The other options
As I said last time I came across 7 explanations of this passage. Having given some reasons for my choice, I want to look at the other options today. In part this is to explain why I rule them out, but there is also an important element of truth in most of them and I want us to grasp these truths and learn from them.
1. The people referred to were true Christians who sinned in some gross way and were condemned to eternal judgement with no hope of restoration.
The obvious reason why I dismiss this option is the weight of other Scripture that convinces me that I am in God’s hand and no one can pluck me from there. I don’t propose to dwell on this for too long. You have only to look at a passage like Rom 8:31-39 to realise that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I find it particularly sad that many have been lead to believe that they have committed the unpardonable sin and lost their salvation as the result of this passage. If v19 pictures our hope as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, how can s the earlier words ever have been intended to encourage hopeless despair – though they should certainly challenge us and make us examine ourselves. The security of this anchor is in marked contrast to the insecurity that many feel.
But where does this security lie? Of course it must rest in God, or it is no security at all. It enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus. And why are we safe if we are anchored there? Because our security rests on God and His promise – Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you. And the immutability of His counsel v17. In other words, God does not change His mind. He does not adopt us as His children one minute, to cast us off another. He does not give us eternal life to take it away again it later. If He did then adoption and eternal life would be meaningless terms or gifts and God would have completely mislead us but, as v 18 reminds us, it is impossible for God to lie.
Nu 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? The result of God’s oath and His faithfulness is that we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us v18. This passage isn’t meant to make us doubt, but to give us assurance!
Complacency
But some will say that such a teaching of assurance encourages us to think that having been saved we can live as we please. The fear of falling away and loosing our salvation is a necessary spur to the patient endurance that this passage also teaches.
It should not be fear of eternal damnation that motivates us to serve the Lord, but love for Him. We should want to please Him, above all else, and never to cause Him pain – given all that He has done for us. Gross sin is just like crucifying Him again, and shaming Him publicly – before the heathen. As Nathan said to David after his sin with Bathsheba by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme 2Sa 12:14. But even then the Lord forgave David when he confessed his sin "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.”
It is the same in the Lord’s dealings with Peter, after he denied the Lord. The Lord forgave and gently restored him. John 21:15-17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep.
I find it fascinating that Jesus prayed for Peter, before his failure and denial. 31 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." 33 But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." 34 Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me" Lu 22. Is the Lord any less concerned for us?
John 17:11 "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Are His prayers in heaven less effective than those on earth for Peter? Of course not! What a comfort it is to know that He is praying for us!
Of course we must also be mindful of our own weak nature – Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Gal 6:1. If Peter could fail couldn’t we? The secret is to keep our eyes on Him.
2. The people referred to were true Christians who sinned in some gross way and could not be restored by any human intervention. However, God will bring some devastating judgement into their lives after which they will turn back to Him
Well this certainly does happen sometimes. Christians backslide and continue on their sad way until God does something drastic to bring them to their senses; the classic example is Jonah. I have no doubt that this still happens. If we turn our backs on God we may find ourselves in real trouble.
That said it a strange interpretation, for the passage says that it is impossible … to renew them again to repentance vv4 & 6. Those who take this view argue that this means that it is impossible for the individuals concerned, or any one else, to renew them to repentance. But this is always impossible; only the Holy Spirit can bring the human heart to repentance and for this verse to mean anything surely it must mean that it is impossible, even for the Holy Spirit to bring them to repentance and that would bring us back to the previous hypothesis which fell because it contradicts other Scriptures.
3. The people referred to were true Christians who sinned in some gross way and could not be restored by any human intervention while they continued to disgrace the Lord
Again this is a plausible scenario, but would it not just be stating the obvious? None of us can truly repent until we are ready to give up the sin or to turn around and go in the way God wants us to go. Ps 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. I don’t see how a statement of the obvious could possibly fit with the severe tone of the passage?
4. The people referred to were true Christians who sinned in some gross way and could not be restored to repentance in this life, they would die and go to heaven, but only by the skin of their teeth as it were.
