Hebrews: Beware of Falling Away
Hebrews 6:4-8 - In which we learn that the author of Hebrews set up a giant conundrum for future Biblical scholars and believers.
“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, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 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. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.”
Hebrews 6:4-8 NASB1995
This is a difficult passage. I’m not the only one who finds it difficult, as many commentators also struggle with it. I must have been asleep when reading Hebrews in the past because these verses really slapped me in the face this time around (when I had to prepare to write about it) and caused some moments of genuine fear and anxiety. Let’s look at a key phrase and its interpretation, through the Blue Letter Bible lexicon:
Falling away comes from the Greek verb παραπίπτω or parapíptō (Strong’s G3895), with the following Biblical usages:
to fall beside a person or thing
to slip aside
to deviate from the right path, turn aside, wander
to error
to fall away (from the true faith): from worship of Jehovah
If readers are not aware, Steve and I went through a long period of time that could be called our flirtation with apostasy and we deviated from the right path. We became enamored with secular humanism and the evidence that science had about our universe and life in general. Both of us being engineers by education and trade, we studied a lot of science in college, especially physics. This wayward path (I hesitate to call it a falling away, because that means I’m doomed, according to the author of Hebrews) occurred after college. I was a brainiac, career-oriented, feminist, a real smart-aleck and prideful know-it-all, and I felt I didn’t need the “myths” to run my life. I subscribed to secular humanist journals, and relished reading them and their putdowns of Christianity and Christians as well as other faiths.
In our childhoods, we were both raised nominally Christian (Steve was brought up Catholic) and I was American Lutheran (the pre-split Lutheran denomination in the days before ELCA and Missouri Synod). I seemed to be genuinely “in love” with my faith, being active in my church and reading lots of Bible verses and plastering my walls with devotional posters. Lutherans didn’t say a lot about being “born again”, but I had some evangelical friends that I hung out with and I vaguely recall a prayer session when I was in high school where I “gave my heart to Jesus” (or did I? I don’t recall starting a life of transformation after this event in any case).
When we headed down the wrong path, I never really completely (at least mentally) discarded faith. I called myself an agnostic, not an atheist. In serious or dangerous situations, I found myself praying. I was also constantly hearing a voice in my head telling me that I was wrong (Steve also heard this same voice). We started coming back to faith in 2006 (see this devotional and personal testimony that I wrote) and then both repented and accepted Jesus as our Savior; the exact date was December 19, 2006. The big question for me is if I really accepted Him before does that mean that my apostasy is permanent according to the author of Hebrews, even though I am hopeful that is not the case? Are there second chances with God?
Well, enough about us at the moment. Let’s dig into these dire warnings in Hebrews, which are targeted at wobbly Jewish believers who believe their lives would calm down if they reverted back to their Judaism. The author of this epistle is telling these believers that if they fall away from the faith and start traditions like animal sacrifices for atonement again, it is just like crucifying Christ a second time (ouch!!). Let’s start with the commentary from Enduring Word, which is excellent (David Guzik writes from a generally Reformed Protestant perspective):
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
a. For it is impossible: The word impossible is put in a position of emphasis. The writer to the Hebrews does not say this is merely difficult, but that it is without possibility.
i. Note the other uses of impossible in Hebrews:
· It is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18).
· It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats can take away sin (Hebrews 10:4).
· It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6).
ii. “This word impossible stands immovable.” (Alford)
b. Who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come: The writer to the Hebrews speaks of people with impressive spiritual experiences. The big debate is whether this is the experience of salvation or the experience of something short of salvation. Looking at each descriptive word helps see what kind of experience this describes.
i. Enlightened: This ancient Greek word has the same meaning as the English word. It described the experience of light shining on someone, of a “new light” shining on the mind and spirit.
ii. Tasted: The idea of “tasting” may mean to “test” something. But other uses of this word indicate a full, real experience as in how Jesus tasted death in Hebrews 2:9. The heavenly giftis probably salvation (as in Romans 6:23 and Ephesians 2:8).
iii. Partakers of the Holy Spirit: This is an unique term in the New Testament. Since it means “sharing” the Holy Spirit, it has to do with receiving and having fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
iv. Tasted the good word of God: This means they experienced the goodness of God’s word, and saw its goodness at work in them.
