Falling Away

by Martin Archibald, Glasgow | Category: Themes From Hebrews | Jun 1980

Early in his letter the writer to the Hebrews draws attention to the seriousness of the believer's departure from God: ~ we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away" (2:1). For, he reasons, if disobedience to the word spoken through angels brought sure judgement, how shall we escape if we neglect God's voice in His Son? Expounding the eminence that belongs to our Lord leads directly to practical advice for the daily life of the Christian. Again, in chapter 3, the vision of the Lord as Apostle and High Priest of our confession, and Son over God's house, becomes the basis of the appeal, "Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God". In chapter 5, while the main argument takes its course, the writer is also reminding those who have "become dull of hearing", of the prayers and tears of the Lord in the days of His flesh and His obedience learned by the things which He suffered, as a strong encouragement to hold fast their confession. Then can they not press on, or must they remain in need of someone to teach them again the rudiments? The letter goes on, "Let us cease to speak of the first principles of Christ, and press on unto perfection... And this will we do, if God permit" (6:1,3). So these verses show the writer believes that at least some of those who have departed from God could yet be reached by his appeal to appreciate in fuller experience the stature of Christ.

We say "at least some" may respond, for there are others, who are in a worse state. Standing still can lead to turning back; and then, 6:6 says, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.

"For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame" (6:4-6).

If this passage described the loss of eternal salvation, far from spurring on the failing Christian, it would drive him either to despair or to a life-long habit of finding excuses for his sins. The Good Shepherd said, "He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgement, but hath passed out of death into life" (John 5:24). Life that is eternal cannot cease, even when we cease to obey the Lord's word. Rather, Hebrews 6 shows what may be expected to happen to those who "drift away" (2:1), or those who "fall away" (3:12) from the living God. The former include the writer (for he says "we"), and so they are believers. The latter are the saints to whom the letter is written, and there can be an evil heart of unbelief in any one of them. When they are warned, "Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be...", the words do not mean "there shall be found" or "there shall be revealed", as though referring to some people who were deceivers or being deceived, and who had always had a heart of unbelief, that would one day be discovered. The future verb in the Greek, though specially used here to indicate urgency, is also future in sense.

It would be reasonable to expect, from our review of the earlier tenor of the letter, that chapter 6 again concerns the failure that may destroy the testimony of those who are born again. Verses 4 and 5 make this clear. "Those who were once enlightened" had known the experience of the Ephesian saints, to whom Paul says "... we were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8). The light of God's word may shine on the life of a sinner, showing him his error, and he may shrink away from its truth. But could the sinner himself be enlightened without receiving Christ, who alone can give the life and light of the Spirit to men (John 1:9)?

It has been suggested that people who "tasted of the heavenly gift" and "tasted the good word of God" merely enjoyed the benefits of the community the Spirit was working in, being carried along by the enthusiasm of others, and never themselves saved. But this interpretation does not acknowledge the force of "were made partakers of the Holy Spirit". The Greek word for "partakers" is used with a prefix meaning "fellow-" in Eph. 3:6: "fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (see also Heb. 3:14). And another word, meaning "having a share (in)", is also translated " partakers" in 2 Peter 1:4: "precious . . . promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature". How could the expression partakers" mean anything less in these instances than the closest participation? This point needs the closer scrutiny because the helpful and widely respected New Scofield Reference Bible (1967) comments on Heb. 6:4 thus "The clause rendered 'and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit' might be paraphrased somewhat like this: 'and were willingly being led toward the Holy Spirit'".

- but provides no direct support for so singular an interpretation.

It has also been argued that the Greek term translated "word" in tasted the good word of God" (6:5) is used for a saying, or one brief utterance or promise, so that those who fell away had little experience of the Scriptures - alleged support for the view that they were not saved. But the term appears in Eph. 5:26: "... having cleansed it (the Church) by the washing of water with the word"; and in Heb. 11:3 and 1 Peter 1:25. If only one or a few "brief utterances" from God are referred to in these scriptures, then the eternal salvation of a soul can be accomplished by the same measure of the word of God.

So I believe the tasting of such powerful things describes those converts making an excellent start followed by renouncing the good they had received. They are like "those on the rock" in the Lord's parable, "they which... receive the word with joy... for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away" (Luke 8:13). The illustration in Hebrews 6 of land drinking the rain is also concerned with fruit-bearing.

"For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from God: but if it beareth thorns and thistle 5, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned" (6:7,8).

The land described in verse 7 received rain often. Then verse 8 refers to "it"

- namely, the same kind of land as in 7, if not the same part. It therefore had drunk the rain that came often upon it, yet later it bore thorns. Similarly, those in verses 4 and 5 tasted of the heavenly gift, the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come. Surely there were fruits for a spell, and the acts of disciples. But at the judgement day, those disciples are "nigh unto a curse", their life's work fit only for burning, and they themselves are saved, but as through fire.

