I would like to know YOUR interpretation on this verse.
What I really want to know is....
Why is repentence impossible?
What does it take for this person to fall away?
Is restoration Possible?
Does it mean loss of Salvation?
Thank You.
Your Interpretation of Hebrews 6
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I would like to know YOUR interpretation on this verse.
What I really want to know is....
Why is repentence impossible?
What does it take for this person to fall away?
Is restoration Possible?
Does it mean loss of Salvation?
Thank You.
TrevorL
Regular Member
Howdy carl unger,
Greetings. Jesus speaks of the same era, the days immediately before AD 70. Iniquity in all its forms was to increase, not unlike our own days where we need to maintain our hold on the things of Christ
Matthew 24:12-13 (KJV): "12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Hebrews 2:1-4 (KJV): "1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?"
One of the dangers was that the pressure would increase on the Jewish Christians to cast in their lot with the Jewish cause against the Romans. If they did this instead of espousing the things of Christ, then yes, they would fall away, and their salvation would be lost. The whole purpose of the Book of Hebrews is to reawaken their faith, so that they would continue to move towards the things of Christ, and not regress to the empty skeleton of the Law and the Temple.
Kind regards
Trevor
Greetings. Jesus speaks of the same era, the days immediately before AD 70. Iniquity in all its forms was to increase, not unlike our own days where we need to maintain our hold on the things of Christ
Matthew 24:12-13 (KJV): "12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
Hebrews 2:1-4 (KJV): "1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?"
One of the dangers was that the pressure would increase on the Jewish Christians to cast in their lot with the Jewish cause against the Romans. If they did this instead of espousing the things of Christ, then yes, they would fall away, and their salvation would be lost. The whole purpose of the Book of Hebrews is to reawaken their faith, so that they would continue to move towards the things of Christ, and not regress to the empty skeleton of the Law and the Temple.
Kind regards
Trevor
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Thank You for your view.
But why is Repentence Impossible and why does it mention open shame.
what is the state of the person who has fallen away?
People say that repentence is impossible becuase the person has fallen so far away that their heart is hardened towards God so they won't repent.
Some say it is because Jesus can only be crucified once and as it mentions in Hebrews 6, these people who fall away Re-Crucify to themselves the son of God afresh.
But why is Repentence Impossible and why does it mention open shame.
what is the state of the person who has fallen away?
People say that repentence is impossible becuase the person has fallen so far away that their heart is hardened towards God so they won't repent.
Some say it is because Jesus can only be crucified once and as it mentions in Hebrews 6, these people who fall away Re-Crucify to themselves the son of God afresh.
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johnd
Well-Known Member
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit. 4 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, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 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. 7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. 9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: 12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. 17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Classic example of taking a text in its context in order to prevent pretext.
First and foremost we must understand that repentence is not just sorrow for sinning. In the context of what the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist preached it was the turning away from dead works. This is pivotal, because the Law with regard to salvation had fulfilled its purpose (as the entirety of the book of Hebrews tells us as a divinely inspired commentary on Jeremiah 31:31-34).
To recap:
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
The Law still stands but only for judgment.
2 Corinthians 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenantnot of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The spirit of the Law is that no man can save himself because the minimum requirement is too far out of our reach (Isaiah 64:6 note our righteousness is as filthy rags). The letter of the Law is the judgment (the soul that sins shall die or put another way see John 3:18).
Jesus came to make the one sacrifice to save man from death / eternal damnation. This is the foundation of the New Covenant which supercedes the Old. Remember the repentence in Hebrew 6 is from dead works (trying to keep the Law). So what Hebrews 6 is saying, if you taste of the New Covenant and draw back to the Old Covenant there is no other sacrifice for sins.
God progressively reveals truth to us. And to try to revert back to an earlier stage of that progression is a major faux pas. Remember Lot's wife. Remember the Israelites in the wilderness who wanted to return to Egypt. Remember Joshua at the battle of Ai. Remember Elijah who returned to Mount Horeb.
