Ariel HaNaviy Messianic Jew and Torah Teacher with Messianic Congregation 'The Harvest'

Short Answer:
A Christian cannot lose his salvation if indeed it is genuine and not merely intellectual (Jn 8:31). To make a claim to faith by confessing faith in Yeshua (Jesus) but then to shrink back (Heb 10:35-39), reject Jesus, and essentially leave the community of believers (Luke 10:16) is described as a “fall from grace” (Gal 5:4). It is not as if you had genuine salvation and then lost it. It is that by leaving Christ so cavalierly, you prove that you were never truly genuinely saved to begin with! (1 Jn 2:19) This is truly a dangerous game to play with God considering the sober warnings in Heb 6:4-8.

Longer Answer:
Let’s exegete Hebrews 6:4-8 a bit more closely. I don't believe this passage teaches that you can lose your eternal salvation. It seems to be teaching that mere membership in a believing community (a Church, synagogue, Christian family, etc.) is not enough to secure genuine salvation. For indeed, experience shows that those who join the believing community by confessing faith in Yeshua but later turn away from it and reject him—more often than not never repent and return to the faith they once confessed. We might say, from strictly a human perspective, that in such a scenario, repentance is impossible.

Messianic Jewish author Tim Hegg aptly notes, “Our author builds his case on the fact that if, after experiencing the realities of the believing community and witnessing all of the evidences of God’s blessing upon the community—if after this they reject Yeshua, it is no different than those who rejected Him after they witnessed His life and His miracles, and even His resurrection from the dead. Such people evidence the same hardened heart as possessed by those who sought to have Yeshua crucified. But even worse, they crucify Him again, putting to open shame the very One Who conquered death and Who now reigns at God’s right hand.”

The way to accurately understand this passage is to make sure our exegesis draws from the very same examples that our author uses, which is ancient Isra'el in the TaNaKH (OT), introduced way back in Heb 3:7 as those who heard the voice of God yet put God to the test by allowing themselves to drift away from the message of salvation (Heb 2:1-3). It is with ancient, straying Isra'el in mind that he makes his analogy in Heb 6:1-8. Again, Hegg’s insights will help to see the practical application of this closing analogy in Heb 6:7, 8:

“In the analogy, the rain is the word of God, and it falls upon the ears of all who gather within the community. Yet in one field it produces fruit, while in the other only thorns. Our author is concerned that some in this community were listening to and even entertaining the false teachers’ notions that Yeshua, while an important person, was not worthy of one’s life, and certainly not worthy to be worshiped. Giving such heretical teaching a place within the community was in our author’s viewpoint not only dangerous but also wrong. He warns them about the deceitfulness of their own hearts, urging them to make sure of their true commitment to Yeshua—that they fully affirm Him to be the promised Messiah and the only one through whom a sinner can stand righteous before the Father. To borrow Peter’s words, our author is urging his readers to make their calling and election secure” (2 Pet 1:10).

I don't live my life “worrying” about my salvation as long as I daily abide in his Word (Jn 8:31) by holding fast to “Christ, the head of the body” (Col 2:19). The individual who lives his life believing he can, of himself, abort GENUINE salvation, defeats his very conscience, which has been created to carry the mind and actions of the Messiah (Rom 12:2; Eph 2:8-10; Phil 2:5). I’m not saying that genuine believers don’t go through moments of “doubt” and uncertainty in their lives. What I am saying is that all believers, at some point in their lives, are supposed to eventually have full assurance, by the Spirit, of what it means to be a child of God (Rom. 8:16).

September 17 2015 • 5 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

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