QUESTION - Does Hebrews 6:4-6 mean we can lose our salvation?
ANSWER - Hebrews 6:4–6 states, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance.”
This is one of the Bible’s most difficult passages to interpret,
but one thing is clear—it does not teach that we can lose our salvation.
There are two valid ways of looking at these verses:
One interpretation holds that this passage is written not about Christians but about unbelievers...
One interpretation holds that this passage is written not about Christians but about unbelievers who are convinced of the basic truths of the gospel but who have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. They are intellectually persuaded but spiritually uncommitted.
According to this interpretation, the phrase once enlightened (Hebrews 6:4) refers to some level of instruction in biblical truth. However, understanding the words of Scripture is not the same as being regenerated by the Holy Spirit. For example, John 1:9 describes Jesus, the “true Light,” giving light “to every man”; but this cannot mean the light of salvation, because not every man is saved. Through God’s sovereign power, every man has enough light to be held responsible. This light either leads to the complete acceptance of Jesus Christ or produces condemnation in those who reject such light. The people described in Hebrews 6:4–6 are of the latter group—unbelievers who have been exposed to God’s redemptive truth and perhaps have made a profession of faith, but who have not exercised genuine saving faith.
This interpretation also sees the phrase tasted the heavenly gift (Hebrews 6:4) as referring to a momentary experience, akin to Jesus’ “tasting” death (Hebrews 2:9). This brief experience with the heavenly gift is not seen as equivalent to salvation; rather, it is likened to the second and third soils in Jesus’ parable (Matthew 13:3–23), which describes people who receive the truth of the gospel but are not truly saved.
Finally, this interpretation sees the “falling away” (Hebrews 6:6) as a reference to those who have tasted the truth but, not having come all the way to faith, fall away from even the revelation they have been given. The tasting of truth is not enough to keep them from falling away from it. They must come all the way to Christ in complete repentance and faith; otherwise, they in effect re-crucify Christ and treat Him contemptuously. Those who sin against Christ in such a way have no hope of restoration or forgiveness because they reject Him with full knowledge and conscious experience. They have concluded that Jesus should have been crucified, and they stand with His enemies. It is impossible to renew such to repentance.
The other interpretation holds that this passage is written about Christians....
The other interpretation holds that this passage is written about Christians, and that the phrases partakers of the Holy Ghost, enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift are all descriptions of true believers.
This second interpretation is based on an alternate translation, found in the KJV and a few others, in which Hebrews 6:6 begins with the phrase if they fall away, with the key word being if. According to this view, the writer of Hebrews is setting up a hypothetical statement: “IF a Christian were to fall away.” The point being made is that it would be impossible (IF a Christian falls away) to renew salvation. That’s because Christ died once for sin (Hebrews 9:28), and if His sacrifice is insufficient, then there’s no hope at all.
In this view, the passage presents an argument based on a false premise (that a true Christian can fall away) and follows it to its senseless conclusion (that Jesus would have to be sacrificed again and again). The absurdity of the conclusion points up the impossibility of the original assumption. This reasoning is called reductio ad absurdum, in which a premise is disproved by showing that it logically leads to an absurdity. The weakness of this view is that the Greek text does not contain a word equivalent to the English if.
Both of these interpretations support the security of the believer in Christ. The first interpretation, which has a stronger textual basis, presents unbelievers rejecting Christ and thereby losing their chance of salvation; the second, weaker interpretation presents the very idea of believers losing salvation as impossible. Many passages make it abundantly clear that salvation is everlasting (John 10:27–29; Romans 8:35, 38–39; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:4–5), and Hebrews 6:4–6 confirms that doctrine.GotQuestions.org
FOR IN THE CASE OF THOSE WHO HAVE ONCE BEEN ENLIGHTENED: gar toushapax photisthentas (AAPMPA):
Once been enlightened - Hebrews 10:32+; Numbers 24:3,15,16+
Hebrews 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Those who (3588) describes a group (see three groups below) of individuals who have received significant exposure to spiritual truth and spiritual fruit. Each of these participles ("enlightened… tasted… made partakers… tasted… fallen away") is governed by the article tous (“those who”).
Those who have once been enlightened (photizo) - As described in more detail in the discussion of photizo, the enlightenment spoken can describe either unbelievers or believers.
