What Does “Fall Away” Mean?

Hebrews 6:4-6

IGHT UP THERE WITH THE IDENTITY OF the “Sons of God” in Genesis 6 (see Issues 5, 6, and 7 for a study of this), the meaning of “fallen away” in Hebrews 6:4-6 is among the major “tough texts” of Scripture. This puzzling passage reads:

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Before we begin our study, I want to mention again the TOTT mission statement that we print in every issue. We recognize that godly and scholarly men differ with the views we share here, and we respect each one. We reemphasize this here because this text is particularly controversial.

That said, it is insisted by some Bible teachers that this passage means that a Christian can lose his salvation, whether through apostasy, willfully turning one’s back on Jesus Christ and returning to the old life, or some other sin. That idea must be rejected immediately, however, because the only teaching that is more heretical than the idea of losing salvation is one that teaches that salvation comes either wholly or partly by works. The evidences for the security of the believer are numerous and unmistakable (e.g., Jn. 10:27-29, Rom. 8:15-17; 35-39; Heb. 10:10, 12, 14; 1 Peter 1:3-5; etc.). To deny the security of the believer is not only to deny grace but even question the very character of God.

We should also point out that those today who teach that it is possible to lose one’s salvation also teach that one can get it back. This passage, however, says that it is impossible for those who have fallen away to be [renewed] again unto repentance. The view that this passage teaches the loss of salvation is, therefore, self-refuting.

Another interpretation is that this refers only to a purely hypothetical situation, that is, if a Christian could lose his salvation, there remains no provision for repentance because Christ died only once, which is therefore another proof for the security of the believer.

Again, while we respect those who differ with the view we will defend in just a moment, we humbly submit that it is puzzling that any interpreter would read salvation into this passage, for it clearly is not here. No one is spoken of as exercising saving faith, being justified, redeemed, saved, born again, sanctified, or any other term normally used in Scripture to indicate true salvation. The reverse is also true, namely, that no term that is used here is ever used elsewhere to refer to salvation.

Still another view is that this refers not to salvation but to Christian service; that is, it is a warning of the danger of a Christian moving from a position of true faith and life to the extent of becoming disqualified for further service. This, however, as we will see, does not fit the context. Let us, therefore, examine this controversial passage by first examining the text and then considering an implication that some teachers do not wish to face.

The Text

What is this passage all about? In light of our recent study of biblical interpretation, it is the principle of context that is the foundation for understanding this passage. The word For immediately points back to what has already been stated. While we will go deeper in a moment, Harry Ironside writes this summary:

There were many Hebrews who in the beginning professed to acknowledge the Messiahship of Jesus and were eye-witnesses of the marvelous things that took place at Pentecost and afterwards. But as the Lord did not return and the promised Kingdom was not immediately established, it was easy to understand how many of these, if lacking personal faith in Christ as Saviour, would eventually give up the Messianic confession and go back to Judaism which they knew to be a divinely revealed religion. This was a very serious thing, and yet it was something to which all these Hebrews would be exposed if they did not make a clean break with Judaism and go on to the perfection of Christianity. As to those who had already apostatized, it was too late to help them. They had made their choice and acted accordingly; and having experienced so much that was new and wonderful and then turned away from it all, they would be the hardest people on earth to change again. It is impossible, we are told, to renew again to repentance those once enlightened.[1]

Another expositor, E. Schuyler English, likewise emphasizes the word For as taking “us back to what has been discussed.” He goes on to explain exactly what that was:

. . . there were some who . . . while professing to be Christians, were still clinging to the ordinances and typology of the old economy, still relying upon the Old Testament sacrifices and Mosaic institutions, and still looking at Christ in His life rather than in His death and resurrection; and it is a warning lest some of the readers of the epistle might be in such a classification.[2]

This “explanation,” as another commentator puts it, “seems most consistent with the context and with the rest of the New Testament.”[3]

Let us now turn to the five specific privileges these people enjoyed, while still not exercising saving faith.

First, they were once enlightened. The Greek verb here is phōtizō (English “photo”), which means “to give light, to shine” and does not imply salvation, that is, what someone does with the light. Just as one might close their eyes in a lighted room, for example, and choose not to use the light, a person can choose to ignore the spiritual light that God has given.

