Is it true that if you once lived as a faithful Christian, but fell from Gods grace, there is no point trying to come back to God? Some from a group of Christians told me, there is no returning, based on this Bible passage: Hebrews 6:4-6.
Answer:
If a person has fallen away, and they desire to repent and return to the Lord, they most certainly can. God will not turn them away. This principle, that God will accept those who were once part of the faith, but have gotten lost from it, back to the faith, is a fundamental to many of Jesus' teachings.
Just a few examples are:
1) Jesus Himself will seek those who used to be part of the flock, and have wandered away.
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off." (Matthew 18:12-13)
2) The prodigal son is accepted back to his home with open arms, joy and celebration. The son who left clearly used to be part of the family, and was returning home to his family. (Luke 15:11-32)
3) Peter was a fervent and passionate follower of Jesus, yet openly and publicly denied Him in the strongest terms possible (Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, "I don't know the man!" Immediately a rooster crowed. - Matthew 26:74), and yet, was welcomed back into the faith after he repented by none other than Jesus Himself. This, despite the fact that the scripture says,
"If we deny him, he also will deny us." (2 Timothy 2:12b KJV)
4) If someone who used to believe wanders away from the Truth, we should seek to bring them back to save them from death.
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 KJV)
One of the problems with interpreting this to be a "once for all" proclamation is, as demonstrated above, it doesn't line up with the clear teaching in the rest of scripture about falling away and returning, but there is another problem: the tenses in the Greek don't support how this verse is often translated.
First, the verb ἀνακαινίζω (to renew, to restore) is in the Present Infinitive, which indicates continuous, repetitive action. Thus, it should read "to be continuously renewing them over and over again into repentence." The Greek infinitive is not used to express time, but aspect, and the Present Infinitive indicates that something is ongoing or repetitive, while the Aorist Infinitive indicates that something occurred once, or has a definitive beginning and end. For example:
"Follow me" is a Present Infinitive, and doesn't indicate that they need to follow Him once to the specific place He happened to be going at that moment, but that they need to follow Him in an ongoing fashion, for the rest of their life.
Contrast this with the Aorist Infinitive:
Here, the verb "stay" (the Greek literally says, "it is necessary for me to stay at your house...") is an Aorist Infinitive, indicating that Jesus was going to visit Zacchaeus' house one time, not take up residence there for an extended period of time.
So the first thing we need to notice is that this is not forbidding someone from returning to the Lord after having left, but rather, indicates that the problem is if they are continuously falling away and returning and then falling away and returning, on and on, as that is not true repentance.
4) If someone who used to believe wanders away from the Truth, we should seek to bring them back to save them from death.
My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)
So what about the passage in Hebrews, that appears to say you cannot come back once you fall away? This question came with the verse quoted in the King James Version, so here is that verse from the KJV:
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 KJV)
One of the problems with interpreting this to be a "once for all" proclamation is, as demonstrated above, it doesn't line up with the clear teaching in the rest of scripture about falling away and returning, but there is another problem: the tenses in the Greek don't support how this verse is often translated.
First, the verb ἀνακαινίζω (to renew, to restore) is in the Present Infinitive, which indicates continuous, repetitive action. Thus, it should read "to be continuously renewing them over and over again into repentence." The Greek infinitive is not used to express time, but aspect, and the Present Infinitive indicates that something is ongoing or repetitive, while the Aorist Infinitive indicates that something occurred once, or has a definitive beginning and end. For example:
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34)
Contrast this with the Aorist Infinitive:
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." (Luke 19:5)
So the first thing we need to notice is that this is not forbidding someone from returning to the Lord after having left, but rather, indicates that the problem is if they are continuously falling away and returning and then falling away and returning, on and on, as that is not true repentance.
Further, the participle (ανασταυρουντας - recrucifying) following that indicates the ongoing state they are in, "continually recrucifying the Son of God..."
A far more accurate translation of this passage is found in the International Standard Version (ISV), which was just released in electronic form in 2013, and is not expected to be released in printed form until this year. You can find out more about the ISV, including how to download it to your computer, phone or other electronic device, here.
For it is impossible to keep on restoring to repentance time and again people who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have become partners with the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of God's word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, as long as they continue to crucify the Son of God to their own detriment by exposing him to public ridicule. (Hebrews 6:4-6)
For it is impossible to keep on restoring to repentance time and again people who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have become partners with the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of God's word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, as long as they continue to crucify the Son of God to their own detriment by exposing him to public ridicule. (Hebrews 6:4-6)
In other words, if a person is not sincere in their desire to repent and follow Christ with their whole heart, a habit of constantly wandering in and out of the faith is a hypocritical lifestyle that subjects Jesus to public ridicule. This is the person who tries to join the faith for a while, then leaves it when it gets inconvenient; he rejoins later, then leaves again, then decides to come back, only to get bored and leave the faith again, and so on. That is not a struggling believer, nor is it a person who left once, and has, like the prodigal son, changed their mind and now wishes to return. This is a person who is unstable in their faith, with no real ongoing desire to serve Jesus, and frankly, probably only comes back when it is convenient (and then, only for a while), which is a completely different situation. This kind of person never fully repents and surrenders to Jesus.
