Is it possible to lose your salvation?

Today’s passage is Hebrews 6:1-12.  Let’s go!

Hebrews 6:1-3 (NIV)
¹  Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,
²  instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
³  And God permitting, we will do so. 

On verses 1-3:  Just before this, the writer of Hebrews rebuked his readers for failing to mature spiritually.  As part of telling them to grow up, he mentions six topics that are foundational for every Christian to understand:

What can we learn for this?  To grow as a Christian, these 6 basic, elementary teachings must be at the foundation of what you believe.  From there you can go on to build other truths from God’s Word on top of this foundation.

Hebrews 6:4-6 (NIV)
⁴  It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
⁵  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,
⁶  if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

On verses 4-6:  Some consider these verses, which are really one sentence in Greek, to be the hardest passage in the New Testament to interpret.  Is this passage saying that if I sin after I become a Christian it is impossible for me to come back to God?  Keep in mind the type of situation the writer of Hebrews is talking about here.  The writer of Hebrews is warning his readers about the specific situation where a person comes to faith in Christ but then “falls away” (v6); in other words, that person came to faith in Christ but later consciously decides to abandon the faith.  This is known as apostasy, or in Jesus’ words, blaspheming against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:32; Mark 3:29).  Whatever term you want to use, it’s the situation where a person once received Jesus in their life but then their heart becomes so hardened that they later on say, “I don’t believe in Jesus as my Saviour and I refuse to believe in Jesus as my Saviour”.  If that remains their attitude until their dying day, there is no salvation or eternal hope for that person.  That person is effectively doing what the high priests and teachers of the law who crucified Jesus did: calling Jesus a liar and a false teacher.  In this way they crucify Jesus all over again and give Jesus a bad name.

Don’t misunderstand these verses as saying that if you commit any sin after you receive Jesus, then you will lose your salvation.  These verses are addressing the specific situation where someone doesn’t lose their salvation by committing just any sin, but rather where someone consciously and voluntarily leaves their salvation by emphatically and repeatedly renouncing Jesus as their Saviour and never repenting of that decision.

Hebrews 6:7-8 (NIV)
⁷  Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.
⁸  But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

On verses 7-8:  Here the writer of Hebrews uses a farming analogy to illustrate what he is talking about in verses 4-6.  When you place your faith in Jesus and use what God has given you for His glory, your life is like land that drinks in the rain and bears good, useful fruit.  You will be blessed (v7). But if you place your faith in Jesus and then later renounce that faith, the opposite will happen: you will end up living a life that ultimately rejects Jesus.  Your life will be like land that receives the rain only to produce worthless thorns and thistles and is just asking to be burned up and destroyed (v8).

Hebrews 6:9-12 (NIV)
⁹  Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case–things that accompany salvation.
¹⁰  God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
¹¹  We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
¹²  We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

On verses 9-12:  The writer of Hebrews clarifies his reason for writing all these sobering warnings. It’s not because the writer of Hebrews has given up on his readers. Much the opposite, he says, “we are confident of better things in your case – things that accompany salvation” (v9).  He comforts his readers, saying that God has seen the love they have shown to others because of their faith in Christ.  He encourages them to “show this same diligence to the very end” (v11), believing that perseverance will “make your hope sure” (v11).

What can we learn from this?

1.  Those who truly love you will, when necessary and always with loving tact and wisdom, speak the truth in love to you, even when it’s hard to hear.   So may we have a teachable attitude toward others.  As Psalm 141:5 says, “Let a righteous man strike me–it is a kindness; let him rebuke me–it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.”

2.  For those of us who have placed our trust in Jesus, may we not become lazy or passive in our walk with God, but may we persevere and “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (v12).  As Paul says in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary of doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”.

Father, thank You for the way You persevere in loving us, how You don’t give up on us, even when we give up.  Thank You that You are always willing to take us back no matter how many times we sin against You.  May our hearts be soft toward You the way Your heart is soft toward us. And may we persevere in loving others and trusting You the way that You persevere in loving and trusting us.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!