Now the author says something that has been unpopular with many readers from Luther onwards. Yet we must remember he speaks with the authority of the Spirit in saying, "For as touching those who were once enlightened ... it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance". There are things that are impossible for God: it would be a denial of His nature to lie (6:18). But when the Lord spoke of how hard it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and the disciples said, "Who then can be saved?" He replied, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible". Could there not then be some who in departure resist the efforts even of spiritual people to recover them, but who respond to the chastening of God and are granted repentance? So Paul teaches Timothy that the Lord's servant should correct "them that oppose themselves"; but it is God who "peradventure... may give them repentance" (2 Tim. 2:25). Again, it was the Lord Jesus Himself, not one of the disciples, who wrought upon Peter to help him turn again from the denial of his Master.

So we are unable to show that it is impossible for God to renew again to

repentance those who fall away from Him. Why then does Heb. 6:6 not say "It is impossible for men (though possible for God)..."? Here we should remember the purposes of the letter as a whole. One of these is to try by a series of direst warnings to prevent any reader taking a further step towards losing his life of service - not to encourage a feeling of security by assessing what hope there might be of recovery. With this in mind I would not accept the R.V. Margin rendering, "It is impossible ... while they crucify to themselves the Son of God", since it weakens the passage as a warning, and reduces it to a laboured statement of something we would take for granted. Further, the marginal reading is not based on a different Greek text, but is only another way of understanding the same words.

We have now to recognize an even worse condition the child of God may descend to.

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgement, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries" (Heb. 10:26,2,7).

Here there is not even the possibility that God may give repentance in this life. For those who are sanctified (v.29), and yet sin wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no covering sacrifice: only punishment. Nor is this the chastening of sons whom the Father loves, but it is "a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries". Whatever sorrows come in this life upon the believer who forsakes his faith, such a fire's effects will be most keenly felt when at the Judgement-seat of Christ his work is burned and "he shall suffer loss" (1 Cor. 3:15). This passage is also set apart by the unique expression "wilfully". Both in the Old Testament (Lev. 4:2) and the New (1 Tim. 1:13) we read of sins of ignorance. And there is a vast range of evil in which saints can err of their own choice or will, whether neglecting to do good (J as. 4:17) or presenting their members unto sin (Rom. 6:13). From 1 John 1 and 2 we learn that if we confess such sins we have an Advocate with the Father who will appeal for us. For in those chapters John speaks of sins in general. Heb. 10:26-29, however, carefully defines, feature by feature, a particular form of sinful act and gives it a special name. (Compare the uncommon expression "do presumptuously" (Deut. 17:12), the rebellion that could not be covered by any sacrifice in the Old Testament). Here is an exception to the general rule of I John 1 and 2: the final choice of a way of life that defies God's love and truth.

And it is this complete rebellion by a redeemed soul that John refers to when he does distinguish one form of sin in 1 John 5:16. He tells his beloved children that if they see a brother sinning, and ask God for life for him, it will be granted. But John cannot promise this in the case of them that sin unto

death - those whose behaviour is so destructive of spiritual values that it finally ends all service pleasing to God. The Spirit-directed life is killed, and John will not advise that any should make request for its revival. Yet a man in this state is still a brother, like the sanctified man of Heb. 6, and by the grace of God he himself will never perish. (Readers who are interested in a fuller study of these topics are referred to "The Wilful Sin of Hebrews 10:26" by Mr Drain in Needed Truth, 1979, pp.174-6).

There remains the sin of which the Lord said it shall not be forgiven, neither in this world not in that which is to come (Matt. 12:32). The withholding of forgiveness in this case is so comprehensive that it can only refer to a person who refuses to be saved. This judgement was drawn from the Saviour when the scribes said his casting out of demons by the Spirit was the work of the prince of demons. Those scribes from Jerusalem saw demon possessed people being restored to lives of peace, yet they rejected the Spirit's witness to the presence of the Son of God. They were warned that their words could be worse than an insult: they could express unbelief that would deny them salvation. For, "he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne concerning His Son" (1 John 5:10).

But in our zeal to settle the status of those who fall away, let us not forget that the writer to the Hebrews appeals to us to recognize the earliest symptoms, and deal with sin before it is full-grown. Drifting may be prevented by reading and studying the Scriptures. To "give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard" also means obeying still the gospel's first call to repentance and faith; rather than ever learning the first principles and never practising them. We may keep ourselves from growing a root of bitterness by following after both peace with all men and sanctification - a task that will exercise every spiritual power we have. Let us consider our Lord Jesus Christ... and consider one another to provoke unto love and good works. To be steadfast in assembling together with others may appear simple, yet it is both taxing and richly rewarding. Let us encourage one another thus; and so much the more, as we see the day drawing nigh.

Martin Archibald, Glasgow | Jun 1980
Themes From Hebrews