Some Christians claim and will cite passages of Scripture they believe confirm their position that a true Spirit-indwelt believer in Jesus Christ can lose their salvation. Conversely, other Christians assert that all born-again Spirit-indwelt believers in Messiah Yeshua have Eternal Security, a doctrine that says a converted Spirit-indwelt believer who truly accepts the Lord is eternally secure in their salvation and can never fall away from the faith.
Those who have followed my writings know where I stand on this issue: Every truly born-again Spirit-indwelt believer has divine Eternal Security. The Father does not make oversights when He gifts a true believer in His Son with His indwelling Holy Spirit for life!
This study series seeks to evaluate Difficult Passages that some Christians say contradict the doctrine of Eternal Security.
When it comes to our topic, we should be cognizant of the fact that there have always been three groups of people within the professing church. These three groups are born-again Spirit- indwelt believers, Carnal Christians, and False Converts. Therefore, as we have pointed out in many other studies, the student of the Word needs to keep these three groups in mind as the Brit Chadashah (New Testament Scriptures) addresses all three groups in various passages with differing approaches and degrees that need to be discerned.
Many of these difficult passages with their proper interpretations, in most cases, are dependent upon the status of whether an individual is truly saved or not – that is, born-again Spirit-indwelt believers (including Carnal Christians) and False Converts. Based upon the status of whether an individual is truly saved or not is how these passages must be recognized, understood, interpreted, and applied. This crucial interpretive consideration will become more apparent as we move along in our study.
Previous article:
Eternal Security: Difficult Passages 1
All underlined Scripture passages are my own emphasis.
The Book of Hebrews
The book of Hebrews and the epistles of Peter and James are uniquely directed specifically towards Israelites as opposed to professing Christians in the churches – Israelites and Gentiles – that Paul, John, and Jude addressed in their letters.
These teachings tend to revolve around the concepts already established in the hearts and minds of the Israelites and how they perceived and understood the Word of God (Tanakh) that they were very familiar with, and how the chosen people of God interpreted the Judaism they practiced.
It is vitally important that the student of the Word understands that the book of Hebrews is first and foremost an outreach to all Israelites in the known world at the time the author wrote his epistle. His desire was to save as many Israelites as possible as he expounded upon Israel’s patriarchs, Israel’s historical relationship to God in the ancient past, their history as a nation and as the chosen people of God, their acceptance and rejection of God and His Word at different times throughout their history, how the Levitical Priesthood pointed to the Messiah, and many other like Israeli historical illustrations provided within the Hebrew Scriptures.
Thus, by citing and reminding the Israelites of their Hebrew Scriptures, their past national history, and their national heritage found only in God who chose them to be His special people, the author would often employ a contrast between those historical Biblical events of Israel’s past (both good and bad) with the Israelites of his day; specifically, how they should respond to the New Covenant gospel message found only in Messiah Yeshua that the author of Hebrews was proclaiming.
The foundational truth of the once-for-all sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua for the sins of the world (Hebrews 10:9-13) and His death, burial, and glorious resurrection (Hebrews 13:20-21) was what the author of Hebrews was directing them toward, while reminding them of their ancestral past with their covenantal relationship with God and how it all pertained to and pointed to Messiah and His work of salvation and redemption at His First Advent.
The temptations from the religious leaders and their own familial relationships to return to the legalism found within the Judaism practiced in their day and/or to reject or supplement the gospel message of Messiah Yeshua with their newfound freedom in Messiah would have been intense for these Hebrew professing believers whom the author of Hebrews was also addressing. This was obviously a primary concern for the author of the book of Hebrews, as it most certainly should have been. The Judaizers of the first century had an immensely negative impact on not only Hebrew converts (Acts 15:1-11) but on Gentile believers as well (Galatians).
It is equally imperative that the student of the Word of the Scriptures be cognizant of the fact that the writer of the book of Hebrews speaks to the Israelites as recognizing that some of them who would read his epistle were already saved, while others were not. Therefore, one needs to evaluate, based on context and the overall message of any given passage, the intended audience the author is intending to reach – saved, unsaved, or both.
