THE WARNING OF HEBREWS 6:4-8
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
This passage in the book of Hebrews has caused consternation to many believers, and been the source of much controversy among Christians generally. Read superficially, it strikes fear into the heart, for it seems at first to imply that those who have put their faith in Christ for salvation can lose that salvation. Worse, it appears to insist that a Christian who loses his salvation can never regain it, and will experience the burning torment of hell just as though he had never professed faith. Many young believers, struggling with persistent sin in their lives, have run aground on this passage, and sunk into deep discouragement. However, this was surely not the author’s intent, nor need it be the case. For a closer scrutiny of the verses in their context paints a quite different picture, which, though still solemn, holds no dread for the true Christian.
The biggest key to unlocking the meaning of the passage is found in the context of the book of Hebrews as a whole. Firstly, we need to consider the audience to whom the unknown author wrote. It is all too easy to assume that everything in the book is addressed specifically to us as believers — after all, isn’t everything in the Bible written for us? The answer is yes, and no. Yes, because all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for our instruction (2 Tim. 3:16). But no, because our responsibility to learn from the Scripture does not demand that every portion of it apply directly to us.
The Mosaic Law is a prime example of this principle. The Law was addressed to a select group of people — the Israelites. It was given for a distinct purpose and for a limited time only (Gal 3:19-25). Believers today are not under the Law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14). Does this mean that the Pentateuch is worthless to us? Certainly not, for we can learn many vital and beautiful truths from Moses’ writings about the character of God, His holiness and His unique relationship to Israel. But the fact remains that those books were not written to us. We are reading and learning from somebody else’s mail.
A similar situation arises in the book of Hebrews. The title itself gives us a major clue: the book was written specifically to Jewish people. That alone has the potential to make Gentile believers breathe a little easier. Still, the question remains: is it addressed to Jewish Christians? And if it is, is there any reason to believe that it does not apply to Gentiles also? Again, the answer is found in the context. The second chapter of the book supplies the missing information:
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? (2:1-3)
We might well ask how it is possible for a Christian to neglect salvation. The word neglect here means “to be careless of, to treat lightly.” Someone might say, “Ah, that means that a believer can be morally careless and make light of their Christian testimony, and so lose their salvation.” But the author has just said that these people need to pay closer attention, not to how they are living, but to what they have heard. It is the message of salvation they are in danger of drifting away from, the word of the gospel spoken by the Lord to His apostles and passed on by them to the other disciples. This is a crisis of belief, not of action.
But cannot a believer still fall away by ceasing to believe in Christ? This question is addressed by the author in chapter three:
Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end… (3:12-14)
The author’s concern is that some of his audience will be found to be unbelievers at heart. He states that those who hold fast to the truth, refusing to abandon it, thus prove themselves to be the real partakers of Christ. The clear implication is that those who do not hold fast to the truth are not partakers of Christ, and never were. The Lord taught this to His disciples (Jn. 8:31-32), and the apostles also taught it (Rom. 11:22, 1 Jn. 1:19).
On the other hand, after giving the solemn warning contained in Hebrews 6:3-8, the author comforts his hearers with an assurance of his confidence in their faith: “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way” (6:9). In other words, he has spoken some things to them as though they were unbelievers, as though he were not sure of the reality of their faith; but in fact he does believe that the majority of them are genuine in their profession, and so he will address other exhortations to them as believers.
The book of Hebrews, therefore, was written to a group of Jewish disciples of Christ, who had not seen or heard Him in person during His life on earth, but had learned of Him from firsthand witnesses (2:3) and professed to believe in Him. However, in the face of growing persecution there was a danger that they might reject that confession of faith, and return to the old ways of Judaism. The author writes this book to warn them of the seriousness of rejecting Christ in this way, and urges them not to turn back but to go forward in faith and obedience to prove that their profession is genuine and their salvation real.
Having established the context, therefore, we may move on to a closer look at the passage in question. Several phrases are used here which seem to imply that the audience are believers: they have been “enlightened,” they have “tasted of the heavenly gift,” they have been made “partakers of the Holy Spirit.” This is strong language to use of the unsaved. Can we be sure this does not refer to Christians?
Firstly, none of the terms used here are used anywhere else in Scripture to refer to salvation. Nor are any of the normal New Testament terms and synonyms for salvation used in this passage. Nowhere is it stated that these people have been justified, sanctified, born again, regenerated, or saved. No mention is made of faith or of eternal life. Verse 6 does not say that these people cannot be renewed to salvation, but that they cannot be renewed to repentance. Repentance is only one element in salvation, not the totality of it. John preached a message of repentance, and many came to be baptized by him (Mk. 1:4, Jn. 3:23). Yet even those who had received John’s baptism needed to put their faith in Christ in order to be saved (Ac. 19:4).
