Daily Bible Reading – Hebrews 4:1 – 7:28
No chapter in the Bible has disturbed people more than has Heb. 6. It is unfortunate that even sincere believers have “fallen out” over the doctrine of “falling away”! Scholars have offered several interpretations of this passage: (1) it describes the sin of apostasy, which means Christians can lose their salvation; (2) it deals with people who were “almost saved” but then backed away from trusting Christ; (3) it describes a sin possible only to Jews living while the Jewish temple was still standing; (4) it presents a “hypothetical case” or illustration that could not really happen. While I respect the views of others, I must reject those ideas just listed. I feel that Heb. 6 (like the rest of the book) was written to believers, but this chapter does not describe a sin that results in a believer “losing salvation.” If we keep the total context of the book in mind, and if we pay close attention to the words used, we will discover that the main lessons of the chapter are ones of repentance and assurance.
Note from the beginning that the issue here is repentance, not salvation: “For it is impossible . . . to renew them unto repentance” (vv. 4, 6). If this passage is talking about salvation, then it is teaching that a believer who “loses salvation” cannot regain it. This means that salvation depends partly on our own works and, once we lose salvation, we can never get it back again.
But the subject of the chapter is repentance—the believer’s attitude toward the Word of God. Verses 4–5 describe real Christians (see 10:32 as well as 2:9, 14), and v. 9 indicates that the writer believed they were truly saved. We do not have “almost saved” people here, but real believers.
The two key words in v. 6 are “fall away” and “crucify.” “Fall away” is not the Gk. word apostasia, from which we get the English word “apostasy.” It is parapipto, which means “to fall beside, to turn aside, to wander.” It is similar to the word for “trespass,” as found in Gal. 6:1 (“if a man be overtaken in a fault [trespass]”). So, v. 6 describes believers who have experienced the spiritual blessings of God but who fall by the side or trespass because of unbelief. Having done this, they are in danger of divine chastening (see Heb. 12:5–13) and of becoming castaways (1 Cor. 9:24–27), which results in loss of reward and divine disapproval, but not loss of salvation. The phrase “seeing they crucify” (v. 6) should be translated “while they are crucifying.” In other words, Heb. 6:4–6 does not teach that sinning saints cannot be brought to repentance, but that they cannot be brought to repentance while they continue to sin and put Christ to shame. Believers who continue in sin prove that they have not repented; Samson and Saul are cases in point. Hebrews 12:14–17 cites the case of Esau as well.
The illustration of the field in vv. 7–8 relates this truth to the image of the testing fires of God, a truth given in 1 Cor. 3:10–15 as well as Heb. 12:28–29. God saved us to bear fruit; our lives will one day be tested; what we do that is not approved will be burned. Note that the field is not burned, but rather the fruit. The believer is saved “yet so as by fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). So, the whole message of this difficult passage is this: Christians can go backward in their spiritual lives and bring shame to Christ. While they are living in sin, they cannot be brought to repentance, and they are in danger of divine chastening. If they persist, their lives will bear no lasting fruit, and they will “suffer loss” at the judgment seat of Christ.
And, lest we use “grace” as an excuse for sin, Heb. 10:30 reminds believers: “The Lord shall judge His people.”
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