Troubled by this verse in Hebrews

[childofaking]

I have always been troubled by Hebrews 6 verse 4 - 6"it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift who have shared in the holy spirit,5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,6 if they fall away,to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. NIV


When i was 18 i became a christian but teenage life led me away from christ and i did my own thing, although i never realy renounced christianity as such it certainly wasn't my top prority and i even looked at other beliefs and ideas trying to find diffrent answers. In my quest i realised that Christ was the truth and prayed for forgivness, and i was blessed with a very real experience of the holy spirit .
Every time i read these verses i feel worried that they could be talking about me, what are your thourghts?
I am sure my story is similar to many .

God be with you all.

 

[fm107]

The people talked about in the passage are not "true Christians."

We know this because Jesus himself says:

John 10:27-30
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 18:9
This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."

................................................................................................

From my understanding it relates to the Jews who been convinced of the truth but turned back to Judasim.

Therefore this also applies to anyone else who comes to the understanding and knowledge of the truth then goes off and worships other Gods etc. These people will not be able to come back to repentance.

 

[fm107]

It may actually link in with:

Hebrews 10:26
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

This verse refers to apostasy i.e. an abandonment of truth and principles previously professed.

Apostasy takes place when you turn from the one and only true God and start worshipping another God(s).

I'm not saying this is the only time someone can commit apostasy.

 

[IronManMatt]

First off don’t worry about losing your salvation because of some technicality. It doesn’t work that way. If you put your faith in Jesus you have salvation, end of story. So what should we make of this verse?

it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift who have shared in the holy spirit,5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,6 if they fall away,to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. NIV

We know that this does not apply to you because you said that you have repented for backsliding. This passage says that it is impossible for the person in question to be brought back to repentance but you have been brought back to repentance, therefore the passage is referring to a different type of person. That much I know for sure.

So what is this passage referring too? It’s a tuff one and I don’t think I have a very good answer butt I’ll try. Christ was only crucified once and will not be crucified again. If someone has accepted Christ but then rejected him (full on rejection, the no turning back type) then he cannot expect there to be another sacrifice that will provide him a route to salvation. The sacrifice that Christ made only happened once and is the only way to salvation.

 

[fm107]

I think this is an example:

John 12:42-43
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

The Jews here believed in him but did not confess their faith and went back to Judasim.

..................................................................................................

This is inline with what follows on from what you quoted in Hebrews:

Hebrews 6:7-8
Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

These Jews only produced thorns and thistles.

 

[Edial]

I have always been troubled by Hebrews 6 verse 4 - 6"it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift who have shared in the holy spirit,5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,6 if they fall away,to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. NIV


When i was 18 i became a christian but teenage life led me away from christ and i did my own thing, although i never realy renounced christianity as such it certainly wasn't my top prority and i even looked at other beliefs and ideas trying to find diffrent answers. In my quest i realised that Christ was the truth and prayed for forgivness, and i was blessed with a very real experience of the holy spirit .
Every time i read these verses i feel worried that they could be talking about me, what are your thourghts?
I am sure my story is similar to many .

God be with you all.

Welcome to CF!

Your story is indeed similar to many.

In Greek doh:) that word "fall away) is similar to these 4 instances in the Bible.
All of them occur in the book of Hebrews.
They are translated as "rebellion" 3 times and "fall away" once.
(All bolded, underlined).

Same Greek word.

HEB 3:8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
HEB 3:9 where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.

....

HEB 3:15 As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."
HEB 3:16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
...
HEB 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

...

So, falling away is associated with a willful and active act of rebellion.
And that act of rebellion in the case of Israelites in the desert took 40 years.

We also see that they did not enter rest due to unbelief (underlined above in 3:19).

But we all have unbelief!

Apostle Paul (then a murderer Saul) was saved after acting in unbelief ...

1TI 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

And this fellow asked Christ to help him with his unbelief ...

MK 9:24 Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

So, ... the Romans clarifies that it is not just "unbelief", but "persistant unbelief" that is a problem.

RO 11:23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

So ... to make the answer short(er) ...

If you were in an active and persistant rebellion against God for a very long time (40 years for Israelites) and you heart was hardened by sin (non-repentant) and you just decided to come back, so to beat the rap - it's not gonna work.

If you were simply in unbelief for whatever reason (even Paul acted in unbelief), or were just in the world ... the fact that you heard God's call makes you all right.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[childofaking]

Thankyou all for responding , i have been so aware of our lord in my life that i knew i must be misinterpreting there meaning in some way.

 

[ittarter]

I have always been troubled by Hebrews 6 verse 4 - 6...
When i was 18 i became a christian but teenage life led me away from christ and i did my own thing, although i never really renounced christianity as such it certainly wasn't my top priority and i even looked at other beliefs and ideas trying to find different answers. In my quest i realised that Christ was the truth and prayed for forgiveness, and i was blessed with a very real experience of the holy spirit .
Every time i read these verses i feel worried that they could be talking about me, what are your thoughts?
I am sure my story is similar to many .

