4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. –Hebrews 6:4-6
I’m currently preaching through Hebrews. Last week we came to those difficult verses in 6:4-6. I didn’t preach only those verses. In fact, I preached a massive chunk of text, 5:11—6:20. And I did that because I’m convinced we’ve lost the forest for the trees when it comes to this 6:4-6.
When I began my sermon preparation for this sermon it was tempting to get lost in all the detail of the passage. There are so many questions asked of these verses. Is this describing a believer? Is this talking about an almost believer? Is the situation entirely hypothetical? Is this teaching it’s possible that a true believer can lose their salvation?
But I’m convinced that these questions are absolutely not on the mind of the author of Hebrews. For the author of Hebrews salvation is almost entirely seen as something future. He doesn’t use that word in the same way that Paul does. Asking, “Is it possible to lose your salvation?” is forcing a conversation on the author which he isn’t interested in having. Instead his purpose is to give a very real warning to a very real people.
The image for us to have is of a group of people who are standing outside the Promised Land. Will they trust in the promises and provision of God and enter in or will they end up dead out in the wilderness?
Again, I know that all of our questions about eternal security are easily thrust upon that topic. But if we can suspend those for a moment and simply let the author speak, he has something important to say.
The Problem of Dull Hearing
The fundamental problem with his audience is that they have become dull of hearing. They ought to be teaching others and instead their still having to be spoon fed. The author wants to move on to “maturity” but cannot because they are still stuck on foundational things.
At first glance it seems as if the author of Hebrews might be against gospel-centrality. It almost sounds as if he’d disagree with the assertion that the gospel is the A-Z of Christian living. But upon further inspection I think he’s saying the exact opposite. And understanding that helps us understand the nature of the warning in 6:4-6.
Their fundamental problem is that the gospel message is being met with dullness. While they seem to understand the initial aspects of salvation (repentance, baptisms, laying on of hands) and issues of eternity (resurrection and eternal judgment), they seem to be missing the now component of the gospel. The gospel—the milk of the Word—isn’t impacting their Monday. It’s not actually producing ethical change within them. In fact it’s met with dullness and sluggish living.
How Dull Hearing Relates to 6:4-6
And this is why I think he says what he does in 6:4-6. His point is that if the truths of the gospel cause you to want to go back to Egypt then there isn’t anything left for you. The gospel alone saves. The new covenant alone creates the type of obedience that is pleasing to God. So if the good news of the gospel is being met with dullness then while this is the case of your heart there isn’t hope for you. Because there isn’t another path. There isn’t something else that sparks repentance.
I do believe that all of those things in verse 4-5 are experiences of believers in Jesus. But it’s also a picture of some of the blessings given to the Israelites. So again I don’t think it’s for us to say, “Is this a person who is saved? Is this a person who isn’t saved yet? That’s not the topic at hand. What he’s talking about is what happens in our hearts with the good news of Jesus—with the new covenant—with this elementary doctrine of Christ. Does it produce maturity? Or dullness? He’s talking about having received these benefits and blessings of God—this word of righteousness from the Lord.
And I think verses 7-8 tell us that we are on the right path here. You’ve got rain falling on land—that’s the benefits of God, this word of God. And for one piece of land it drinks it in and as such it produces crop that is useful—it receives a blessing from God. But this other land receives that same rain and what comes up is thorns and thistles. It’s worthless—not able to be used for anything. It’s near being cursed. The farmer is going to have to burn the field off because something is radically wrong with the soil.
What you have in Hebrews 6:4-6 is something closer to Jesus’ parable of the soils than really anything related to the discussion about whether a believer can or can not lose their salvation. This text isn’t meant to ask that question. Instead it’s meant to give a very powerful warning and say be careful how you listen so you don’t end up being like the dead Israelite’s outside the Promised Land.
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