April:
Hi, I’m April. And my question is two parts. And it’s from Hebrews 6. Starting in verse 4, it’s talking about people who have tasted of the glory of God, and then they reject it and walk away. And then it says it’s impossible to bring them back to repentance. So my first question is why is that impossible? And then my second is it’s talking about it brings open shame to God. And I’m wondering what that’s referring to.

John Mac Arthur:
That’s a very good question, April. And this is a very troublesome passage to a lot of folks. You might want to turn to Hebrews 6. I’ll make this quick. You have a context in Hebrews. Okay, let me give you the big picture. Okay, you have to understand to whom the letter’s written about what. And it’s easy to put that together if you study the epistle.

There’s a group of Jews who come to faith in Christ. We don’t know where they are because no location is given. But we know they were brothers in Christ. There was a community of Jewish people who had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah. This letter was written to them. That’s why it’s called to the Hebrews. They are Hebrew believers.

Also, associated with the Hebrew believers were a group of Jews who believed the Gospel to be true in their heads but wouldn’t make the commitment to Christ. And the reason they wouldn’t make the commitment to Christ is because they knew there was such a high price to pay. They would be thrown out of their families. They would be unsynagogued, is what they use to say. That would be like…well, the Catholic Church has done that, when they’ve literally put people out of the Church, excommunicated them is what they called it. So they knew there was a price to pay.

And so here they are. There on the fringes of this Christian church. They won’t come to Christ. And so you have this letter written to explain how that Jesus is much better than the Old Testament, much better than the angels, much better than the prophets, much better than Moses, much better than the priesthood, that His covenant is much better than the old covenant, that His sacrifice is much better than the old sacrifices. “Please,” it’s saying, “Jesus is better than everything you’re holding onto.” And then, periodically, come these warnings. “Don’t neglect. Don’t reject. Don’t harden your heart,” chapter 4. And here, “Don’t fall away. Don’t…you’ve come all the way to the edge. You’ve been enlightened, Verse 4:6. What’s does that mean? It does not mean saved. There’s no words in here that are ever used in the Bible anywhere for salvation…none. Enlightened means you have information. You’ve tasted the heavenly gift.

Obviously the heavenly gift is either Christ or the Holy Spirit, and here were these Jews who tasted Christ. You’ve had a taste of the Spirit’s power. You’ve seen, it says in Chapter 2, signs and wonders and gifts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, as well as Christ. You’ve tasted it all. You’ve even been a partaker of the Holy Spirit, which means they were probably were in on some miracles that the Holy Spirit did. You’ve tasted the good word of God. You’ve tasted the powers of the age to come. What that has to do again is the power of miracles, which will come back in the Kingdom to come.

So what he’s saying is you’ve been ministered by, perhaps, Jesus. You’ve been for sure ministered to by the Apostles. You’ve seen their miracles, their healings, their casting out of demons. You’ve tasted the good word of God that they preached, and you’ve come all the way to that point. Now he says, if you turn around and fall away, it’s impossible for you to be renewed to repentance and saved. Why? Because you can’t have any more life. You can’t have any more proof, and if your settled and final conclusion is to turn your back and walk away, that’s it because he can’t give you any more proof.

And essentially that is exactly what we’ve been saying on Sunday mornings. That is exactly what the scribes and Pharisees did…exactly what the Jews did. The came to this conclusion, according to Matthew 12, that what Jesus did and what he said, he did by the power of whom? The devil. They concluded exactly the opposite truth because they were so hard-hearted. And so the writer of Hebrews is saying, “Look…if you come all this way, and you have seen the power of God, hear the word God, seen the miracles, tasted all of this, and you turn and go away, you will never be renewed to repentance.” In fact, what you have done is to crucify again the Son of God and put him to an open shame.

What does that mean? You have taken your stand with those who wanted Jesus dead and wanted to put him to shame on a cross. You only have those two choices, right? You either embrace him as Savior, or you stand with the crucifiers and cry, “Crucify him. Crucify him. We’ll not have this man to reign over us.” So that’s essentially what he’s saying. He’s telling these Jewish people who are on the edges of the Church, please don’t go the other direction. In Chapter 2 he says, “How shall we escape the wrath of God, if we neglect so great a salvation? Don’t neglect. You’re this close…come.” In Chapter 4, “Don’t, at this point, harden your hearts and not enter into this salvation rest.” Chapter 10, “Now that you know the Gospel, don’t reject the Gospel or a more sever punishment will await you in eternity, because you’ve known the truth and rejected the truth.”

So this is one of those warning passages. And if you look at Verse 7, he illustrates this in Verse 7. “The earth, which drinks in the rain that often comes on it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God.” So the rain is like the Gospel. It comes down, and in those who believe, it brings forth herbs. It brings forth useful produce. But if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, and is to be burned. And he focuses on the same issue. If you will hear the Gospel, believe the Gospel, when it comes down like rain, it’ll produce blessing. If you don’t, it’ll produce the briars and the thorns, and you’ll be cursed, and all of that will be taken out to be burned. And that’s a picture of hell.

So he’s addressing these people with this decision. Then in Verse 9, he turns in Verse 9, and he says, “But,” what’s the next word? Beloved…and he talks to the believers. We are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation. You see the difference? Now, he’s turning to the believers, and we are confident that you are saved. So you go from a warning passage, the word “but” makes a transition, and he speaks to the true believers. Okay?

Categories: Teologice