v. The powers of the age to come: This is a way to describe God’s supernatural power. The writer to the Hebrews describes those who experienced God’s supernatural power.
c. If they fall away, to renew them again to repentance: One of the most heated debates over any New Testament passage is focused on this text. The question is simple: Are these people with these impressive spiritual experiences in fact Christians? Are they God’s elect, chosen before the foundation of the world?
i. Commentators divide on this issue, usually deciding the issue with great certainty but with no agreement.
ii. On the one side we see clearly that someone can have great spiritual experiences and still not be saved (Matthew 7:21-23). One can even do many religious things and still not be saved. The Pharisees of New Testament times are a good example of this principle. These men did many religious things but were not saved or submitted to God. These ancient Pharisees:
· Energetically evangelized (Matthew 23:15).
· Impressively prayed (Matthew 23:14).
· Made rigorous religious commitments (Matthew 23:16).
· Strictly and carefully tithed (Matthew 23:23).
· Honored religious traditions (Matthew 23:29-31).
· Practiced fasting regularly (Luke 18:12).
· Yet Jesus called them sons of Hell (Matthew 23:15).
iii. Yet, from a human perspective, it is doubtful that anyone who seemed to have the credentials mentioned in Hebrews 6:4-5 would not be regarded a true Christian. God knows their ultimate destiny and hopefully the individual does also – yet from all outward appearance, such Christian experience might qualify a man to be an elder in many churches. Yet beyond the knowledge hidden in the mind of God and the individual in question, from all human observation, we must say these are Christians spoken of in Hebrews 6:4-5. A good example of this is Demas.
· Paul warmly greeted other Christians on his behalf (Colossians 4:14).
· Demas is called a fellow worker with Paul (Philemon 1:24).
· Yet Paul condemned Demas, at least hinting at apostasy (2 Timothy 4:10).
iv. Taking all this together, we see that it is possible to display some fruit or spiritual growth – then to die spiritually, showing that the “soil of the heart” was never right (Mark 4:16-19).
v. Therefore, eternal standing of those written of in Hebrews 6:4-6 is a question with two answers. We may safely say that from a human perspective, they had all appearance of salvation. Nevertheless, from the perspective of God’s perfect wisdom it is impossible to say on this side of eternity.
d. For it is impossible… if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance: Despite their impressive spiritual experience – or at least the appearance of it – these are in grave danger. If they fall away, it is impossible for them to repent.
i. If these are genuine Christians who “lost their salvation,” the terrible fact is that they can never regain it. In the early church some groups (such as the Montanists and the Novatianists) used this passage to teach there was no possibility of restoration if someone sinned significantly after their baptism.
ii. Others explain it by saying that this is all merely a hypothetical warning (in light of the statement in Hebrews 6:9). In this thinking, the writer to the Hebrews never intended to say that his readers were really in danger of damnation. He only used a hypothetical danger to motivate them. However, one must say that there is questionable value in warning someone against something that can’t happen.
iii. Still others think that this penalty deals only with reward, not with salvation itself. They stress the idea that it says repentance is impossible, not salvation. Therefore these are Christians of low commitment and experience who risk a loss of all heavenly reward, saved only “by the skin of their teeth.”
iv. This difficult passage is best understood in the context of Hebrews 6:1-2. The writer to the Hebrews means that if they retreat back to Judaism, all the religious “repentance” in the world will do them no good. Retreating from distinctive Christianity into the “safe” ideas and customs of their former religious experience is to forsake Jesus, and to essentially crucify Him again. This is especially true for these ancient Christians from a Jewish background, since the religious customs they took up again likely included animal sacrifice for atonement, denying the total work of Jesus for them on the cross.
e. If they fall away: There is a necessary distinction between falling and falling away. Falling away is more than falling into sin; it is actually departing from Jesus Himself. For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity (Proverbs 24:16). The difference is between a Peter and a Judas. If you depart from Jesus (fall away) there is no hope.
i. The message to these Christians who felt like giving up was clear: if you don’t continue on with Jesus, don’t suppose you will find salvation by just going on with the ideas and experience that Christianity and Judaism share. If you aren’t saved in Jesus, you aren’t saved at all. There is no salvation in a safe “common ground” that is not distinctively Christian.
