You did not address what Padredurand pointed out about Hebrews 6, nor what I pointed out about Hebrews 10. The language of those two passages cannot be sidestepped so easily.
Then my apologies. I will make sure I do to everyone's satisfaction.
There are five specific qualities or characteristics listed; Those who have:
1) once been enlightened 2)tasted of the heavenly gift 3)been made partakers of the Holy Spirit 4)tasted the good word of God 5)and the powers of the age to come
Unbelievers cannot have once possessed enlightenment, tasted the heavenly gift, partaken of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Who's spoken of here? It has to be believers. What does verse 6 say these believers have done? It says they have fallen away. I'm not talking about being snatched from the Father's hand, nor being separated from the love of Christ by any outside power. Plainly read and understood Hebrews 6 says that believers fall away.
Here is what I replied before and is why I said that I already gave answer concerning the passage......
quote:
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But what are we to do with the example given in Hebrews of those who were saved and have fallen away?
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Very good question padredurand.
If you study precept upon precept in God’s Word, you will ultimately conclude that OSAS is truth. With this in mind ask yourself if Hebrews 6 is absolutely clear that it is speaking about a Christian becoming lost. Since God’s word cannot contradict itself we must first conclude that this passage cannot be teaching that the saved somehow become lost again. So what is the writer saying then? It is really quite simple if you read it as it is being spoken in its full context.
First back up a bit. Who is the letter addressed to? The answer is Christians. The writer says … “ Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and faith toward God. Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do , if God permit .” (1-3)
Now picking up where you begun….
" For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance …".
Read the entire passage. The writer is saying that he is not going to go into a salvation sermon (1-3) because ye are believers already, and if it were possible for a believer to fall away, ye ain’t coming back anyhows! You would be condemned! No one can get saved twice!
So all the writer is saying is that he isn’t going to preach “get saved” to the already saved because it would be pointless. The saved could not fall away and then be saved again. It is an impossible thing. We cannot determine it any other way because too many passages teach that we are eternally secure in Christ. If this passage meant a loss of salvation, then God’s word would be contradictive. If you believe it is, then you might as well pitch it in the dumpster! The writer was simply expressing a point. That is that you can experience salvation once and once only! Don’t preach get saved to the saved!
If you read the letter of Hebrews in it’s entirety, you will see that he expresses very clearly that we are secure in Christ if we are in Christ.
God Bless!
I stated that I believe it is a hypothetical stituation given by the writer. Here is a commentary which I have read that expresses what I believe Hebrews chapters 6&10 are saying. He can say it more clearly than I.....
""...
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh ." The author's thought is that once they have experienced all that Christ has to offer and then deliberately turn back, they are as those who first crucified Christ. By their rejection of Christ's ministry on their behalf, they put him to an open shame. The last two participles use the present tense (the first five are aorist) , expressing a continuous act, so that they keep on crucifying Christ and exposing Him to shame. Anyone who would do such things can never be brought to repentance, for there is no other gospel. There is no other Savior. Since this epistle makes it clear that Christ can only be crucified once, this situation must be viewed hypothetically. The writer's argument is that "
if " one could "
fall away ", he would, thereby, "
crucify afresh " his
Lord. Since that cannot happen (for Christ died once for all sin) , then the fallin away could not be renewed to faith and repentance. Such is never the case, for Christ is always available to the repentant sinner.
"
We are persuaded better things of you ." Following this severe warning, the author consoles his readers with his confidence concerning them. He was not speaking about them; he does not even suggest that he was speaking of some of them who were merely professing Christians. He is persuaded that his readers possess better qualities and "
things that accompany salvation" , or literally "
things having salvation " (Gr
echomena ) . This warning was hypothetical, showing the awesomeness of apostasy if one could actually renounce Christ after being born again. The fourth warning (ch 10) demonstrates the hypothetical nature of these things more clearly than chapter 6 does. In chapter 10 the author includes himself within the warning (10:26) and further states that niether he nor his readers were on the road to apostasy (10:39) . He pronounces the fearful punishment upon one who would trample the Son of God under foot and would count the blood by which he was sanctified as unholy. He is discribing what would happen to him and to them, not what has happened to anyone.
I believe this is a very plausible interpretation. It absolutely cannot be a warning against losing salvation because something eternal can never cease to exist. If you believe that it is a warning of losing salvation after having salvation, then I again ask you to explain how "
never thirst again" "
everlasting life" "
eternal " means something different than what it means for "
Eternal God".
Here are some examples....please address them and explain that they don't mean what they apparantly say...
"The
eternal God is thy refuge" (Deut 33:27)
"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life". (John 4:14)
"We know that we have
passed from death unto life , because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath
eternal life abiding in him". (1 John 3:14-15)
" And this is the record, that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son". (1 John 5:11)
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God;
that ye may know that ye have eternal life , and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:13)
" but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us ." (Heb 9:12)
"And being made perfect, he became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;" (Heb 5:9)
Ask yourself, Do you have eternal life or some other kind of life? Do you have eternal salvation or some other kind of salvation? Have you been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb that is eternal redemption or some other kind of redemption?
I pray I explained my position clearly on Hebrews 6&10. I gave an alternative explanation of the passages to yours. I believe you can see it is a plausible one even if you decide it is a wrong one. Now can you give me a plausible alternative view to the scriptures I have put forth? I believe eternal means never ending, never ceasing. What do you believe the plausible alternative to my view would be? Please! Explain to me what I am missing here! Doesn't eternal mean eternal?!?
God Bless!
