In Hebrews 6:4-6, the author writes, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once
been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have
tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen
away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to
their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” Is he saying here that genuine believers,
who have received the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of our inheritance in Christ,
are actually able to walk away from God? Can they sin so deliberately, so persistently that
eventually they’re kicked out of the kingdom? And if this can happen, is it irreversible?
What if years, or even decades, later, they experience a change of heart, recognizing
anew their need for God? What if they return to him, humble and repentant? Is that it? Too late.
Let’s work through this verse bit by bit.
First of all, that the author starts off claiming “for it is impossible…” should cause us to pause.
When it comes to impossibilities, what do we know about God? When Sarah laughed to herself
when she heard the Lord’s promise that she would bear a son, God replied, “Why did Sarah laugh…Is
anything too hard for the Lord?” Assuring Jeremiah of his plans to restore his people after exile,
God says to him, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”
And Jesus, tells his disciples that though it appears impossible for the rich to enter the
kingdom of God, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Later
in Hebrews 6 the author declares, “it is impossible for God to lie.” Well, God has
said in other places in the Bible that NOTHING is impossible for him…so…is this an exception?
Well, let’s notice what the author of Hebrews is actually saying is impossible…he
doesn’t say it’s impossible for God to do anything.
What is impossible is “for those once enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift,
have shared in the Holy Spirit, and tasted the goodness of the word and the powers of the age
to come” …it’s impossible to restore them again to repentance. Here, we are looking
at things from a human perspective…from the human side…what is possible with man only.
If man were the only part of the equation, it would be impossible to fall away from God and
be brought back again to repentance. Why does the author think this? He says, “since they are
crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” Essentially,
they’re back at the foot of the cross, cAD30, standing with those who reviled Jesus as he hung
dying for their sin. Their rejection of Jesus’ sacrifice is a public repudiation of him, aligning
them with those who rejected him on the very day in history he offered up his body to God for sin.
This appears to challenge the assurance, “once saved, always saved.” Can a genuine believer
walk away from God? Can deliberate and persistent sin eventually cut someone off? This warning and
others like it in Hebrews sometimes put fear in the hearts of believers struggling with sin.
How many strikes do you get before you’re out?
I’m reminded of the question Peter asked Jesus, “‘Lord,
how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’
Jesus said to him ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.’”
Jesus’ point is not that we keep track of wrongs done to us and stop forgiving once we have reached
exactly seventy-seven…it’s that we are to forgive people who sin against us an unlimited number
of times. And if this is what God expects of us, how much more can we expect this of him?
All sin is ultimately against God. If he only gave us 77 chances to repent…we’d have them all used up
within a week! But in Psalm 51:17 David says, “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not
despise.” When someone comes to him in repentance, God always, always, always forgives. Further,
Jesus himself sympathizes with our struggle with sin, having faced temptation as we do. Rather
than condemnation, Jesus offers compassion, mercy, and gentleness to us when we are weak.
But what about people who don’t repent? Who make the deliberate decision to walk away from God
and never seem to find their way back? Did they the “lose the salvation” they originally had? Or,
because they had it once, are they “locked in” for eternity,
and not even unrepentant rebellion can keep them out of God’s kingdom?
To answer this question, it’s helpful to notice the illustration that the author uses
immediately after his warning in 6:7 and 8. He writes, “For land that has drunk the
rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated,
receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless
and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.” This kinda sounds like Jesus’ parable of
the sower, which I think is its backdrop. To his disciples, Jesus explained that the seed on the
ground which was eventually choked out by thorns (the land in Hebrews bearing thorns and thistles)
represented his word landing on the hearts of those who allowed the cares of this world to choke
out the fruit that the gospel naturally produces. Those, however, who heard the word, accepted it,
and held fast to it, would evidence this with fruit produced in accordance with salvation.
The parable of the sower addresses the reality that in this life, many will appear to be genuine
believers—and perhaps they were—but at the end of the age their fruit confirms if their faith
took root to maturity or not. No human being ever needs to decide whether or
not a genuine believer has indeed fallen away. That judgement belongs to God alone.
It’s also important to remember that the author of Hebrews has called his letter “a
word of exhortation.” This means that he is not primarily calling the church to enforce
church discipline on backsliders or make dogmatic statements about the eternal state of our souls;
rather his primary purpose is to urge his readers to take this
as a word of personal encouragement to run with endurance the race set before them.
They are to remember that they are not running alone but are surrounded by a great cloud of
witnesses…and championed by Jesus himself, who alone is responsible for beginning and
completing their faith. That these passages have a motivational purpose is especially clear in 6:9
where the author is certain that his warning in 6:4-6 doesn’t even apply to his readers,
“since” he says, “we feel sure of better things, things that belong to salvation.”
The author of Hebrews says it is impossible to restore someone to repentance a second time,
if they have come to the point of falling away from the living God.
This language suggests that whether or not their original repentance was genuine, they have come to
the point of willingness to stand alongside Jesus’ mockers at the very scene of his crucifixion.
Humanly speaking, it is impossible for someone at that point to repent again.
But, nothing is impossible for God. And whoever calls upon his name,
even if they have backslid and walked away for decades, will be saved.