This interpretation fits the descriptions in vv 4 and 5. Certainly if, after we are saved, we engage in gross sin it is as if we have taken up the nails and the hammer and are ourselves driving the nails into Christ’s hands and thrusting the spear into His side, so that fits with v 6. Does the judgement also fit? As we have seen it is impossible … to renew them again to repentance vv4-6. Many readers assume that this means that the people are eternally damned, but as we have seen it does not fit with the teaching of the rest of Scripture, or even this chapter for that to be true of genuine Christians. Moreover it is not what the passage actually says. It does not say that they are damned. This is an assumption, resting on verse 8 which says that they are near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
However, this could also be referring to the judgement that Paul speaks of in 1Cor 3 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. We need to be careful not to read into scripture things that aren’t there.
Christians who fall into sin can expect God’s judgement. Sometimes our sin is so destructive that God even takes a Christian’s life:
1 Cor 11:30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
1Jo 5:16 If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.
I think these are cases where we might do severe damage to the Church and to God’s glory. In such cases there is no repentance and God just takes the Christian’s life. An obvious example is that of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). If God dealt with us today as He did then I wonder how many of us would be here!
Nevertheless I think that there must be less obvious cases where Christians’ lives are cut short as a result of gross sin. This seems to fit the chapter well, but does it also fit with v9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner? This indicates that this passage is not speaking about Christians so it doesn’t fit. However, there are a lot of lessons here for us. God treats it very seriously when our actions bring His honour into disrepute.
DV we’ll come back to the way God deals with Christians when we sin in Ch 12. We’ll see then that it is not just only gross sin that can severely damage our Christian lives. Lukewarmness to Christ can be just as devastating in its own way – the risen Christ condemned Laodicea Rev 3:15-16 for it. Sadly there is no shortage in the modern western Church. I suspect that more marriages are destroyed by lukewarmness than by unfaithfulness.
5. The people referred to were true Christians but this is a hypothetical scenario and if it were possible for a Christian to sin is such a gross way then it would also be impossible to restore them, but it isn’t.
I don’t like interpretations that make Scripture hypothetical. It is too easy a method of getting round difficult or unpalatable truths. It is really a last resort when all other options failed and I don’t think that they have here. We do need to learn, however how serious sin is – particularly for a Christian when we so badly hurt the one who gave His very life for us. If we truly grasped the truth that when we sin we are effectively driving the nails into his hands and feet again, then perhaps we would behave differently!
6. The people referred to were not genuine Christians, but had come within a gnat’s whisker of salvation. Having come so close they knowingly renounced the gospel and turn back to their old life. After this there was no further hope for them.
As I explained last time, this is the interpretation which, in my view best fits all the facts and the context.
7. The people referred to were Jewish apostates – this passage is no longer relevant because the temple has been destroyed.
As I said last time, I just don’t see a shred of evidence to support this interpretation. It is, to me, just a way of avoiding the implications of such a difficult passage.
Substantiation?
Finally I want to see if there is anything elsewhere in Scripture to suggest that people can come so close to salvation and then slip away? Yes there is, after all Chapters 3 and 4 are largely about this. Matthew 22 also shows how real and terrible this danger is.
8 "Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 ‘Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ 10 "So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. 12 "So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 "Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."
And in the parable of the Sower Jesus spoke of people who hear the gospel, appear to grow as Christian’s, but are not truly saved:
Mt 13.20 "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 "yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
There can be many like this after great crusades. They respond to the emotion of the appeal, but their faith is superficial – not real. Once they realise the cost of being a Christian they fall away. It is not those who profess to believe that are saved, but those whose faith is real so that they bear fruit in their lives to the Glory of God. Mt 7:19-20. It is fruit that demonstrates the reality of the Conversion experience.
The Hebrew Christians in Heb 6:9-10 contrast with those described in the earlier verses. They displayed characteristics that accompany salvation and fruit that was evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit in a saved life your work and labour of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. If being a Christian in this country became a criminal offence, would there be enough evidence to convict us? If not it is right that we should ask if we were ever truly saved.
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? ––unless indeed you are disqualified. 2Co 13:5
Heb 6 also encourages us to press on patiently: 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
We cannot persevere like this in our own strength, but God will keep hold of His children, as Jesus did of Peter. He will never let us go or allow us to slip. When we turn away from Him or just drift along we loose our assurance. God oft-times uses this to stir us up and bring us back.
2Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall
