How Does ‘Willful Sinning’ Threaten My Salvation?
^^^ Willful sin is more from the Greek than just an act of the will. ALL sin is an act of the will so what the Bible is speaking of, when it speaking of deliberate or willing sin, is something all should endeavor to understand clearly.
As the writer points out:
... the word deliberately translates the Greek hekousiōs. This word is used in 1 Peter 5:2 like this: “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly [hekousiōs].” Willingly — here is the same word that we translate as deliberately in Hebrews 10:26.
He further goes on to explain:
Now, what this usage shows (and the reason I cite it) is that there are two different kinds of willing, aren’t there? One is eager and wholehearted, and the other is under compulsion.
In both cases, one could argue that the elders are in fact exercising their will to shepherd the flock of God. In the one case, it’s glad. It’s an act that engages the whole will. It’s happy and energized. In the other case, it’s begrudging, an act that evidently goes against significant parts of the will because they would rather be doing something else. They don’t really want to shepherd the flock of God, but for money or for fame or to avoid guilty feelings they gut it out and shepherd the flock of God.
So when the Book of Hebrews speaks of willful sinning, it is speaking of an act of sin that one enters joyfully, in a patterned, persistent manner without any reservations or guilt in so doing. In this person it is obvious the person has never turned their life over to Christ.
So in the rake thief we must ask if this act is a pattern in this man. For instance, is this rake just one of many things this man feels no remorse in stealing?
If this is tool #10 that's been stolen, showing a pattern of behavior that is running unchecked, and he still feels no error in the act then perhaps there's no relationship with God that is working within this man...
In the end though, we will beat ourselves up forever if we look to ourselves to determine if our actions are making us worthy of salvation..
The one thing Christ did, that most people simply overlook, is that Christ was never the picture of a man who trusted in His own actions for anything. He didn't look to the work of His Hands for even one thing, which stands Him in stark contrast to both the zealots as well as the religious leaders at that time. While He expounds upon the deep meaning of scripture, His life is what we are to emulate in our own.
If we are to emulate this life, then what is the most important aspect of Jesus? What carried HIM through no matter what was thrown His way?
That answer is just one thing. His trust was in God alone. Not Himself, not His understanding or His will, just God.
From start to finish Jesus's was a life that put God first, that trusted in God for all things, and walked in that trust.
If we are looking to and trusting in the work of our hands for knowledge of our salvation and/or our salvation, our eyes and our heart are looking and trusting in the wrong thing.
For everything we look to Him - not ourselves. The most difficult thing of all, is that.