Hence, the student must keep in mind that the author of Hebrews, at many times, is directing his teachings in a manner that tends to revolve around the concepts already established in the hearts and minds of the Israelites and how they perceived the Hebrew Scriptures and the Old Covenant they were familiar with, and how the people interpreted the Judaism they practiced, in an effort to lead them to saving faith in Messiah Yeshua, as well as edifying and encouraging those who had already professed Messiah Yeshua as their Lord and Savior.
Hebrews 2:1
“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” – Hebrews 2:1
Those who cite this verse as showing a born-again Spirit-indwelt Christian can lose their salvation often fail to seek the remaining context in the following verses.
“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” – Hebrews 2:2-4
The Greek for “we should let [them] slip” is παραρρυῶμεν “pararryōmen” from 3901 παραρρέω “pararreō” – used only this once in the Brit Chadashah – meaning to flow by, carelessly pass (miss), let slip. The idea behind this word’s suggested outline of Biblical usage is as follows:
- To glide by: lest we be carried by, pass by.
- Lest the salvation which these things heard show us how to obtain, slip away from us.
- A thing escapes me.
- Slips my mind.
Once again, we note that the passage could very well be dependent upon one’s standing regarding salvation. Are they truly born-again Spirit-indwelt believers or False Converts? Where they are concerning their salvation standing influences how this passage applies to them.
Consider the two groups of people and how this passage would apply to them.
- Born-again Spirit-indwelt believers (including and especially Carnal Christians), if they are not careful in their walk with the Lord, can “let slip” those things concerning their “great salvation” in Messiah Yeshua when they are walking in the flesh and not the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17, Romans 7:14-25), allowing themselves to be enamored with the affairs of this world. The solution for the saved is to obviously get back in right standing with the Lord and “give the more earnest heed to the things which [they] have heard.”
- False Converts, on the other hand, would be those who would “let them slip” – that is, the gospel message that was preached to them – and would be those who would not“heed the things which [they] have heard.” These are they who would outrightly reject and “neglect so great a salvation” which they had heard and understood.
Obviously, truly born-again Spirit-indwelt Christians could never neglect their eternal salvation (such as yielding to the leading of their flesh and/or falling into sin for a time) to the point of losing their faith in Christ, nor would they ever deny their Lord.
The Greek for “if we neglect” is ἀμελήσαντες “amelēsantes” from 272 ἀμελέω “ameleō” meaning to be careless of, to neglect, and is translated by the KJV translators as neglect, make light of, regard not, and be negligent in the five times it is used in the Brit Chadashah.
Once again, a born-again Spirit-indwelt believer may neglect or be careless, for a time, their “so great a salvation,” yet they will never depart from the faith and deny their Lord and Savior.
Conversely, a False Convert will make light of and regard not the “so great a salvation” gospel message which they have heard and understood, only to rebel and reject it.
In all, this verse does not signify that a born-again Spirit-filled Christian can lose their salvation. Yet it does reveal a practical assessment for both the truly saved (including Carnal Christians) and the unsaved (including False Converts) to honestly evaluate when considering their own standing regarding salvation.
Hebrews 3:6, 12
“But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if [when, whenever] we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” – Hebrews 3:6
Intriguingly, the text analysis of this verse is informative, as the literal chronological rendering of this verse reads as follows:
“Christ, but as a Son as over [the] house, His own whose house are we, if [when, whenever] the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope unto the end, firm, we hold fast.” – Hebrews 3:6
Our next observation is that the following verses of Hebrews 3:6 are absolutely essential for context that leads us directly into our second verse that others will cite in their belief that someone can lose their salvation, Hebrews 3:12.
Here is the entire passage of Hebrews 3:6-12.
“But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if [when, whenever] we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
“Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.” – Hebrews 3:6-12
The Author of Hebrews is speaking to Israelites, reminding them of Israel’s past, in which many of the Israelites would at first outwardly accept the laws and covenant of God (Nehemiah 9:13-18) but would inevitably rebel against them and the Lord that gave them. This was a cycle that plagued the Israelites from the time of the Judges until their dispersions.