This is NOT the same as a sincere follower who commits sins. We do not lose our salvation each and every time we sin. Nor is it a reference to the sincere follower who is struggling to overcome one particular sin (such as anger, or alcoholism). This person does not leave the faith each time they sin, but is immediately remorseful, as Peter was when Jesus looked at him, and he realized what he had just done.
But Peter said, "Mister, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just then, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word from the Lord, and how he had told him, "Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." So he went outside and cried bitterly. (Luke 22:60-62)
If you used to attend, and then, for whatever reason, left the faith, but you want to return, the door is still open. Jesus will still greet you with open arms, and we will all rejoice with you at your return to the family. By all means, come back.
And may I be the first to say, "Welcome home."
I have always believed that a Christian can be forgiven, for falling back into a sinful life, but this read >>> http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-lose-salvation.html >> claims that a personin that circumstance, never truely had salvation to begin with. What is your take on this?
ReplyDeleteI just spent an hour responding to your post, and when I hit "publish" my entire response was lost. I will try to sit down and write it all out again for you later this evening.
DeleteMy take is that for the most part, I agree. Our salvation is very secure. We cannot lose it from sinning, making mistakes, bad choices or even neglect. Further, it is completely possible for someone to pretend to be a believer, to go through all the motions, say all the right things, and not really be a true believer. In all of these things, I completely agree with what they said.
DeleteHowever, as the passages addressed in the article above prove, that is not the whole story. In Hebrews 6:4-6, for example, the individuals described in have:
1) become enlightened.
2) tasted of the heavenly gift.
3) become partners with the Holy Spirit
4) tasted the goodness of God's Word
5) tasted of the powers of the world to come
Further, these individuals are said to have "fallen away." You cannot fall away from something that you were never accepted. Unbelievers are not partners with the Holy Spirit. They have not tasted of the heavenly gift. Clearly, these were believers who left the faith and lost their salvation.
Since someone who was never in the faith cannot fall away from it, this passage can ONLY be referencing a believer who left the faith, and by extension, lost their salvation.
The question is, HOW do we lose our salvation? Can we lose it from sinning too much? Can we simply drift away from it? Can we lose it accidentally? Can bad choices in our life cause us to lose our salvation?
All of these questions are answered by examining a word that Paul uses in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition...
(2 Thessalonians 2:3)
The Greek word translated "a falling away" is ἀποστασία, which can be best understood by realizing that it is the feminine of the word ἀποστάσιον, which means, "divorce," or more accurately, indicates that a marriage covenant is being severed, and ended.
In Greek, when words differ only in gender, the same meaning is being applied to different situations or circumstances. So ἀποστάσιον takes the meaning of severing a covenant and applies it to marriages, while ἀποστασία takes the meaning of severing a covenant and applies it to our relationship with God.
So how does this help? It means we can understand ἀποστασία by analyzing what happens when a marriage ends in divorce. From this we get several critical truths that can help us understand our relationship with God.
First, in order for someone to get a divorce, they had to first be married. Single people don't get divorces. This means that in order for someone to "fall away" from the faith, they had to be a real believer. If they were never a believer to begin with, there was no covenant with God that needed to be ended.
Second, marriages don't end because someone got hurt, or because they have not spent much time together, or because one side is neglecting the other side. These things can LEAD to divorce, but they don't automatically CAUSE a divorce. A divorce has to be sought intentionally. Jesus told us that divorce is the decision made from a hardened heart. A divorce is the result of a conscious decision to end the marriage. Thus, no amount of sinning, mistakes, neglecting prayer or church, or any other activities, can cause us to lose our salvation. We have to make the decision that we want nothing to do with God any more, and sever the covenant.
We have to CHOOSE to "lose" our salvation, just as one does in a divorce.
In other words, no one really "loses" their salvation, they have to consciously throw it away, and want nothing to do with it any more.
Like in a divorce. And thus, we know it is possible. Not easy, and not even necessarily common, but definitely possible.
So my take is, you don't have to worry about "losing" your salvation. Unless you want nothing more to do with God and consciously divorce Him, your salvation is secure.
Is this the wrong area to submit questions and get replies?
ReplyDeleteYou can either submit them here, or send them to me directly at:
Deletepastor.michael.back@gmail.com
Either will work.