Hebrews 6:4-6

Summary retelling of Hebrews 6:4-6

It is impossible that the ones who were once being illuminated, who were tasting the heavenly gifts, who became associates of Holy Spirit, and after tasting a good saying of God, powers, and the era that is about to be, and after falling beside to again renew into repentance, while crucifying the Son of God for themselves and while exposing to shame.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

There is no easy way to read this passage.  At first glance, it seems to be saying that people who follow Jesus cannot be saved if they fall away after beginning to follow Jesus.  We must understand that this is not at all what this passage is saying.  We must understand that all of us struggle with sin our entire life.  No matter how much we desire to follow God, we will always feel the temptation to sin.  To make the claim that a person who sins after professing belief in Jesus Christ is incapable of experiencing salvation again is really a condemnation of all humanity.  None of us are free from the influence of sin this side of the resurrection of the dead.

How does it make you feel to know that a person can be forgiven of sins that they do after professing belief in Christ?  Why is that important to you?

Second Thought:

In order to understand the point of this passage appropriately, we must really understand grammar.  This is why basic academic skills are so important.  All of the verbs in vs. 4-6 are past tense except for “crucifying” and “holding Him up to content.”  Those verbs are in the present tense.  From this, here’s what we can conclude.  A person who is presently – actively – scorning the cross and holding the work of Jesus contemptuously is not covered by grace.  People who are actively in the process of rebelling against God need to fear.  God gives us salvation for free.  It is called grace.  But when we live in such a way as to actively push aside God’s grace – regardless of how we’ve behaved in the past – we are outside of salvation.  We should therefore learn how to live a humble life so that when we sin – and we will sin – we are repentant and sorry for that sin rather than lead down the path of wanton rebellion against God.

Is there a difference between how I respond to sin that I stumble into versus sin that I enter into willingly?  Is there a difference in how I interact with sin that is not planned versus sin that is planned?  Which kind of sin is more likely to be continued?  How do these types of sin demonstrate our true relationship with God?

Third Thought:

The point of this passage is that we must repent before receiving forgiveness.  I cannot claim to be repentant of my sin while enjoying the promotion of my sin.  For the record, I cannot really claim to be a true follower of Christ while actively enjoying the promotion of my sin.  Either I am a repentant sinner or I am an unrepentant sinner.  Either I see God’s ways as worthy and am sorry for the ways I mess up or I do not.  The application of this principle can be messy, but the principle itself is very straightforward.

The money question seems to be fairly easy: are you a repentant sinner or an unrepentant one?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 6:7-8