I would like to spend a little bit of time going over Hebrews 6:4-6 because there's a salvation issue here.
In these verses, the writer describes the salvation process, but he also describes people who are not saved. Please know that there's a mixed group we are dealing with in the book of Hebrews. There are Hebrews that believe, and there are Hebrews that have been enlightened to the truth, they know the truth, they understand the truth but have never surrendered their life to Christ. Those are the ones who are thinking of going back and giving up the whole Christian thing because of the persecution, and the hardship.
So, in Verses 4 through 6, the salvation process, I would like to share some details on this and hopefully you're able to understand it, and it will make this text clearer.
There are many teachers that use this text to show that a believer can lose their salvation, not understanding that he's talking to people who have been listening and receiving the truth, and understanding the truth, but then ready to go back and not make that final surrender to Christ, because they say you can't be enlightened unless you're a Christian. But that simply is not true. A non-believer can be enlightened to the truth and still remain unsaved their entire life. So, an enlightened person does not mean that the person is saved.
Was so busy last few days that i did not read this Discussion Section. When i read what you wrote, even though it is not a long commentary, you have point out something that I have been keeping deep inside my heart about believers. It is easy to just claim the membership as a believer, it is very hard to last till the end. Great work.
You are welcome and thank you for the nice comment! I agree, it is very easy to claim to be a believer while at the same time being void of God's Spirit. I know a few of these people. Some are friends, and some are relatives who claim to be Christian but the way they conduct themselves and treat others would make any "fruit inspector" like myself a little suspicious if you know what I mean.
One of them is a person that's excitingly, with joy, hears the word. But then when tribulations come, and by the way that's how you grow, through trials and tribulations, but when the tribulation came, they quit because it's not exciting anymore.
Now it's down to living life. Now it's down to trusting the Lord, and learning how to live by faith! And to the flesh, sometimes it's not as exciting as it first was. So, they quit! And remember what I shared with you before, the indication in the bible that a person is saved is that they make it all the way to the end. All saved people make it all the way to the end.
A person who is not saved can look, and act, and talk, and believe just like a normal believer. They may even see some of these people driving cars full of Jesus bumper stickers, and then one day, they just disappear.
So, just because a person is enlightened to the truth, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and has tasted of these things, that does not make them a saved person. Again, the proof that one is saved is that they make it to the end. Why? Because we are kept by the power of God for salvation!
So, he encourages the believers to move past the foundation doctrines and elements of the things of the Lord, mainly because the people who stay in that area can either be saved or unsaved. There's some that taste of the Holy Spirit, they partake of the Holy Spirit, they get the knowledge and enlightenment of the basic truths and foundations of the things of Christ, and they might even in their mind believe that it's true.
But he's showing them that moving on shows you're saved. Right now, you're dull of hearing. I won't say that you're not saved, but you're dull of hearing. So, I encourage you in your Spiritual growth to get your senses exercised by God's word. If not, you'll just drop out and it will just prove that you're not the real thing!
Hebrews 6:6 - 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.
We have the sixth thing in Verse 6, and I'll share with you the literal translation. It says if they shall fall away. There's no "if" in the Greek text. It's just after having fallen away. They've already done it. It's after having fallen away. And you can see in all these things that he's listing that they are all past tense.
Verse 4 started off by saying it's impossible for these people. Verse 6 says to renew them again unto repentance; Impossible!
Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. These are Hebrews and Jews who went back into Judaism and denounced the whole thing, and were back professing their unbelief, and hatred and anger toward the Lord, and they were doing it publicly.
That doesn't mean that a Gentile can't do that. There are many people over the years that have. A person can be in a group with believers and seem just like everyone else but not be saved. They can be sitting in your church, participating just like everyone else, and still not be saved.
They can even give up their old lifestyle and seem to be following the Lord and then after some time just walk away and go right back to where they were before. And people might wonder what happened because they seemed like a believer.
Well, if you understand the Parable of the Sower, you know what happened. Only one out of the four people that received the seed gets saved. There are three others that heard the same thing that the saved person hears, but they have different reactions.
Hebrews 6:5 - And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Again, we see the word tasted. All these tastes, it's like sampling. A non-believer can sit in with believers and receive the same ministry of God's Spirit to that group, even in their own life, as to the truth of Christ, but still not be saved.
And the powers of the world to come. They were actually there to participate. I recall the ten lepers that approached Jesus and wanted their healing. So, Jesus healed the ten lepers and sent them on their way, and only one of them stopped and returned to worship the Lord. And the Lord turns to the disciples and says weren't there ten lepers?
