What Happens When One is Saved? One thing is certain — no man can hold two opposing viewpoints at the same time. That is, not if he is of a sound mind! So the writer of Hebrews could not hold to a position of absolute eternal security, and at the same time teach that loss of that salvation was possible. This is the man who writes, “For if we go on sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”(HEB 10:26-27 ), and “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (HEB 10:31), and “Our God is a consuming fire” (HEB 12:29 ). We will look at these verses in time. First, what did the author believe about the all-sufficiency of the cross of Jesus Christ? The position of the author is clearly given in the tenth chapter of the book. He begins by showing what the law and animal sacrifices could not do (HEB 10:1-4). They could not “make perfect” the worshipers. By his own definition he means to have a conscience cleansed of the guilt of sins, knowing full and complete forgiveness for all time. If the Old Testament sacrifices could have done this, “they would have ceased to be offered.” In other words, once the work of cleansing was finished, it would never have to be repeated. This is exactly what Jesus Christ’s death accomplished. “When He had by Himself purged our sins” (HEB 1:3), Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” (JOH 19:30). At that point, He had completed the work the Father sent Him to do. By means of his human body, Jesus did what all the sacrifices of history could not do (HEB 10:5-9). He fulfilled the will of God to save sinful men (1TI 2:3-6, 2PE 3:9). “The Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (LUK 19:10). Hre we are told that in fulfilling the will of God, offering His own body on the cross, “we have been sanctified… once for all.” The word for sanctified is hagiazo meaning to “set apart to God, to make holy.” It is the same root for the word “saint” and “holy.” The verb is in the perfect tense, speaking of what has been accomplished in the past, with permanent results. This meaning is strengthened by the phrase “once for all” which is the intensified verb ephapax, which means “once for all, never to be repeated.” In the original manuscripts of Scripture, words that only occur once in all of the Bible are called hapax legomenon, that is “spoken only once.” The preposition epi (“over, above”) prefixed to hapax serves to intensify the meaning. You will find this same word used in HEB 7:27, HEB 9:27-28, HEB 10:2. In the strongest possible terms, our author has declared the security of our salvation But, he does not stop here! All Sins Paid For At Once In contrast to the necessary repetition of animal sacrifices (HEB 10:3, HEB 10:11), Jesus “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time.” Here all the sins of human history are included, and this means your sins; past, present and future! The phrase, “for all time”, literally means “unto all perpetuity, perpetually, forever.” The work of Christ on the cross is all-sufficient for all time and eternity! It never stops having its saving effect. If the “blood of Christ” (HEB 9:14) is the eternal solution to all sins for all time and eternity, doesn’t it seem ludicrous and foolish to think that any sin we might commit could “undo” what He has done forever? In other words; how can the cross of Christ be sufficient for all sin, and at the same time, not be sufficient? His strongest argument is yet to come! Perfected Forever Someone might argue, “Yes, the work of Christ is sufficient for all sins for all time, but while it covers all sins, it may not take care of the sinner!” Yet here the author says that those “sanctified” ones he mentioned in HEB 10:10 have been “perfected forever.” The word translated “forever” or “for all time” is the same phrase as in HEB 10:12, with the same meaning, “perpetually, forever.” The force of this phrase is especially strong in signifying “in unbroken continuance.” The word “perfected” clinches the argument. It is the exact same word, in the very same form as the cry of victory Jesus gave on the cross. “It is finished!” The word teleioo means “finished, completed.” The perfect tense means that the work of the cross, once accomplished, has ongoing results throughout all time and eternity. And this is the word translated “perfected” that is applied to us. There is no way to avoid the author’s absolute stand on the eternal security of the believer in Jesus. Since it is abundantly clear that the author’s stand is beyond doubt, it is just as certain that he could not in another passage teach the position that one could by some means “lose their salvation.” Coming back to chapter 6, we must now identify just what it is “impossible” to do, once one has “fallen away.” THE SIN UNTO DEATH “And you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say: ‘How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! I was on the verge of total ruin, in the midst of the assembly and congregation” (PRO 5:11-14). “There is a sin unto death” (1JO 5:16). The Bible is full of examples of believers who have died the “sin unto death.” This is not a particular sin, but rather a habitual continuation in a sin that becomes so destructive to the soul, and our witness that God executes maximum divine discipline in physically removing the believer from this life. (see appendix: Doctrine of Divine Discipline - cf. GAL 5:16, “You cannot do what you desire!”). Their salvation is secure, but often these examples are pointed out as instances where believers have “lost their salvation.” One notable Old Testament example is King Saul, who died for rebellion and witchcraft (1CH 10:13). However as the incident in 1SA 28:8-19 makes clear, Saul’s eternal life and salvation was not in question. His death was dishonorable and was prolonged with much pain (1SA 31:1-4). Well known New Testament examples are Ananias and Saphira (ACT 5:1-11) and the immoral man in Corinth (1CO 5:1-5), who happily appears to have repented and recovered (2CO 2:5-8). This provides an interesting contrast, for there we see one who was obviously on the road to “sin unto death” because of immorality who repented, yet I cannot think of a single Biblical example where anyone was able to recover after having received false doctrine leading to the condition which we see in Hebrews 6. In John 15 Jesus warns that “unfruitful branches” will be “taken away” [literally “lifted up”] (JOH 15:2) and will be cast away “as a branch” (still a child of God) and wither (final severe divine discipline) and be burned (JOH 15:6). This is consistent with Paul’s teaching about non-productive believers in 1CO 3:10-15 who are nevertheless “saved, yet so as through fire” (1CO 3:15). Fire is often used in Scripture to indicate severe trial (1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 4:12) or severe divine discipline (JAM 5:3, Jud 23). It is to this our author refers when he says, “Our God is a consuming fire” (HEB 12:29). Whatever is of gold (faith) He will refine. Whatever is not of faith He will consume. A TERRIFYING PROSPECT “For if we go on sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries” (HEB 10:26-27). Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as common the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay”, and, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (HEB 10:26-31). Here we have another oft-quoted passage which some think proves that a believer, once saved and given eternal life, can in the end be lost. This is largely due to a failure to keep in the context of the book of Hebrews. The passage is a continuation of what the author is teaching in Chapter 6. THE PERSON IN VIEW IS A BELIEVER Firstly, because the author includes him in the “we” of HEB 10:26, this is one who has “received the knowledge of the truth.” The verb epignosis means to go beyond mere perception, to experiential knowledge. He is one who “has been sanctified” by the blood of Christ (HEB 10:29). As noted earlier, HEB 10:10, HEB 10:12, HEB 10:14 show that this is “once for all-perfected forever”. The judging spoken of is that of “the Lord judging His people” (HEB 10:30). These four considerations cannot be overlooked. A MORE SEVERE JUDGEMENT To openly and wilfully violate the Mosaic covenant brought death without mercy. The penalties of the Mosaic Law were clearly spelled out. Yet nowhere in the Law of Moses is it ever stated that any person would lose eternal life. Even the phrase “blotted out of the book of life” (EXO 32:32-32, PSA 69:28) refers to physical death only. The book of life (more literally “book of the living”) refers to those who are physically alive on the earth. By contrast, “The Lamb’s Book of Life” (REV 13:8, REV 17:8) contains the names of all who believe in Him, and was written “before the foundation of the world.” In HEB 10:29 we have a further description of the spiritual issues involved in what HEB 6:6 calls “crucifying to themselves the Son of God.” First of all, they are said to have “trampled underfoot the Son of God.” This is exactly what one does who denies the all-sufficiency of the cross of Christ! To add one work of the law, or to say that any work of merit can add to the cross is blasphemy. Secondly, he has “regarded as common the blood of the covenant.” The word often translated “unclean” is from koinos, which simply means common. If the “blood of Christ,” that is the substitution of His spiritual life in return for taking upon Him our spiritual death (remember, “the life is in the blood”, DEU 12:23), if this so-great sacrifice needs any additional work from man, then we are declaring that the blood of Christ is no more sufficient that that of bulls and goats” (HEB 10:4). To try to improve on that “by which he was sanctified” is indeed to “insult the Spirit of grace.” The Holy Spirit who applied to us the blessings of Christ’s death (EPH 1:3) cannot be insulted by any attempt on our part to add to such gracious provision, without severe discipline following. Such a person is worthy of much more severe judgment than that of “dying without mercy.” And what could be worse than that? First of all, to live apart from grace! And secondly, to forfeit God’s blessings in this life (“abundant life”, JOH 10:10) and rich rewards in eternity (1CO 3:14, HEB 11:26). The believer in Jesus Christ is a new spiritual creation (2CO 5:17, GAL 6:15, EPH 4:24). We are designed to continue to live within the realm in which we have been born. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works lest anyone should boast” (EPH 2:8-9). “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (ROM 5:1-2a). “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (COL 2:6). The realm of all spiritual life and living is the realm of the grace of God. The only means of entrance into grace is by faith. And the only means of continuing in God’s grace is by faith. Four times it is stated in the Bible. “The just shall live by faith” (HAB 2:4, ROM 1:17, GAL 3:11, HEB 10:38). But someone may say, “Doesn’t the Bible say that faith without works is dead?” This is correct (JAM 2:17, JAM 2:26), but we must understand the nature of those works. Are there works related to salvation? Of course (MAT 5:16, EPH 2:10)! But they are from, not for salvation. They are the fruit, not the root. Are there works related to spirituality? Certainly (1CO 13:4-8, GAL 5:22-23)! But again, they are the result of spirituality, never the means of becoming spiritual. Are there works related to eternal security? Absolutely (HEB 6:90-12, HEB 10:32-38). But as always, they exist on the basis of finished work supplied by Jesus Christ through the Spirit and word of God, and are the evidence of living faith. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (PHI 2:12-13). Note that we can only “work out” what God by His Spirit and Word is “working in” us. And because we are “created in Christ for good works,” we ought to be in much “fear and trembling”, lest being spiritually sluggish, we fail the grace of God (HEB 12:15). The bitter weeping of Esau (HEB 12:16-17) for his lost blessings and inheritance came too late. By his disregard for what was rightfully his (GEN 25:34), he lost his birthright, and “found no place of repentance”, in other words, it was “impossible to restore him to repentance” because the loss was already an accomplished fact. How great will be our weeping before the Lord, for the wasted days, months and years that could have been “redeemed time” (EPH 5:16, COL 4:5) for eternal benefit? And just as Esau “was rejected” (GEN 12:17), so here in HEB 6:7-8 the author uses an analogy of “worthless” production. The word adokimos is the same word in both passages. It means “tested and rejected, disapproved.” The same word is used in the positive sense in 1PE 1:7 for “approved faith,” and again in JAM 1:12 for the man who is “tried and approved” through trial. Good ground brings forth good fruit (MAT 13:8, MAT 13:23). Such production ”receives a blessing from God.” But the produce of “thorns and thistles” is the result of disobedience (GEN 3:18; MAT 13:22), and it is “rejected (worthless) and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.” This is precisely what Jesus said in JOH 15:6, and what Paul teaches in 1CO 3:15. The issue is not loss of salvation, for, “he shall be saved, yet so as by fire,” the terrible loss is of divine approval and eternal reward.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:14:16 +0000
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