ii. If someone falls away we must understand why he or she can’t repent – it is because they don’t want to. It is not as if God prohibits their repentance. Since repentance itself is a work of God (Romans 2:4), the desire to repent is evidence that he or she has not truly fallen away.
iii. The idea is not that “if you fall away, you can’t ever come back to Jesus.” Instead, the idea is “if you turn your back on Jesus, don’t expect to find salvation anywhere else, especially in the practice of religion apart from the fullness of Jesus.”
iv. “This passage has nothing to do with those who fear lest it condemns them. The presence of that anxiety, like the cry which betrayed the real mother in the days of Solomon, establishes beyond a doubt that you are not one that has fallen away beyond the possibility of renewal to repentance.” (Meyer)
Whoa!!! Those last five paragraphs are so comforting!! The fact that I am sweating bullets about this passage indicates that I never really fell away (or I wasn’t there as a genuine Christian to begin with) because I have repented (and wanted to) many times over the last 20 years, far more than when I was a young “Pharisee” in the Lutheran church. I was Peter for a time, “denying” Jesus, but yet still linked to Him in my heart. What’s interesting about our return to faith and the devotionals that I write is that I am often attracted to the commentary from those in the Reformed side of the Spaghetti chart (remember that from the study of Galatians?); the Reformed side includes the green and tan segments:
The “little voice” in our heads (we both heard it during our time in the wilderness), the experience of the personal testimony that I shared above, and the fact that we both pretty much fell on our knees on that day in December and pled to be forgiven as we renewed our (or had a brand new) faith in Jesus gives me great comfort. He pursued us!! We were known to Him before the beginning of the universe and time (I now really believe that) and it is the perseverance of the saints that saves us (hopefully time will tell the full story).
These verses, especially verse 6, have led to serious clashes between Arminian and Calvinistic viewpoints (it probably even started small military skirmishes at one time in history). According to Precept Austin, there are four interpretive views of Hebrews 6:4-6 (scroll down at the link and there is a great table showing where different Biblical scholars fall in this matrix). Here are the four views as described by Steven Cole in a sermon linked on Precept Austin :
1. The Arminian view: True believers lose their salvation if they fall away from Christ.
Consistent Arminians deny the eternal security of the believer and the perseverance of the saints. These are not completely synonymous doctrines. The doctrine of eternal security teaches “once saved, always saved.” If a person believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, he receives eternal life at that instant and he cannot lose it. The Reformed doctrine of the perseverance of the saints agrees that if a person is truly saved, God will keep him saved unto eternity, because salvation is from the Lord, not from men.
But Reformed theologians draw a distinction between a person’s decision to receive Christ and God actually saving a soul. People can make decisions apart from God’s regenerating power that is able to bring a soul from spiritual death to spiritual life. When a person makes a decision to trust Christ, the question is, did God supernaturally raise that person from death to life? Did God give him a new heart? The Reformed view is that time will tell. As the parable of the sower shows, the stony ground seed and the seed among the thorns looked good for a while, but did not bear fruit to eternal life (Matt. 13:20, 21, 22, 23). In other words, the Reformed view is that there is such a thing as false faith. The false believer seems to be saved for a while, but later reveals his true condition and falls away.
Consistent Arminians, however, teach that salvation depends on man’s will to believe in Christ. Since man does it, man can undo it. Serious sin (Arminians are hard pressed to determine which or how much sin) results in a loss of salvation. They say that Hebrews 6 describes a believer who loses his salvation.
But they have two big problems. First, many biblical texts teach that true believers cannot be lost (John 6:39-40; 10:27, 28, 29, 30; Ro 8:28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39). Second, if true believers can be lost, then our text teaches that it is impossible for them to regain their salvation. Most Arminians do not want to go there!
2. Non-lordship salvation view: Genuine Christians can deny the faith and yet remain saved, although they lose their rewards in heaven.
Zane Hodges (Bible Knowledge Commentary, Hebrews and the Grace Evangelical Society are the main advocates, along with R. T. Kendall. They hold to a decisional view of salvation and they reduce saving faith to a notional (“mental”) assent that does not include repentance. Once a person believes in Christ, he is eternally secure no matter what his subsequent life is like. He may later become an atheist or he may live in gross sin for the rest of his life. But because he once “believed,” he is eternally secure.
