robert derrick said:
Of course I'll never believe your OSAS stuff, and frankly I was wondering why I was bothering again to look at it, until I found you have something new! Frankly, I didn't think you people could come up with some new twist or turn on Scripture to justify doing unrighteousness, but here you have it.
You don't believe in God's preservation? Psalm 37:28 - For the Lord loves justice, And
does not forsake His saints; They are
preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. How long is forever? Jude 1:1 -Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ. I'll never believe your works righteousness stuff (Romans 4:5-6) or your sinless perfection stuff. (1 John 1:8-10) It's no wonder you have no assurance of salvation.
At first I thought you are now actually adding sanctification to the not needed list of being saved by your own dead faith alone, such as no need for fellowshipping with Jesus in the light, but instead you are trying to turn spiritual sanctification by God into physical sanctified by a believing spouse.
As I previously explained, a non-Christian can be "set apart" from other non-Christians without experiencing salvation as Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 7:14. It's not about physical vs. spiritual. It's about being "set apart" in "association with" and after considering the
CONTEXT, "he was sanctified" should be understood in the sense of someone who had been "set apart" or identified as a professing believer among the Hebrew Christian community of believers, but later renounces his identification with other believers, by rejecting the "knowledge of the truth" that he had received, and trampling under foot the work and the person of Christ himself. Such a person
drew back to perdition and
did not believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:39) Such a person was not
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all (Hebrews 10:10) or
perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)
Paul is not speaking of physical sanctification for family members and household, but is obviously speaking only of the sanctification of the blood and Spirit of Christ to taste and partake of His heavenly gift and power.
Again, it's not about physical vs. spiritual sanctification, but about being "set apart" in "association with."
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.
In regards to Hebrews 6:4-6, the words,
once enlightened, which means to shed light upon in the sense of illuminating it. 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. The light either leads to the complete acceptance of Jesus Christ or produces condemnation in those who reject the light.
In regards to
partakers of the Holy Spirit, the word translated “partaker” can certainly refer to a saving partaking in Christ, as we read in Hebrews 3:14, yet it can also refer to a less than saving association or participation. See Luke 5:7 and Hebrews 1:9 - "comrades, companions," which describes one who shares with someone else as an associate in an undertaking. These Hebrews who fell away had obviously in some aspect shared in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but in what way?
Those who fall away have
tasted the heavenly gift and the powers of the age to come, yet simply
tasted and stopped there. People who have experienced these positive factors mentioned in Hebrews 6:4-6 is not enough to give conclusive evidence that the beginning stages of the Christian life (repentance unto life, regeneration, salvation, justification, sealed by the Holy Spirit etc..) have taken place for those who fell away. These individuals who fall short of obtaining salvation certainly may have become partakers of the Holy Spirit in his pre-salvation ministry, convicting of sin and righteousness and judgment to come by
tasting the good word of God and temporarily responded to His drawing power which is intended to ultimately lead unbelievers to Christ, yet the writer of Hebrews does not use conclusive terms that these individuals were "indwelled by the Holy Spirit" or "sealed by the Holy Spirit" which is the
guarantee of future inheritance. Genuine believers who have believed the gospel are
sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession/unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30)
In regards to
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, they may have tasted in such a way as to give them a distinct impression of what was tasted, yet they still fell away. Inherent in the idea of tasting is the fact that
one might or might not decide to accept what is tasted. For example, the same Greek word (geuomai) is used in Matthew 27:34 to say that those crucifying Jesus "offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall;
but when he tasted it, he would not drink it." We do not merely "taste" into one Spirit but
drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)
In regards to fall away, in Proverbs 24:16, we read - For a
righteous man may fall seven times AND rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. Those who permanently fall away demonstrate they were not truly born again. (1 John 2:19)
In regards to
renew them again unto repentance, this does not specify whether the repentance was merely outward or genuine accompanied by saving faith. They have in some sense "repented," there may be sorrow for sins and an attempt to turn from them (moral self-reformation) that non-believers can experience. There is repentance that falls short of salvation, which is clear from Hebrews 12:7 and the reference to Esau, as well as the repentance of Judas Iscariot in Matthew 27:3. Paul refers to a repentance “without regret that leads to salvation,” which shows there is a repentance that does not lead to salvation. As with “belief/faith”, so too with “repentance,”
we must always distinguish between what is substantial and results in salvation and what is spurious. Renew them again "unto salvation" would be conclusive evidence otherwise.
In Hebrews 6:7-8, we read - For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and
bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. In this metaphor relating to agriculture, those who receive final judgment are compared to land that bears no vegetation or useful fruit, but rather bears thorns and thistles. We read in scripture that
good fruit is a sign of true spiritual life and a lack of good fruit is a sign of false believers (Matthew 3:8-10; 7:15-20; 12:33-35) so we have an indication that the evidence of one's spiritual condition is the fruit they bear (whether good or bad), suggesting that the writer of Hebrews is talking about people who are not genuine believers.
*Verse 9 sums it up for me. The writer is speaking to those truly saved (refers to them as BELOVED). He says that even though he speaks like this concerning
THOSE types of people, He is convinced of
better things concerning YOU. Things that
ACCOMPANY SALVATION. Thorns and briars and falling away permanently
do not accompany salvation and are not fruits worthy of authentic repentance.
CONTINUED...