Hebrews 6:1-12

The key to this difficult passage, as with all obtuse passages in this book, lies in recalling which portion of his audience the author addresses. The three main audience groups consists of: believers experiencing difficult persecution for their faith, unbelievers not yet drawn to faith, and unbelievers who are active participants in the life of the church, but for whom faith is still intellectual assent rather than life practice. IT IS THIS THIRD GROUP that is addressed in this difficult paragraph. In dealing with this third group, the author almost always speaks in tones of warning and great strength, desiring to shake them from their comfortable “lethargy” in matters spiritual.

To take it phrase by phrase:

“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened”

There is none of the normal N.T. terminology for salvation here. No Greek word of sanctification, justification, new birth, etc. Rather, I believe ‘enlightened’ refers to mental assent (again) – that is, those who have seen the light of Jesus – but to see it and to live by it are two different matters. In other words, this group of Jews were enlightened but not saved; consequently, they were in danger of losing all opportunity of ever being saved! Wake up, says the author!

“and have tasted of the heavenly gift”

What is the gift? Being listed separately from the Holy Spirit, and just before, leads me to believe this probably refers to the gift of salvation. This makes sense, because to “taste” of salvation, and to feast on it for life, are again two different matters. The Holy Spirit can give us a taste of salvation, but He will not make us eat. Consider, God placed the blessing of salvation within reach and upon the lips of Jews, but many of them never “ate of it.”

This phrase, then, refers to those who “sampled” salvation within the church, but never ingested it themselves.

“who have shared in the Holy Spirit”

The Greek word “metochos” (shared) distinguishes between association and personal possession. In this context, it refers to anyone who has been where the Holy Spirit is ministering. As we have seen in 2:4, these Jews had heard the Word and had seen and participated in numerous signs, wonders, miracles, and manifestations of the Holy Spirit and were heavily involved in the work of the church. BUT the Bible never speaks of Christians as “associated” with the Holy Spirit, but, rather, as “indwelt” by Him.

“and have tasted the Word of God” (See answer to “tasted heavenly gift”)

To sum up this danger, per John MacArthur:

“Tasting is the first step to eating. It is not wrong to taste God’s Word. In fact, David encourages this in ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps.34). To some degree, everyone must taste the gospel before he accepts it. The problem is stopping with tasting. Like so many who hear the Gospel for the first time, these Jews were attracted to its sweetness. It ‘tasted’ very good to them. But they did not chew, swallow, or digest it. They just kept tasting, and before long, its appealing taste was gone and they became indifferent to it. Their spiritual tastebuds became insensitive and unresponsive.”

WOW!

“and had tasted the powers of the age to come”

The age to come is the future kingdom of God. The powers of the kingdom are miracle powers, and these Jews had seen many miracles firsthand. Consider how many people likewise in the Gospels saw awesome miracles of God with their own eyes (Lazarus raised, etc.) and yet did not go on to personal faith. Such is the case here.

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“Therefore, in the case of (these people)…it will be impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God…”

To quote John MacArthur one more time: “Because they believe the warning here is addressed to Christians, many interpreters hold that the passage teaches that salvation can be lost. If his interpretation were true, however, the passage would also teach that, once lost, salvation could never be regained. If after being saved, a person lost his salvation, he would be damaged forever. There would be no going back and forth, in and out of grace. But Christians are not being addressed, an it is the OPPORTUNITY for RECEIVING salvation, not salvation itself, that can be lost.”

ISSUES re: eternal security: (these are the key questions to ask):

1. Sovereignty of God in salvation-- This is the argument of greatest weight regarding eternal security, because it goes directly to the character of God. Jesus clearly states in John 10: “I know my sheep, and they know my voice, …and none can snatch them out of My Hand.”

As Aquinas wonderfully stated, God is the “First Mover” in all matters spiritual (and otherwise!), and thus to imply that by our own belief or lack of it we can “supersede” the work of Christ on the cross is awesome. God’s purposes and counsels always and ever stand – in salvation as in all else (Gen. 50:20, Deut. 29:2-4, Prov. 16:4,9,33,19:21, Isa. 46:10, Jer. 10:23, 32:40, Lam. 3:37-38, Acts 2:23, 4:27-28, 13:48, Rom. 9:14-23, and etc.). Having offered Himself for us to secure our righteousness by His Blood--once and for all—could our personal behavior invalidate His finished work on our behalf?? I pray not.

2. The Scriptural Teaching on Personal Responsibility: It is wise to ask (following on the thought above), is there any other aspect of the salvation act and our life with the Lord in which our personal responsibility would be so elevated (that is, by our act of unbelief we could set aside the purpose of God in our salvation, having once been truly saved). Consider how the faithful contribute to the salvation process in the following areas:

Our works?? emphatically no! See Gal. 2:15-16, Eph. 2:9, Gal. 3:10-14, Rom. 3:27-28, 4:1-3

Our belief?? NO? Eph. 2:8-10; it is a gift of God.

Our obedience?? Phil. 2:13, Gal. 2:20, John 15:4-5 – obedience as a fruit of salvation

Our initiative?? Rom. 5:6-8, I John 4:9-10, Eph 1:11-12, & others show that God loved us long before we loved Him.

3. The Balance of Scripture A key doctrine of the faith cannot be built on one or two passages of Scripture, but must be reinforced by the tenor of the whole Scripture and the character of God there represented, weaving seamlessly into the most prevalent themes found there. The theme of God’s sovereignty over al matters is found on literally every page of Scripture, whereas the issue of “personal responsibility” would be a footnote indeed. This passage in Hebrews forms the bulwark of support—at a surface reading—for the idea that a believer can “fall out of” a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This idea must be weighed against John 10, Romans 8, Romans 9, Job 38-41 (God’s questions for Job), and Job 42 (Job’s humble response to God). Further, see all passages under point 1.

4. In closing, I would like to reiterate that the one who cannot ever lose their salvation is the one who has fully flung themselves at some point in time on The Lord and His Mercy offered in the Cross. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will come into heaven.” (Lk.13). That is, it is not profession that makes one a true believer, but a life change that follows a heart change that follows a significant season of repentance. For further instruction regarding this, I recommend John MacArthur’s book The Gospel According to Jesus.

It is this kind of saving faith, and not a “one-time” profession with no fruit of repentance, that is truly saving faith, which can truly never be lost.

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