John 1:9-10, for example, declares that “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” While Christ’s coming enlightened the whole world, not every person believes. Just two verses before, we read that John the Baptist “came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe,” but again, while the Light came, not all believe it. As one commentator points out, in fact, “whenever a man or woman hears the gospel of salvation in Christ, he is enlightened . . . but many, loving darkness rather than light, flee from its radiance.”[4] Another example appears in Matthew 4:16, where Jesus declares that He had come to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 6:2, which declares, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.” Just because the people saw the Light does not mean that they believed the Light.

“Enlightenment,” therefore, simply refers to intellectual awareness of something and does not imply either accepting it as true or, much less, receiving it as life changing. The people pictured in our text saw the light, were mentally aware of it, and perhaps even mentally assented to it, but they most certainly did not receive the light in the fullest sense; saving faith is nowhere to be found here. So strong was their mental state, in fact, that they were once (that is, “once for all,” aorist tense) enlightened; that is, as Greek authority Kenneth Wuest points out, they

understood these issues perfectly. . . . 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.[5]

Just hearing is not enough. Intellectual understanding is not enough. Only faith is enough, and these hearers had not truly believed anything they saw.

Second, these people had tasted of the heavenly gift. What is the heavenly gift? Without doubt, it is salvation in Christ. It is, indeed, “the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8), God’s truly “unspeakable gift” (II Cor. 9:15). But to taste something is far different than actually eating or drinking it, that is, fully receiving it. Some teachers object to this observation by pointing out that the Greek behind tasted (geuomai) is also used in Hebrews 2:9, where God permitted Jesus to “taste death for every man.” Surely then, it is argued, Jesus did not simply sample death on the cross. No, indeed, He did not just taste it; He went on to drink all of it. To force the word here, however, to mean the same is not warranted. Just as the spies who went into Canaan saw its incredible fruit, and perhaps tasted it (I would have), and yet did not believe they could ever possess it, how many people have done the same with Christ? How many have been deeply stirred by a Gospel message, sampled the blessings it has to offer, but then say, “No thank you?” Jesus, Who is the Living Bread, must be eaten, not just tasted (John 6:51).

Third, and most controversial of all, these people were made partakers of the Holy Ghost. Some insist that this clearly implies that these people were believers. We submit, however, that this simply does not mean the same thing as being “born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:5-6, 8), “sealed with the Spirit” (Eph. 1:13), indwelt by the Spirit (Rom. 8:9), baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (I Cor. 12:12-13), or the believer being the “temple of the Holy Spirit” (I Cor. 6:19). And again, nowhere in the New Testament is this term used to indicate salvation. In short, “‘partakers’ does not mean ‘possessors.’”[6] The Greek metochos has to do with sharing, association, or participation, but not possession. Commentator William MacDonald puts the matter very well:

Before we jump to the conclusion that this necessarily implies conversion, we should remember that the Holy Spirit carries on a preconversion ministry in men’s lives. He sanctifies unbelievers (1Cor. 7:14), putting them in a position of external privilege. He convicts unbelievers of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8). He leads men to repentance and points them to Christ as their only hope. Men may thus partake of the Holy Spirit’s benefits without being indwelt by Him.[7]

Fourth, these people had also tasted the good word of God. The word geuomai (tasted) is used again, this time to show that these people had sampled God’s Word. I have met many a lost person who loves to debate Scripture, is intrigued by its subject matter, who enjoys a lively discussion about its ethics and morality, and even admits its fascinating historical content. But alas, all this is merely tasting, not receiving. As one commentator illustrates:

Herod was like this. In spite of the prophet’s hard message, including accusations directly against the king, Herod enjoyed listening to John the Baptist preach (Mark 6:20). He was perplexed but fascinated by this dynamic preacher. He liked to sample the message of God. But when pressed into decision, he forsook God’s man and God’s message. He reluctantly, but willingly, agreed to have John beheaded. His taste of God’s Word only brought on him greater guilt.[8]

Others taste it with even more sincerity. They listen to it carefully, are moved by it, are enthusiastic about it, and even appear to receive it. But in the end, they are merely the “stony ground hearer,” who endures for a while but falls away when persecution comes (Matt. 13:20-21).

Fifth and finally, these people had also tasted . . . the powers of the world to come. The word world translates the Greek aiōn, which literally means “age,” that is, a period of time or even a dispensation. Powers is dunamis, which speaks of inherent or raw power, the ability to do wonders. The [age] to come, then, is the future Millennial Kingdom, when great wonders and miracles will be commonplace. These people, therefore, had actually tasted of such a time, as Jesus did miracles here on earth. In spite of that savory taste, however, they would not fully eat and receive the One who performed such wonders. These wonders, in fact, proved that Jesus was Who He said He was. By their rejection, they reaffirmed their guilt and sealed their fate.