In Matthew 12:31 the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit which will never be forgiven was pronounced (not only for the Pharisees' stubborness in clinging to the Old Covenant, but in their clinging to it to the point that they took what Jesus said and did to authenticate his Messiahship and attribute them to the devil... in order not to believe in him and to teach others not to believe in him). Also, in that chapter of Matthew, I would say that there indeed comes a time when it is too late. We'd like to think it's never to late to .... (fill in the blank) in life. But there comes a time when the offer to be saved stops.
Doctor Donald Grey Barnhouse once said "We must remember that the book of Hebrews was written to Hebrews. And that it was written to the Hebrews to tell them to stop being Hebrews and to become Christians."
We cannot equate from Hebrews 6 an eternal damnation for any and all who fall away in the least. Look at the difference between Peter and Judas. Peter fell away. There is no doubt. He denied the Lord even though he was told it was coming. But he did not return to Judaism. He ran to the empty tomb. Judas went to the priests to confess his sin.
Regards.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Classic example of taking a text in its context in order to prevent pretext.
First and foremost we must understand that repentence is not just sorrow for sinning. In the context of what the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist preached it was the turning away from dead works. This is pivotal, because the Law with regard to salvation had fulfilled its purpose (as the entirety of the book of Hebrews tells us as a divinely inspired commentary on Jeremiah 31:31-34).
To recap:
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
The Law still stands but only for judgment.
2 Corinthians 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenantnot of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The spirit of the Law is that no man can save himself because the minimum requirement is too far out of our reach (Isaiah 64:6 note our righteousness is as filthy rags). The letter of the Law is the judgment (the soul that sins shall die or put another way see John 3:18).
Jesus came to make the one sacrifice to save man from death / eternal damnation. This is the foundation of the New Covenant which supercedes the Old. Remember the repentence in Hebrew 6 is from dead works (trying to keep the Law). So what Hebrews 6 is saying, if you taste of the New Covenant and draw back to the Old Covenant there is no other sacrifice for sins.
God progressively reveals truth to us. And to try to revert back to an earlier stage of that progression is a major faux pas. Remember Lot's wife. Remember the Israelites in the wilderness who wanted to return to Egypt. Remember Joshua at the battle of Ai. Remember Elijah who returned to Mount Horeb.
In Matthew 12:31 the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit which will never be forgiven was pronounced (not only for the Pharisees' stubborness in clinging to the Old Covenant, but in their clinging to it to the point that they took what Jesus said and did to authenticate his Messiahship and attribute them to the devil... in order not to believe in him and to teach others not to believe in him). Also, in that chapter of Matthew, I would say that there indeed comes a time when it is too late. We'd like to think it's never to late to .... (fill in the blank) in life. But there comes a time when the offer to be saved stops.
Doctor Donald Grey Barnhouse once said "We must remember that the book of Hebrews was written to Hebrews. And that it was written to the Hebrews to tell them to stop being Hebrews and to become Christians."
We cannot equate from Hebrews 6 an eternal damnation for any and all who fall away in the least. Look at the difference between Peter and Judas. Peter fell away. There is no doubt. He denied the Lord even though he was told it was coming. But he did not return to Judaism. He ran to the empty tomb. Judas went to the priests to confess his sin.
Regards.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
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Heb 6:1-6 has to be interpreted and understood in the context in which it was written.
The context of the passage which actually begins in chapter 5 verse 12 is not salvation. It is doctrine. He is talking about viable doctrine, babyhood "foundational" doctrine, and the possibility of going on to a mature "perfect" doctrine.
Eventually, as he gets to verses 3-8 of chapter 6, he is showing how unworkable the Jewish Christian's doctrine is going to be if they attempt to alter the foundational teaching about repentance from dead works. The Jewish Christians were wanting to take the priesthood that was instituted in the NT and merge it with the priesthood of Aaron that existed in the OT. Doing so would totally mess up the NT concept of Jesus being a sacrifice who died once and for all. The OT sacrifice was offered yearly, so if the OT and NT understanding of the sacrifice for sins were merged, then we would be sacrificing Jesus again and again, something that cannot be done.
