Image: Dilapidated outbuilding, North Garden, Virginia, January 8, 2016
Note: Devotion adapted from last Sunday morning’s sermon on Hebrew 6:1-6.
Hebrews 6:4 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.
This
is one of the most controversial passages in the book of Hebrews and indeed
within the New Testament and the entire Bible.
The Puritan John Owen begins his treatment of these verses: “That this passage in our apostle’s discourse
hath been looked upon as accompanied with great difficulties is known to all;
and many have the differences been about its interpretation” (Hebrews, Vol. 5, p. 68).
There
are at least three interpretations that have been given for those described in this
passage:
1. It refers to those who were once true
Christians, but who committed apostasy.
This view is held by consistent Arminians. We must reject this view, however, because it
contradicts the whole counsel of God in Scripture which affirms the
perseverance (preservation) of the saints (cf. John 10:27-29; Romans 8:33-39).
2. It refers to false professors or spiritual
hypocrites. These sorts of persons make
an external profession of faith but are not internally changed. This is the interpretation of this passage
held by John Owen, Matthew Poole, and many other godly Reformed
interpreters. There is much to commend
this position but the difficulty comes in the descriptions of these persons in
vv. 4-5. They are called, for example, “partakers
of the Holy Ghost” (v. 4). This same
term [the Greek noun metochos: partaker] is clearly used in Hebrews 3:1,
however, to refer to those who are Christians:
“holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.”
3. The passage presents a “hypothetical impossibility,”
which serves as a warning to Christian readers. It takes seriously the description of these
persons as Christians (view 1) but also that true Christians could not fall
away (view 2).
Thus,
the inspired author (perhaps Paul) here presents a hypothetical impossibility
that is meant to serve as a dire and terrifying warning to true believers. Maybe the best analogy is to that of a loving
parent who sees her little child about to run into a busy street, and she calls
out at the top of her lungs, “If you take one more step toward that road I’m
going tear you from limb to limb!” Is
she really going to rip off his arms and legs?
No. But she is registering the
seriousness of the consequences in dire hypothetical terms in order effectively
to warn him and thus to save his life.
This
is what God the Father is doing in Hebrews 6:4-6. Believer, if you fell from grace you would
forfeit forever your salvation and you would bring incalculable pain to your
loving and gracious Savior. And it is
this gracious warning that is part of the very means that God sovereignly uses
to preserve his true saints.
The
proper response to this warning is doxological: Praise be to the triune God who loves us enough
to warn us, through tears, so as to keep us safe in Christ.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
Nice! Thanks for the post.
ReplyDelete