When Jesus first came to Galilee to minister, He declared that He had come to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 9:1-2+, which, in part, reads, “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light” (Mt 4:16+).
All who saw and heard Jesus saw this “great light,” but not all who saw and heard were saved. Seeing God’s light and accepting it are not the same. Those people in Galilee, as all people who hear the gospel, were to some extent enlightened but, judging by the biblical accounts, few believed in Jesus. As explained below, the same thing had happened to the Jews being addressed in Hebrews 6:4-8. They were enlightened but not saved. Consequently, they were in danger of losing all opportunity of being saved, and of becoming apostate. It is of such people that Peter speaks in 2 Peter 2:20, 2:21+.
Once enlightened - What does he mean?
Wuest explains that "once is literally “once for all,” and is used of that which is so done as to be of perpetual validity, and never needs repetition. That means that as these Hebrews listened to the message of the New Testament, the Holy Spirit enlightened their minds and hearts to clearly understand it. The work of the Spirit with reference to their understanding of New Testament truth had been so thorough that it needed never to be repeated for the purpose of making the truth clear to them. These Hebrews had understood these issues perfectly. The type was set aside for the reality, the First Testament for the New. They were enlightened as every sinner is enlightened who comes under the hearing of God’s Word. But as the unsaved in an evangelistic meeting today clearly understand the message of salvation but sometimes refuse the light and turn back into the darkness of sin and continued unbelief, so these Hebrews were in danger of doing a like thing." (Hebrews Commentary online)
Though knowledge is prerequisite to faith,
it does not always indicate that saving faith is present.
-- Ray Stedman
Ray Stedman writes that enlightenment "plainly means an intellectual understanding of God’s redemptive actions…though knowledge is prerequisite to faith, it does not always indicate that saving faith is present. (Hebrews 6:4-8 The Danger of Knowledge Without Faith)
One can have a great deal of light
and still not be a genuine believer in Christ.
-- S Lewis Johnson
S Lewis Johnson asks
"What does it mean to be enlightened? For some people "to be enlightened" would necessarily mean to be converted. Now it is of course true that all people who are converted have indeed been enlightened. However, the question is whether all who have been enlightened are converted? Turn to Numbers 24 and listen to what is said about Balaam the prophet (the NT makes clear that he was a false prophet).
Numbers 24:4; 16 - The oracle of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered… 16 The oracle of him who hears the words of God, And knows the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered.
Then in the NT we have 3 texts to which Balaam is referred:
Jude 1:11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
2 Peter 2:15 (note) forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
Revelation 2:14 (note) ‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
Clearly, Balaam had a great deal of the knowledge of the Lord God. He was a prophet, that is one who gave prophecies. Furthermore, if you have ever studied those prophecies you will find that they consist of 4 magnificent Messianic prophecies. Balaam's prophecies are not dealing with insignificant things but rather with the coming of the Messiah and the things that would be characteristic of His person and kingdom. So out of his mouth have come some magnificent prophecies that are part of the Word of God, yet the NT apparently regards Balaam among those who are lost. The point that I am making is simply this: one can have a great deal of light and still not be a genuine believer in Christ. (Hebrews 6:1-12 The Thing God Cannot Permit; Hebrews 6:1-12 Peril of Apostasy)
Now carefully observe the pronouns used by the writer in Hebrews 6:1-12… Did you observe three distinct groups? The pronouns suggest that there are three groups of individuals being described. The first group (us, we) is clearly believers, the writer including himself in this group. The second group is the problematic group the identity of which has been interpreted in radically different ways by various commentators. Finally, the third group (you, your) points toward believing Jews worshiped and studied together.
I personally believe that the teaching of the NT in general (that one cannot lose genuine salvation), the flow of the epistle of Hebrews up to this point and the distinctive descriptions of the three groups favors the interpretation of Group 2 as
represented by Jewish readers who are not born again, not regenerate, not redeemed, not justified, and in short are not genuine believers.
They had clearly witnessed the power, glory, and truth of the gospel in the Scriptures and they had observed the dramatic testimony of radically transformed lives in other Jews,
but they were not born again. To paraphrase Jesus (see Mark 10:21, 12:34)
"they were those who were not far from the Kingdom of God but one thing they lacked… genuine, saving faith in the Messiah".
www.preceptaustin.org
Read on brother--
J.