Look at the verses in question:
Hebrews 6:1-3 GW
1 With this in mind, we should stop going over the elementary truths about Christ and move on to topics for more mature people. We shouldn't repeat the basics about turning away from the useless things we did and the basics about faith in God.
2 We shouldn't repeat the basic teachings about such things as baptisms, setting people apart for holy tasks, dead people coming back to life, and eternal judgment.
3 If God permits, we will do this.
Notice that nowhere is he talking about salvation. He is talking about going on to a mature and complete doctrinal understanding. He goes on to point out that they will not be able to go on to this complete and mature doctrinal understanding if they do not first stand upon the foundational truths... one of which is "repentance from dead works." It is here that they are stumbling. Dead works are not sins... they are the OT rituals and sacrifices that did not actually wash away sins or bring anyone closer to God. Paul is pointing out that if they take the NT teaching about repentance from dead works and merge it with the OT teachings about yearly sacrificing for sins, then they will have a mongrel doctrine that requires that Jesus go to the cross again and again and again... on a yearly basis.
Hebrews 6:4-6 WNT
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away--
6 it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for, to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.
Paul is showing how unworkable this hybrid doctrine would be. "It (the hybrid doctrine they are creating) is impossible" because it would require the believer to go through repentance from dead works again and again just like they had to in the OT. This hybrid doctrine would have Jesus repeatedly going to the cross every year just like the OT law required. It is the hybrid doctrine that is not viable, unworkable, and that would expose Jesus to open shame ever year as He was sacrifice again and again and again.
The context of the passage which actually begins in chapter 5 verse 12 is not salvation. It is doctrine. He is talking about viable doctrine, babyhood "foundational" doctrine, and the possibility of going on to a mature "perfect" doctrine.
Eventually, as he gets to verses 3-8 of chapter 6, he is showing how unworkable the Jewish Christian's doctrine is going to be if they attempt to alter the foundational teaching about repentance from dead works. The Jewish Christians were wanting to take the priesthood that was instituted in the NT and merge it with the priesthood of Aaron that existed in the OT. Doing so would totally mess up the NT concept of Jesus being a sacrifice who died once and for all. The OT sacrifice was offered yearly, so if the OT and NT understanding of the sacrifice for sins were merged, then we would be sacrificing Jesus again and again, something that cannot be done.
Look at the verses in question:
Hebrews 6:1-3 GW
1 With this in mind, we should stop going over the elementary truths about Christ and move on to topics for more mature people. We shouldn't repeat the basics about turning away from the useless things we did and the basics about faith in God.
2 We shouldn't repeat the basic teachings about such things as baptisms, setting people apart for holy tasks, dead people coming back to life, and eternal judgment.
3 If God permits, we will do this.
Notice that nowhere is he talking about salvation. He is talking about going on to a mature and complete doctrinal understanding. He goes on to point out that they will not be able to go on to this complete and mature doctrinal understanding if they do not first stand upon the foundational truths... one of which is "repentance from dead works." It is here that they are stumbling. Dead works are not sins... they are the OT rituals and sacrifices that did not actually wash away sins or bring anyone closer to God. Paul is pointing out that if they take the NT teaching about repentance from dead works and merge it with the OT teachings about yearly sacrificing for sins, then they will have a mongrel doctrine that requires that Jesus go to the cross again and again and again... on a yearly basis.
Hebrews 6:4-6 WNT
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away--
6 it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for, to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.
Paul is showing how unworkable this hybrid doctrine would be. "It (the hybrid doctrine they are creating) is impossible" because it would require the believer to go through repentance from dead works again and again just like they had to in the OT. This hybrid doctrine would have Jesus repeatedly going to the cross every year just like the OT law required. It is the hybrid doctrine that is not viable, unworkable, and that would expose Jesus to open shame ever year as He was sacrifice again and again and again.
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I don't think that the persons mentioned in Hebrews 6 are lost and can never come back because of the above.
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HomeBound
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carl unger said:
In my opinion the person mentioned in this scripture wasn't just "saved" as some here know it. He/she experienced the things which some of us Christians are waiting for; evidence of the Holy Spirit, physical/mental proofs of the eternal. Once "enlightened" how could someone fall away from such a gift.
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