Nine of them just took their healing and took off. Only one turned to worship Christ. There are people who participate in the powers of God's Spirit moving in amongst His people, and they're not even saved.
Hebrews 6:4 - 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,
Please notice in this verse all the past tense verbs. The word enlightened (PHOTIZO) means to have your mind illuminated to the truth. Some say that only believers can be enlightened but that's not true. We are told in John 1:9 that the light, who is Christ, enlightens every man coming into this world. Every person is enlightened to the truth.
Paul tells us in Romans Chapter 1 (beginning at Verse 18) that no one has an excuse when standing before God, because even creation testifies to the very attributes of God. In other words, the Holy Spirit uses creation as an initial enlightenment for every human being. But that doesn't mean that every human being hears the gospel message.
Every person is enlightened but not everybody responds in the same way. A person can be enlightened to the truth about Christ and still refuse to receive Him. So, these people were being enlightened but they weren't saved.
Secondly: and have tasted of the heavenly gift. They've participated with the things of Christ. They have participated with the Holy Spirit. They don't have Him living inside, but they tasted of that heavenly gift that God gives to His people. They're sitting in amongst God's people and they're participating. They are getting a taste.
And were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Please notice the emphasis. They were partakers, that is they were in this interaction and the Holy Spirit was ministering to them. They were partaking of the Holy Spirit as He was enlightening them.
But please notice that it says they were partakers of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis is the Holy Spirit, not Christ. The Holy Spirit's the one that's ministering. They didn't know Christ. They never received Him.
You are quite welcome. I'm happy to share and it is always nice to hear when others like you might be blessed or helped in some way by the things I share. Knowledge not shared is wasted knowledge. If I may offer some advice to you, I would encourage you to study the bible every chance you get. It is through His word that we come to know Christ more and more, and it is through His word that we grow and mature in Him.
Thank you so much for your message. It gives me encouragement. I hope that sometime you might share with us how your studies are progressing, as the Lord leads. My prayer is that the Lord will always give you a hunger and desire for His word and that you prayerfully approach His word before your studies, asking Him for understanding and that He might reveal the things He knows you are ready for. ( 2 Timothy 2:15)
I would like to spend a little bit of time going over Hebrews 6:4-6 because there's a salvation issue here.
In these verses, the writer describes the salvation process, but he also describes people who are not saved. Please know that there's a mixed group we are dealing with in the book of Hebrews. There are Hebrews that believe, and there are Hebrews that have been enlightened to the truth, they know the truth, they understand the truth but have never surrendered their life to Christ. Those are the ones who are thinking of going back and giving up the whole Christian thing because of the persecution, and the hardship.
So, in Verses 4 through 6, the salvation process, I would like to share some details on this and hopefully you're able to understand it, and it will make this text clearer.
There are many teachers that use this text to show that a believer can lose their salvation, not understanding that he's talking to people who have been listening and receiving the truth, and understanding the truth, but then ready to go back and not make that final surrender to Christ, because they say you can't be enlightened unless you're a Christian. But that simply is not true. A non-believer can be enlightened to the truth and still remain unsaved their entire life. So, an enlightened person does not mean that the person is saved.
Was so busy last few days that i did not read this Discussion Section. When i read what you wrote, even though it is not a long commentary, you have point out something that I have been keeping deep inside my heart about believers. It is easy to just claim the membership as a believer, it is very hard to last till the end. Great work.
You are welcome and thank you for the nice comment! I agree, it is very easy to claim to be a believer while at the same time being void of God's Spirit. I know a few of these people. Some are friends, and some are relatives who claim to be Christian but the way they conduct themselves and treat others would make any "fruit inspector" like myself a little suspicious if you know what I mean.
God Bless!!!
Hebrews 6:6 Continued
One of them is a person that's excitingly, with joy, hears the word. But then when tribulations come, and by the way that's how you grow, through trials and tribulations, but when the tribulation came, they quit because it's not exciting anymore.
Now it's down to living life. Now it's down to trusting the Lord, and learning how to live by faith! And to the flesh, sometimes it's not as exciting as it first was. So, they quit! And remember what I shared with you before, the indication in the bible that a person is saved is that they make it all the way to the end. All saved people make it all the way to the end.
A person who is not saved can look, and act, and talk, and believe just like a normal believer. They may even see some of these people driving cars full of Jesus bumper stickers, and then one day, they just disappear.