The problems with this view are too numerous to deal with in this message. The biblical books of James and 1 John, and John MacArthur’s Faith Works refute this view. The Bible is clear that a true believer may sin grievously (David & Peter are examples) and yet be restored. But it is also clear that some profess to believe and yet are not truly saved (Balaam, Judas, Simon Magus, 1Co 15:2; 2Co 6:1; 13:5; Titus 1:16-note). “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1Jn 2:3, 4). A person who falls away and crucifies again the Son of God, putting Him to open shame, who cannot be renewed to repentance, is not a believer who loses his rewards!
3. The hypothetical view: The author is speaking of something that cannot happen, but is using it as a warning to press on.
The impossibility is variously interpreted as either apostasy or getting saved again. Dr. Ryrie explains (and seemingly advocates) this view in the footnote in The Ryrie Study Bible [Moody Press]:
To “fall away” is impossible (since, according to this view, true believers are eternally secure), but the phrase is placed in the sentence to strengthen the warning. It is similar to saying something like this to a class of students: “It is impossible for a student, once enrolled in this course, if he turns the clock back [which cannot be done], to start the course over. There-fore, let all students go on to deeper knowledge.”
This view has the advantage of understanding the phrases in Heb 6:4, 5 to refer to genuine conversion, which they certainly seem to be describing. Charles Spurgeon advocated a version of the hypothetical view (The New Park Street Pulpit [Baker], 2:169-176, “Hebrews 6:4-6 Final Perseverance,” although different than Ryrie’s view), because he could not accept that the phrases in Heb 6:4, 5 describe false believers. He explained that true believers cannot fall away because God keeps them from doing so. But Paul (whom he thinks wrote Hebrews) is arguing that the reason they cannot fall away is because it would negate the efficacy of Christ’s atonement on the cross. Thus restoration would be impossible. Others argue that the hypothetical warning is not against falling away from the faith, but against going back and starting the Christian life all over again (“relaying the foundation,” Heb 6:1, 2, which is impossible).
I reject this view because of two problems. First, it is an utterly confusing way to make the point. Every time I hear the view explained, I think, “Huh? Why would the author explain something in such a convoluted way?”
Second, a hypothetical warning is no warning at all. If it is impossible to do something, you don’t need to warn me not to do it. Spurgeon tries to counter this objection by saying that God uses the warning (“you can never be restored”) to prevent Christians from falling away. He uses the illustration of a deep precipice. God tells His children, “If you fall over this precipice, you’ll be dashed to pieces.” This leads the believer to cry out, “Father, hang onto me so that I don’t fall over!” The warning keeps the believer in holy fear and dependence on God, because he knows that if he were to fall over the edge, there could be no restoration (p. 175).
But his analogy is valid only if the possibility of falling actually exists. If there were an impossibly high fence around the precipice, and no one could ever climb over it, even if he tried, then what need is there to warn someone not to fall over the edge? A hypothetical warning is not really a warning at all. The same thing applies if the warning is against going back and getting saved all over again (which is impossible). Why warn against something that you cannot do? Besides, this variation ignores the serious implications of the term “fall away.” Something more serious than trying to start over in the Christian life is at stake.
4. The false believer view: The author is speaking of those who are associated with the church and its blessings, but are not truly saved.
This view, which I hold to (in spite of the problems), says that the people described in Heb 6:4-5 are in the Hebrew church and appear to be saved. But at some point, usually a crisis, their true colors come through. They repudiate their faith in Christ, go back either to Judaism or to the world, and side with those who crucified the Son of God. In so doing, they put Christ to open shame. In effect, their lives, if not their words, say to people, “I tried faith in Christ, but it didn’t work! It was a sham! I was on the inside, so I know what I am talking about. The Christian faith is worthless!” For such apostates, the author says, “it is impossible to renew them again to repentance.” They have hardened their hearts against the truth that they were exposed to. Although they looked for a while as if they were saved, their lives now show that they never were saved.
There are two major problems with this view. First, the terms in Heb 6:4-5 sound as if they are describing true believers, not false believers. Why would the author pile up all of these terms if he is describing false believers? Second, if they were not truly saved, then what is there to fall away from? How can they be renewed to repentance if they never truly repented in the first place? I admit that these are difficult problems. That’s why I said at the first that no view is problem-free. You have to pick the problems you can live with.