Secondly, the phrases here could certainly apply to unbelievers. One may be enlightened by being instructed or informed about a truth previously unknown. John said that Jesus Christ was the true light that enlightens every man (Jn. 1:9), but not every man is saved. These Hebrews had been introduced to the Light of the world (Jn. 8:12), and seen the glory of God in Him (2 Cor. 4:6). That did not mean, however, that they had received Him.
Likewise, the word used twice in this verse, tasted, refers to experiencing something. The experience is real, but it is not necessarily total. For instance, the host at the banquet at Cana tasted the water that had been made into wine (Jn. 2:9). Jesus tasted the vinegar and gall offered to him and refused to drink it (Mt. 27:34). In a similar way, these people tasted of the heavenly gift. The exact nature of this gift is not made clear. However, Christ spoke of Himself as the gift of God (Jn. 4:10). The gift may also be the spiritual blessings enjoyed by the church through Christ. It is possible to experience rich spiritual blessings from God by association with His people, and yet still have an unbelieving and unregenerate heart, as the Israelites in the wilderness did (1 Cor. 10:1-5).
These people had been made partakers of the Holy Spirit. This word partake refers to a partnership or association (Lk. 5:7). It does not necessarily mean that these Hebrews were indwelt by the Spirit, but it tells us that they had lived in close association with Him and His power. The Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit does work in the lives and hearts of unbelievers, convicting them of sin (Jn. 16:8).
They had tasted the good word of God. This was true of Israel even in idolatrous unbelief (Ezek. 33:30-32) — they enjoyed hearing God’s word as spoken through His prophets, but that did not make them believers.
Finally, they had also experienced the powers of the age to come. This age is the Messianic Age, the Millenium, of which the miracles and signs done by Christ during His ministry on earth and by the apostles in the early days of the church were a foretaste. These Jewish people had seen such wonders at close hand (Heb. 2:4). Some of them may even have benefited directly from healings and other miracles done by true believers in the power of the Spirit. But that did not make them saved.
The author’s warning amounts to this: people who have had their minds opened to the truth about salvation, who have encountered Christ as He really is, have witnessed and been blessed by the ministry of the Spirit, have heard the full message of the gospel and recognized its goodness, and who have seen all the evidences available that Jesus really is the Messiah — if people like this harden their hearts and turn away from the path of Christian discipleship to go back to Judaism, there is no help for them. There is nothing further which can be done to persuade them to accept Christ: they have already seen and experienced all the things designed to draw people to saving faith, but deliberately turned away from receiving Christ in order to preserve their own temporal comfort and security.
Of course such a person cannot be brought back to repentance. As the author says, it is as though they are crucifying Jesus all over again with their own hands, and heaping shame upon Him, for by rejecting the gospel they side with those who despised and killed the Lord.
This point is further underlined by an illustration, or parable. Inspired no doubt by Christ’s parable of the sower and the seed (Mt. 13:18-23), the author compares the heart and life of a man to soil, and God’s spiritual blessings to rain. The life of a true believer, receiving the spiritual nourishment and refreshment coming from God, will naturally respond by producing fruit of obedience which God will bless (6:7). The life of an apostate, however, receiving precisely the same spiritual nourishment and refreshment, produces evil and unbelief. There is nothing wrong with the rain falling upon the ground; the fault lies with the essential nature of the ground on which it falls. Increasing the amount of rain will not make a difference. The bad ground will still bring up only thorns and thistles, because the quality of the soil is poor. In the same way a person who has experienced all God has to offer an unbeliever and then turns his back on the truth cannot be renewed to repentance. Nothing but punishment and destruction awaits a person of this kind (6:8).
Looking closely at this passage, then, we see that although it does contain an important warning, it holds no fear for the person who has truly received Christ as Lord and Saviour and whose life is bearing fruit for Him. A true believer cannot lose his or her salvation. The only people who need be afraid when reading this passage are those who are presently claiming to believe, but in their hearts are considering turning away from the truth to go back to their former way of life. Such people need to realize that while those who reject Christ out of ignorance will always have a chance to repent, those who have already seen it all and then have turned their backs — only the Lord knows who these people are — will not have such a chance.
This is a solemn thought, and one that should make every professing Christian consider their ways and heart. Though Hebrews 6:3-8 was not directly addressed to believers in general, nevertheless as the inspired word of God it contains truths which all believers should carefully and prayerfully consider.
– Rebecca J. Anderson 1994
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964, Rev. Ed. 1990.
Gooding, David. An Unshakeable Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.
Harlow, R. E. Never Turn Back. Scarborough: Everyday Publications, 1981.
Kent, Homer A. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972.
MacArthur, John. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Hebrews. Chicago: Moody Press, 1983.
MacDonald, William. Believer’s Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990.
Morris, Leon. “Hebrews,” in Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981.
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