So, just because a person is enlightened to the truth, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and has tasted of these things, that does not make them a saved person. Again, the proof that one is saved is that they make it to the end. Why? Because we are kept by the power of God for salvation!
So, he encourages the believers to move past the foundation doctrines and elements of the things of the Lord, mainly because the people who stay in that area can either be saved or unsaved. There's some that taste of the Holy Spirit, they partake of the Holy Spirit, they get the knowledge and enlightenment of the basic truths and foundations of the things of Christ, and they might even in their mind believe that it's true.
But he's showing them that moving on shows you're saved. Right now, you're dull of hearing. I won't say that you're not saved, but you're dull of hearing. So, I encourage you in your Spiritual growth to get your senses exercised by God's word. If not, you'll just drop out and it will just prove that you're not the real thing!
Hebrews 6:6 - 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.
We have the sixth thing in Verse 6, and I'll share with you the literal translation. It says if they shall fall away. There's no "if" in the Greek text. It's just after having fallen away. They've already done it. It's after having fallen away. And you can see in all these things that he's listing that they are all past tense.
Verse 4 started off by saying it's impossible for these people. Verse 6 says to renew them again unto repentance; Impossible!
Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame. These are Hebrews and Jews who went back into Judaism and denounced the whole thing, and were back professing their unbelief, and hatred and anger toward the Lord, and they were doing it publicly.
That doesn't mean that a Gentile can't do that. There are many people over the years that have. A person can be in a group with believers and seem just like everyone else but not be saved. They can be sitting in your church, participating just like everyone else, and still not be saved.
They can even give up their old lifestyle and seem to be following the Lord and then after some time just walk away and go right back to where they were before. And people might wonder what happened because they seemed like a believer.
Well, if you understand the Parable of the Sower, you know what happened. Only one out of the four people that received the seed gets saved. There are three others that heard the same thing that the saved person hears, but they have different reactions.
Hebrews 6:5 - And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Again, we see the word tasted. All these tastes, it's like sampling. A non-believer can sit in with believers and receive the same ministry of God's Spirit to that group, even in their own life, as to the truth of Christ, but still not be saved.
And the powers of the world to come. They were actually there to participate. I recall the ten lepers that approached Jesus and wanted their healing. So, Jesus healed the ten lepers and sent them on their way, and only one of them stopped and returned to worship the Lord. And the Lord turns to the disciples and says weren't there ten lepers?
Nine of them just took their healing and took off. Only one turned to worship Christ. There are people who participate in the powers of God's Spirit moving in amongst His people, and they're not even saved.
Hebrews 6:4 - 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,
Please notice in this verse all the past tense verbs. The word enlightened (PHOTIZO) means to have your mind illuminated to the truth. Some say that only believers can be enlightened but that's not true. We are told in John 1:9 that the light, who is Christ, enlightens every man coming into this world. Every person is enlightened to the truth.
Paul tells us in Romans Chapter 1 (beginning at Verse 18) that no one has an excuse when standing before God, because even creation testifies to the very attributes of God. In other words, the Holy Spirit uses creation as an initial enlightenment for every human being. But that doesn't mean that every human being hears the gospel message.
Every person is enlightened but not everybody responds in the same way. A person can be enlightened to the truth about Christ and still refuse to receive Him. So, these people were being enlightened but they weren't saved.
Secondly: and have tasted of the heavenly gift. They've participated with the things of Christ. They have participated with the Holy Spirit. They don't have Him living inside, but they tasted of that heavenly gift that God gives to His people. They're sitting in amongst God's people and they're participating. They are getting a taste.
And were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Please notice the emphasis. They were partakers, that is they were in this interaction and the Holy Spirit was ministering to them. They were partaking of the Holy Spirit as He was enlightening them.
But please notice that it says they were partakers of the Holy Spirit. The emphasis is the Holy Spirit, not Christ. The Holy Spirit's the one that's ministering. They didn't know Christ. They never received Him.
You are quite welcome. I'm happy to share and it is always nice to hear when others like you might be blessed or helped in some way by the things I share. Knowledge not shared is wasted knowledge. If I may offer some advice to you, I would encourage you to study the bible every chance you get. It is through His word that we come to know Christ more and more, and it is through His word that we grow and mature in Him.
Thank you so much for your message. It gives me encouragement. I hope that sometime you might share with us how your studies are progressing, as the Lord leads. My prayer is that the Lord will always give you a hunger and desire for His word and that you prayerfully approach His word before your studies, asking Him for understanding and that He might reveal the things He knows you are ready for. ( 2 Timothy 2:15)
May the Lord bless you also!
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