Hebrews 6:4-6 verse is quite difficult – but will in no way invalidate the clear truth in the Bible that salvation is by faith as clear as Ephesians 2:8-9 declaration!
"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, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." Hebrews 6:4-6
Again, there are many things that is attributed to faith – like the example of one here about a sick child etc etc. What we are saying here is the FAITH THAT LEADS TO SALVATION!
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It all boils down to a Christian’s understanding of salvation – I hope some of you knew your verses:
(1) the author of salvation is Jesus
(2) the finisher of salvation is Jesus
Man did not initiate the first move of salvation. God sent His Son to die for his children – and then the HOLY SPIRIT went to action.
God did not assign to man the completion of his salvation – as suggested by some people here the we finish that salvation BY GOOD WORKS since FAITH alone is not enough.
If God is the one that makes salvation possible, and He is the one that will complete it – I do not know how much man can influence his own salvation! Then, they cite Heb 6:4-6. In fact, a similar verse exist in Romans 11:
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
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The work of salvation is GOD’s alone – never partly God, and partly human. I will not try to convince people who do hold belief that they can contribute to their own salvation – as if they were tasked by GOD to COMPLETE their own SALVATION by their “GOOD WORKS”. Good luck anyway!
As said before, God sees the thought and intents of the heart. And lots of passages make the concept very clear – of course, there are some difficult passages that some “fabricators” will exploit to show otherwise, one of which is Heb 6:4-6. This is not new, and in fact same scenario was recorded in Galatians 2 when some Jewish Christians are propagating within the church the "GOOD WORKS (not BY FAITH ALONE)" thing!
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
So how can salvation, being the work of God, be a failure in a man? Otherwise, God can be portrayed as lacking somewhere to effect salvation. So, to me, with GOD at the helm of my salvation, I can NEVER lose my salvation. I took Jesus’ work in CALVARY as the total price for the SALVATION that was given to me – no more addition, and no more subtraction.
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In the book of James, some faith that was shown there is not about SAVING FAITH, though some of them also refers to ACTION coupling SAVING FAITH.
You see, sin, in God’s sight, is not found in action. It is determined by the INTENT and PURPOSE of heart. Remember, JESUS made SIN easier to commit:
(1) Whoever looks at a woman committed adultery
(2) Whoever hates a brother committed murder
Sin starts in the thought (mind). Once sin thought is firmed in the mind, evil action follows! In the same way, SAVING FAITH starts in the acceptance in the thought – and once it is there, action follows (FRUITs of the Spirit). It is not a sinless life though, but the Bible provide a mechanism for repentance.
So here comes the TREE-FRUIT relationship. A pretentious TREE will never bear a different FRUIT other than what that tree should bear. A Christian will always bring forth FRUIT of the SPIRIT - it is a natural consequences of being a Christian.
How much forgiveness does God reserved for His saints? He told somebody in the gospel to forgive “SEVENTY TIME SEVEN” – so does that mean you have to record 490 forgiveness before you ignore such repentance? Nah! To some Bible scholars, the words is about “ALWAYS”! Always forgive.
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Some superficial belief (some called this FAITH as well) of “pious” people is also portrayed in the Bible. When the Lord throws SEEDS of SALVATION, the seeds fell on 3 type of grounds:
(1) the stony ground
(2) the weeded ground
(3) the good ground
Only in the GOOD GROUND will the SEED of SALVATION prosper.
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So, I will offer my remembrance of tackling Heb 6:4-6
"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, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." Hebrews 6:4-6
Note that the verse did not tell us anything about “TO RENEW THEM AGAIN UNTO SALVATION” as one here suggested.
Note the word: IF THEY SHALL FALL AWAY,
The statement is similar in manner as one of our saying –
PAGPUTI NG UWAK, PAG-ITIM NG TAGAK
Of course you can always tell me it is possible in His sovereignty. But the statement is merely a SUPPOSITION – not necessarily a POSSIBILITY! Again, this is going back on what is your take about GOD’s work of SALVATION!
If you got a wrong notion of PUTTING something into the RECIPE of your own SALVATION – well, suit yourself then. The BIBLE simply did not say it that way.
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Is this for real? Look at Nineveh where Jonah preached!
Nineveh is bound for destruction based on their deeds. However, it seems GOD has plans to rescue the city.
So HE commanded Jonah. Jonah understood so well – he knew GOD really wanted to save the city.
But Jonah has many alibis into obeying God’s command – go separate ways. The rest is history. God led Jonah to a number of mishaps until he preached to Nineveh, Nineveh repented and was spared.
Jonah is not happy – he is disobedient.
Christians will never see the happiness in this worl if they continue their disobedience. God has ultimate recipe for that as well like what happened to Ananias & Saphira in the book of Acts (1 Corinthians 5:5).