“For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.” Hebrews 6:4-6
Probably the most definitive of all scriptures, this one clearly defines a believer (“have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit”). On cannot partake of the Holy Spirit unless he indeed is born again. It describes the believer in a fallen away state (again the Greek is clearly translated accurately)
παραπιπτω - parapipto NT:3895, akin to A, No. 2, properly, “to fall in one’s way” (para, “by”), signifies “to fall away” (from adherence to the realities and facts of the faith), Heb 6:6.
(from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
παραπιπτωin the pap. mostly=become lost) fall beside, go astray, miss. In other manuscripts =fall away, commit apostasy.” Greek-English Lexicon – Walter Bauer’s by Arndt and Gingrich
“For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:20-22
One can only escape the defilements of the world by entering into grace. The “way of righteousness” is the way of Jesus as the passage itself defines.
“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Matthew 24:9-10
Jesus warned of a great falling away in the end times.
“He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5
The following scriptures help the understanding of what is being referred to as “the book of life”. Jesus spoke of not erasing a name IF HE OVERCAME. He indicated here that erasing a name was a possibility. The other scriptures indicate there are also names that were never put in the book of life.
“And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” Revelation 13:8
“So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” Revelation 3:16
This passage is yet another concept of having position and then being rejected because of choices that were made.
The concept of having and then losing a position of grace is so clearly demonstrated throughout the Bible, I have never quite understood the attempts to remove the meaning from the above passages.[ i.e. Saul - lost his kingship, Esau - lost his birthright, Reuban - lost his first born status. One generation of the nation of Israel - lost the opportunity to enter the promised land, Ten tribes of Israel - divorced by God and scattered losing their status as God’s chosen people. Judas - lost his position to rule in eternity over the twelve tribes of Israel] All of these serve as an example to us in this era of grace as was so eloquently expounded on by the writer of the letter to the Hebrews (and this was being written to Christian readers, not Jewish readers though these believers had roots in Judaism.) These types and examples of the Old Testament give a clear understanding of “enduring to the end” [Matthew 24:13]
“Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.” Hebrews 4:11
While we were looking at a pre-cross list, the writers of the New Testament, including Jesus, refer again and again to the concept of loss of position with God as a New Testament possibility.
One of the patterns I’ve found present in the eternal security teaching is a weak understanding of the doctrine of repentance being held by its advocates. The concept of living life in an entirely different way (“do not be conformed to the thinking of this world”) seems to be somewhat neglected within their teachings. A true understanding of repentance and its resulting fruits makes it rather difficult to believe one can live an unrepentant life after receiving the truth of the Gospel and continue in that state of grace. While the act of being saved is attributed to God and Christ, the act of repentance rests with us. It is clearly that of a choice which one can do or not do as he so desires. The outcome then rests with each believer and is similar to the calls made by Joshua. “Choose this day whom you will serve”. Jesus saves and we determine what we will do with our salvation. (“work out your salvation with fear and trembling”.)
Acts 2:38-41 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
One of the biggest problems that I see in the teachings that embrace this concept of eternal security, as well as the concept of being selectively pre-saved (Calvinism) is the tendency to isolate a truth from the rest of the scriptures and build a doctrine from a notion rather than build a doctrine from the whole. Knowing how to “rightly divide the word of truth” is critical to building sound doctrine. What I’ve seen those do who fall into a miss-interpretation is begin to build a doctrine out of a part rather than the whole. Rather than put the pieces of the puzzle together and see what the picture is like, they will start with a desire for a particular picture and pick only those pieces which tend to show their picture, discarding or peerverting the rest. To rightly divide the word is to let the Bible interpret the Bible. If all the pieces of the puzzle don’t fit into ones doctrine, then one really needs to re-think their doctrine. To see what the bible is about, take the picture as a whole and see what it represents and then build from that.
When a teacher teaches the Bible, he teaches more than just the relative facts. Also taught to the student is the manner in which the teacher interprets the scriptures. Those who have grown up in Calvinism unfortunately tend to build their doctrine the same way. The same flaws that produce Calvinism are propagated throughout their understanding. The best way to come out of this type of teaching it is to throw out what has gone before and build from scratch, letting the Holy Spirit put the Bible together as a whole and try to truly build “line upon line” and “precept upon precept”.
I was taught how to interpret the scriptures. I was taught how to do exegetical studies of the Greek and Hebrew and how to develop the passages in those languages. I studied Greek enough to have a working knowledge of it and break down the different forms of a word as well as their roots. Paul himself demonstrated quite often how to build New Testament doctrine from Old Testament scripture within his writing. This of course was the only Bible of the day then. I don’t spend a lot of time studying other men’s work. Not because I don’t accept any other teachers or am proud of my own accomplishments, but so that I am open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The best text book for the Bible is the Bible. Paul spoke of his revelation of the gospel in a similar manner.
“For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11-12
Though I don’t presume to be of Paul’s stature his methods are valid. I also realize that no scripture is of any private interpretation according to Peter, so I take particular care if my doctrine seems to deviate from the main stream of Christian thought. I will compare my findings with those who have gone before and be extremely critical of any of mine that deviate. I also have men of stature whose opinions I value and seek, though I don’t always draw the same conclusions in all instances. In the matters I have just discussed however we are of complete agreement.
Hopefully this will give a better understanding of what the Bible has to say about this foundational doctrine. Because it is foundational, a valid understanding of it is critical to the whole, as it is something that one eventually must build on. If it is flawed the rest of the house suffers. Paul talked of the Bereans as being more noble because they spent their time studying the scriptures and not the works of man. A valid commendation! By the same token, it is critical that one develop sound doctrine and in order to do that one must develop a strong and valid system for interpreting the scriptures. I did some research into the Calvinist teachings and from that came to the conclusions about their teachings that I have mentioned. Their basic premise for building doctrine is not sound. One of the reasons I have a requirement for those of the Place to study the foundational teachings is so that those who lead the flock of Christ will be able to build solidly within the framework of the Bible itself.