In spite of those five great privileges, the writer goes on to say that such people had fall way, and here is the key to the issue. The Greek parapiptō, which appears only here in the New Testament, is a compound comprised of the root piptō, “to fall,” and para, “near or beside.” The full idea in the word, then, is “to fall beside a person or thing, to slip aside, hence, to deviate from the right path, to turn aside, to wander.”[9] One Greek authority makes the important point that this word does not “indicate errors of weakness, faults or accidents,” but rather “in every case [signifes] deliberate acts of sin.”[10] What is, therefore, in view here is a deliberate departure from the privileges that are listed. It is a calculated decision to reject what is known, and such a decision, as we have shown, simply cannot come from a regenerated person.

The writer[11] then writes of the horrendous consequence of such a decision—it is impossible . . . to renew them again unto repentance. Some have tried to soften the word impossible to “difficult” or “hard,” but the Greek adunatos is unmistakable. The root dunatos means possible, able, or powerful, so the alpha negative (a-) makes it the polar opposite: impossible, unable, powerless. The same word, in fact, appears elsewhere in Hebrews. In 6:18, for example, it is “impossible for God to lie,” in 10:4, it is “not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” and in 10:6, “without faith it is impossible to please [God].” So by making this decision, these Hebrews “would render their hearts so hard that they would be impervious to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. They would be irrevocably lost. There would be no more hope for them.”[12] Repentance would, indeed, be impossible.

Finally, the writer adds why these Hebrews cannot be brought back: by rejecting these grand privileges, choosing rather to return to the old sacrificial system, they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. Of all the horrific aspects of Roman Catholicism, for example, surely the worst of all is “the Mass,” which crucifies our Savior over and over again, and has done so inestimable millions of times through the centuries. Spitting in the face of the Savior, mocking His finished work, such people have stripped Him naked again, lifted Him up before the mocking crowd, and put him to an open shame. This phrase is one word in the Greek (paradeigmatízō) that means “to make a public example of or expose to public humiliation.” Joseph, for example, chose to divorce Mary privately so as not “to make her a public example” (Matt. 1:19), that is, so as not to shame and humiliate her.

This passage is, indeed, a horrifying scene. E. Schuyler English concludes his exposition of it by writing:

They have been convinced of their sin and their need. They have had opportunity to become recipients of God’s loving provision in Christ. They have, by their profession, acknowledged the truth as truth. Then deliberately and willfully, they turn back, turn away from the Lord of glory. Like their fathers, they crucify the Son of God; afresh He is nailed to the cross in rejection and put to an open shame, and there is no hope for them. They were never Christians. They were those who had ample opportunity to become children of God in Christ through faith, who have professed to be converted, but they have turned away to their condemnation.[13]

The Implication

Once again, while we respect those who teach other views of this passage, we cannot help but wonder if at least part of the reason for other views in the minds of some interpreters (not all but some) is that they do not like the implications of the view we have submitted here. We live in a day of unprecedented tolerance and perhaps the broadest definition of salvation that has ever existed in church history. A passage like this one, therefore, is not well accepted. Many today find the view we have offered as narrow and “judgmental.”

We would submit, however, that other passages underscore the narrow road of true salvation. One passage, in fact, uses those very words:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matt. 7:13-14).

A few verses later, we then read some of the most sobering and terrifying words in all of Scripture:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (vs. 21-23)

Just saying one is a Christian does not make it so. That is why Paul writes elsewhere that we must “examine [ourselves], whether [we] be in the faith; prove [our] own selves” (II Cor. 13:5), and why Peter wrote that we should “give diligence to make [our] calling and election sure” (II Pet. 1:10). It is not enough to call yourself a Christian or even say Jesus is Lord. What proves you are a Christian? Doing “the will of My Father in heaven.” As the old expression goes, “Words are cheap,” and they seem to get cheaper every day as the Gospel is redefined in increasingly broader terms. But our Lord is in no way ambiguous: the two greatest evidences of true conversion are obedience to God’s Word (Jn. 14:15, 23; I Jn. 2:1-5) and holiness of life (Eph. 4:24; I Thes. 4:17; etc.).

The Hebrews addressed in this “tough text” were in danger of becoming what others had already become, namely, “beyond salvage.” We need the same warning today, regardless of how painful the implication.

Dr. J. D. Watson

Pastor-Teacher

Grace Bible Church