I was looking for, I was more or less "a Christian" in name only, and when I was baptized, I did it for all the wrong reasons: sort of as a testimony against the people of my church for denying me my "birthright" than anything else (I was a weird kid, hehe). So anyway.
One question that I do have, is: where exactly do we draw the line?
One extreme example: early in the book of Acts, (maybe around chapter 9? ) Phillip takes the gospel to the Samaritans, and they are baptized in Jesus' name but none of them received the Holy Spirit until, I think it was Peter, came and laid hands on them.
Or perhaps a more contemporary example, let's say someone is converted but the doctrine that they receive is just *wrong*, and as a result they never truly become "saved". I'm actually speaking from my own experiences here. I was actually 5 or 6 when I became a believer. I was watching a preacher on the TV talking about the Kingdom of Heaven, and it sounded right to me, and then he said all I had to do was say this prayer; well, I wasn't quite so sure about that, so I went to talk to my parents and I asked them if I could become a Christian, and all I got from them, was "You already are", which also didn't quite seem to strike the right chord; but for years and years after, they dragged me to church with them, in a stiff suit and tie, all the while of which I was in a complete state of confusion regarding the covenant; so that, by the time that I got the inclination that perhaps baptism was the answer I was looking for, I was more or less "a Christian" in name only, and when I was baptized, I did it for all the wrong reasons: sort of as a testimony against the people of my church for denying me my "birthright" than anything else (I was a weird kid, hehe). So anyway.
Interesting. But I just want to state that the people who were baptized actually did recieve the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:15,16). And i want to aask were you ever actually saved or did you just continue on baring the name?
__________________ "... Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.
[For] My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt" Daniel 6:16,22
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Interesting. But I just want to state that the people who were baptized actually did recieve the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:15,16). And i want to aask were you ever actually saved or did you just continue on baring the name?
Let's try something different then. How about before Jesus' crucifixion, when "the Holy Spirit had not yet been given"?
As to whether I was saved or not: I'd rather not make this too much about me; but where were you going with that, anyway?
Let's try something different then. How about before Jesus' crucifixion, when "the Holy Spirit had not yet been given"?
As to whether I was saved or not: I'd rather not make this too much about me; but where were you going with that, anyway?
1) Yes, before the crucifixion the Holy Spirit was not yet given, only to Jesus. What's your point?
2) I was jsut wondering if you were ever saved or not, or if you just continued to bare the name of a CHristian without actually becoming one.
__________________ "... Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.
[For] My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt" Daniel 6:16,22
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The point is, in Hebrews 6:4-6, one of the "conditions" listed was that they had "been made partakers of the Holy Spirit". Now if when Jesus was walking the earth the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, the question is: if and how this passage might have been applicable to believers at that time?
**urgent** please read: re: Letter to the Hebrews 
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