Looking at the whole picture is the key to interpreting the many, many passages in the letter to the Hebrews that refer to this no-way-back theology:

Hebrews 2:1-3a For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Heb. 4:12-5:1 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said,
"TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME."
For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.

Hebrews 4:11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.


Hebrews 6:4-8 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,and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 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. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

And so on. It is generally agreed, due to the contents of the letter, that it was written to Jewish-Christian communities in Palestine who were struggling to keep the faith and not fall back into the keeping of the Jewish temple festivals. For many Jewish Christians it was difficult to persistently turn down the old practices of atonement and hold fast to the new. This letter was sent to
a) Warn the Hebrews of the dangers of being nominal Christians while practicing decidedly non-Christian forms of atonement, i.e. the old Jewish rituals;
b) Explain why the old sacrificial system is obsolete and how it is superseded by the finished and ongoing activity of Christ;
c) Offer encouragement to those Christians trying to persevere in a social context that would serve to break them away from their faith.

I think that a lot of people get confused when they try to correlate these statements to the Johannine passages which talk about how once you belong to God, you can never be lost again. They ask, "If John says this, then how can someone who was a real Christian ever fall away?" And furthermore, why are those who fall away prevented from coming back to the true faith? Eventually a lot of people take sides, with some emphasizing the perseverance of the saints, and others advocating the real possibility that you can lose faith because of your own neglect.

Personally, I don't feel any great need to systematize both accounts of the workings of faith, because they're being applied to two very different settings, and each in its own right is entirely valid. I see a critical and usually overlooked historical setting for the passages in the letter to the Hebrews, and I suspect that a similar one operates for the Johannine passages cited by other posters in this thread. I think we need to be much more careful when trying to generalize the meaning of these passages, because you could easily end up with a belief that any Christian who falls away can never come back, and as we can see from our own experience and from countless examples in the Bible, that is simply not the case.

That's as far as I've gotten toward a proper solution. There's lots of room to progress, and I wish you luck as you try and sort out a very sticky situation!

 

[annrobert]

It is only impossible for man , not God.
With God all things all possible

1. Matthew 19:26
   But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
   Matthew 19:25-27 (in Context) Matthew 19
2. Mark 10:27
   And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
   Mark 10:26-28 (in Context) Mark 10
3. Luke 18:27
   And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
4. Jesus said he that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.
   

 

[MamaZ]

I have always been troubled by Hebrews 6 verse 4 - 6"it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift who have shared in the holy spirit,5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,6 if they fall away,to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. NIV


When i was 18 i became a christian but teenage life led me away from christ and i did my own thing, although i never realy renounced christianity as such it certainly wasn't my top prority and i even looked at other beliefs and ideas trying to find diffrent answers. In my quest i realised that Christ was the truth and prayed for forgivness, and i was blessed with a very real experience of the holy spirit .
Every time i read these verses i feel worried that they could be talking about me, what are your thourghts?
I am sure my story is similar to many .

God be with you all.

When one falls away as scripture speaks of here it is when they fall away from the truth of Christ and fall into works for salvation. For all have gone astray but the good shepherd He comes and finds His sheep.

 

[Frogster]

The people talked about in the passage are not "true Christians."

We know this because Jesus himself says:

John 10:27-30
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 18:9
This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: "I have not lost one of those you gave me."

................................................................................................

From my understanding it relates to the Jews who been convinced of the truth but turned back to Judasim.

Therefore this also applies to anyone else who comes to the understanding and knowledge of the truth then goes off and worships other Gods etc. These people will not be able to come back to repentance.

Yes,He will keep us.If somebody is afraid,that shows they love God anyways..

 

[Frogster]

Also I thought it was important to remember in that very chapter,the writer knew they were still saved,there was a distinction.

Hebrews 6:9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.

 

[christandisrael]

Maybe that verse means that the person may have not been enlightened enough? Because even I have been there. Pray about it. I dunno.

 

[SpiritDriven]

I have always been troubled by Hebrews 6 verse 4 - 6"it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift who have shared in the holy spirit,5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,6 if they fall away,to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. NIV


When i was 18 i became a christian but teenage life led me away from christ and i did my own thing, although i never realy renounced christianity as such it certainly wasn't my top prority and i even looked at other beliefs and ideas trying to find diffrent answers. In my quest i realised that Christ was the truth and prayed for forgivness, and i was blessed with a very real experience of the holy spirit .
Every time i read these verses i feel worried that they could be talking about me, what are your thourghts?
I am sure my story is similar to many .

God be with you all.

Did you know....that you are no surprise to God ! That he knows everything about you, and I mean everything.

He even knows that you came here and asked these questions, because you belong to him...and nobody will snatch you out of his hand.

If you did not know those things before....you do now.

Trust in God, for everything in your life, no matter what is going on around you....he will NEVER let you down

The World will try to conform you....but God will transform you instead.

Grace and Peace to you...always!