Good grief!! I told you dear readers that this would be challenging! The last viewpoint seems the most likely in my case. I liked the trappings of church and pretending I was one of the smartest saints in the room, but never really repented and came to Him as my Savior until that night in December, 2006.
Steven Cole also has some timely warnings at the end of this sermon:
1. It is dangerous to traffic in Christian matters, but to reject or disobey the light that God has graciously given to us.
One reason that the author piles up these many terms that sound as if these apostates were converted is to warn us about how far we can go in matters of the faith and yet not be genuinely converted. I remember when I first read Jonathan Edwards’ A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections [Banner of Truth], although I had been a for many years, it caused me to examine my own heart to make sure that I was saved! It also opened my eyes to the fact that many in evangelical churches “profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him” (Titus 1:16-note).
2. It is dangerous to profess faith in Christ but to have no evidence of fruit in your life.
God is raining His blessings all around, but each of us needs to ask, “Am I bringing forth thorns and thistles, or fruit unto God?” Read through the lists of the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:19, 20, 21, 22, 23-see notes) and ask, “Which most characterizes my life? Am I progressively denying the deeds of the flesh and growing the fruit of the Spirit?”
3. It is dangerous not to practice frequent repentance.
Repentance isn’t a one-time thing that you do at conversion and then move on. Nor is it simply a change of mind, not of behavior. Turning from sin ought to be a chief identifying mark of the believer. As I’ve said before, in Eastern Europe, unbelievers call evangelicals “repenters.” That’s not a bad label! If you’re in God’s Word daily, it confronts you with ways that you are not pleasing to God. Repentance is the proper response.
4. It is dangerous not to worry about this warning if your heart is callused, or to worry excessively about it if your heart is tender.
Again, one reason that the author uses such strong terms is to shock those whose hearts are becoming callused so that they wake up before it’s too late. This isn’t just a warning to believers to grow up in their faith (although it is that). It’s a warning to those who think that they are believers, but are not, not to fall away into eternal judgment. True believers do not go back to their old way of life. True believers persevere in faith and obedience. We will see the same thing emphasized again in Heb 10:36, where he tells them that they have need of endurance. Believing the best about them, he says, “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (Heb 10:39).
In other words, there is only one way for those who have truly believed in Christ as Savior and Lord: to move ahead in faith and obedience, even in the face of trials or persecution. To give up the Christ who sacrificed Himself on the cross and go back to the pleasures of this evil world or to the empty shell of religion is extremely dangerous and possibly spiritually fatal!
If your heart is tender towards God, and you are striving daily against sin, then you should be concerned about this warning, but not excessively concerned. Keep walking with the Lord and He will bring you safely into His heavenly kingdom (2Ti 4:18-note)!
One other thing I will promote for the reader to consider is the tragic story of Charles Templeton, who was a compatriot of Billy Graham but completely fell away from faith, mostly for reasons of what science had supposedly discovered. Precept Austin has the story if you scroll down in the linked commentary on Verse 6.
I never really got to verses 7 and 8, but these two verses just serve to illustrate, again, the life of the believer versus the life of the “professor” of the faith or even an apostate. Are you in good soil or in thorny or rocky soil with thistles that should be burned? Fruitfulness is a test of faith.
My next devotional examines Hebrews 6:9-12 - Better things are in store for the believers that the author of Hebrews addresses.
Dear Lord - I entered the study of this passage with great trepidation, but came out with the assurance that I am saved by You and You have forgiven my wandering and other sins. I love you Lord! Amen
Credits and Citations:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
G3895 - parapiptō - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (nasb95). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3895/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/
Precept Austin was accessed on 11/24/2025 to review commentary for Hebrews 6:4-8. Within Precept Austin the Steven Cole Sermon is: Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2004, All Rights Reserved. His sermons can be found Bible.org. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com
Within the Enduring Word Commentary:
Alford, Henry The New Testament for English Readers, Volume II, Part II(London: Rivingtons, 1869)
Meyer, F.B. The Way Into the Holiest: Expositions of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: Christian Literature Crusade, 1982)