Paralleling those Israelites who had outwardly accepted at first God and His laws with their eventual rebellion and rejection of God and His laws, would be equated with False Converts in the church age. Just like the Israelites who rebelled after their perceived acceptance of God and His Word, they, like False Converts today who also have “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God,” were never saved to begin with.
Thus, any Hebrew (or any person) who claims to be a believer of Messiah Yeshua who has “an evil heart of unbelief” will eventually “depart from the living God” they once professed to know and believe in because of that “evil heart of unbelief.” A heart of unbelief in one’s life goes hand in glove with the same soul who departs from the faith, just as one soul who departs from the faith goes hand in glove with one’s evil heart of unbelief. They are synonymous in their working together in unity within the life of a False Convert.
As Paul points out in his epistle to the Romans, it is because of a heart of belief in the salvation that Christ has procured for them on the cross – a belief that is genuine and never wavers – that a man or woman is justified unto a life of righteousness and thankfulness for what Christ has done for them.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:9-10
As Henry Morris states in his Study Bible concerning Hebrews 3:6: The Word of God provides adequate assurance of eternal salvation for every genuine believer, but no warrant for arrogant presumption.
Simply put, an honestly genuine belief is diametrically opposed to a superficial belief that ultimately reveals “an evil heart of unbelief,” which, as Henry Morris notes, “is also an erring heart (3:10) and a hardened heart (3:8).” One saves to a life given to righteousness, holiness, and thankfulness, while the other condemns and is revealed to others in one’s “departure from the living God” after they have heard and understood the divine gospel of salvation they received from those who testify to the grace of God through His divine Son, Messiah Yeshua.
So, who would “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope to the end?” It would be the twice-born Spirit-indwelt believer who has come to Messiah Yeshua by grace through faith, never to have “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God,” and is of Christ’s “own house, whose house are we.”
And who are those who would not “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope to the end?” Those who will have rejected the gospel message as taught by the Apostles, their disciples, and others of like faith in Jesus Christ, never truly believing because of “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God,” and can therefore never be a member of Christ’s “own house…”
There is no losing of one’s salvation in Hebrews 3:6 or Hebrews 3:12.
Hebrews 4:1
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem [be accounted/reputed] to come short of it [come too late].” – Hebrews 4:1
Here, again, we need further context found in the following verse.
“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” – Hebrews 4:2
The writer of Hebrews is comparing allegorically those past Israelites (“them” who heard the good news of God’s Promised Land of rest) who, because of their unbelief, were not allowed to enter the Lord’s rest in the Promised Land (as outlined in Hebrews chapter 3) with those Israelites the writer was addressing who have heard the good news of the gospel of Messiah Yeshua.
Those who would “come short of it” or “come too late of it” – “it” being “the gospel preached” – are those who heard and understood the gospel, and it “did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
This warning in Hebrews 4:1-2 is to all hearers of the “gospel preached” and is entirely predicated on one’s belief or disbelief, faith or no faith, in the Word of God that is preached by men of God, just as it was with the ancient Israelites.
There is no allusion to one losing their salvation.
Hebrews 4:11
“Let us labour [give diligence] therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall [perish, come to an end, disappear, cease] after the same example of unbelief.” – Hebrews 4:11
The Greek for “Let us labor” is σπουδάσωμεν “spoudasōmen” from “labor” 4704 σπουδάζω “spoudazō” which can mean to exert one’s self, endeavor, and give diligence, which is the same word and carries with it the same connotation as that used by the Apostle Peter in a verse we have cited often in our Bible studies:
“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence [σπουδάσατε “spoudasate”] to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” – 2 Peter 1:10
Believers in Jesus Christ are to “give diligence to make [our] callings and elections sure,” just as we are to “give diligence… to enter into that rest” of Messiah. These two Scripture passages are essentially one and the same when it comes to the believer’s responsibility in knowing they are truly saved.
[For more on this topic, please see ‘If So Be That the Spirit of God Dwell in You’ and the linked articles therein.]
Therefore, “any man” that would “fall [perish, come to an end, disappear, cease] after the same example of unbelief” as many of the ancient Israelites did in the Exodus in their rebellions against God, would prove themselves to be an unsaved False Convert by their blatant unbelief.
“Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief…” – Hebrews 4:6
The entire theme of this chapter is the contrast between those who truly believe the gospel of Messiah Yeshua and the unbelief of others. Those Hebrews who genuinely believe in faith the good news of the gospel will enter the promised rest of the Lord, just as those Israelites who truly trusted and believed in the Word of the Lord entered the Promised Land. Those who have a heart of unbelief will not enter the Lord’s rest, just as many Israelites who lacked faith in unbelief of the Word of the Lord were not allowed to enter their rest in the Promised Land.
There is no implication of one losing their salvation in Hebrews 4:11.
Hebrews 6:4-6
“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.” – Hebrews 6:4-6
We closed out our study on this verse in Hebrews 6:4-6 – ‘It Is Impossible!’, with the following words:
This entire hypothetical proclamation can never happen – ‘It Is Impossible!’
Our Eternal Security is sealed by the “Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory” upon our individual conversions!
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” – Ephesians 1:11-14
The promises of God for the Holy Spirit-filled believer – just as one of the Names of our Savior is – is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11)!
“Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen!” – Revelation 7:12
Please see Hebrews 6:4-6 – ‘It Is Impossible!’ for a detailed examination on this passage.
Hebrews 6:4-6, as the rest of the Scriptures we are looking at, does not teach that a born-again Spirit-indwelt believer can lose their salvation. In fact, the writer of Hebrews is stating just the opposite, as the entire premise of this passage is utterly impossible for the twice-born believer in Messiah Yeshua!
Hebrews 10:38
“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” – Hebrews 10:38
This is the last of three times Habakkuk 2:4 is quoted in the Brit Chadashah:
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” – Habakkuk 2:4
Hebrews 10:38 is another verse that is often cited by those who say one can lose their salvation; yet, once again, the context is omitted either intentionally or ignorantly. All we need to do, to see the proper context, is read Hebrews 10:38 along with Hebrews 10:39.
“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe [have faith] to the saving of the soul.” – Hebrews 10:38-39
Henry Morris added the following in the Henry Morris Study Bible:
The emphasis throughout Hebrews 11 on “faith” is simply a recital of the outworking of the faith introduced into the discussion here in Hebrews 10:38-39 (there were no chapter divisions in the original manuscript). Thus the working faith of Hebrews 11 is the living faith of Hebrews 10:38 and the saving faith of Hebrews 10:39, and that faith must be exercised first of all on the creation work of God (Hebrews 11:3).
Those Hebrews who are born-again Spirit-indwelt believers, believing truly in the gospel of Messiah Yeshua “are not of them who draw back unto perdition,” but are “of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
Therefore, if “any man draw back” from the gospel they have heard and understood, rejecting the testimony of the life-saving blood of Jesus Christ for their sins, not living “by faith” in Yeshua as those who have put their faith and trust in the Son of God have, then God’s “soul shall have no pleasure in him,” resulting in eternal “perdition” and separation from their Creator.
There is no notion of anyone losing their salvation in this verse.
Hebrews 12:25
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven…” – Hebrews 12:25
The writer of Hebrews has been making another contrast in this section between the Israelites who received God’s commandments from Moses on Mount Sinai and the Israelites of his day who are receiving the teachings of the New Covenant, relating those who will be saved by grace through faith in Messiah Yeshua as being pictured as living on Mount Zion in the heavenly Jerusalem, and the stark differences between those who reject that life-saving gospel message.
The Hebrew for “if we turn away from Him” is ἀποστρεφόμενοι “apostrephomenoi” – used only this once – from 654 ἀποστρέφω “apostrephō” which means to turn oneself away from, to reject, to refuse. These definitions would certainly be the proper understanding of the phrase in this context by the writer of Hebrews.
Therefore, the verse could be read as follows:
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we reject/refuse him that speaketh from heaven…”
Some translations do render the phrase as reject Him instead of turn away from Him.
This same sense of this Greek phrase is found in Matthew, where the Lord Jesus Christ urged His disciples to have a giving heart for others:
“Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away (ἀποστραφῇς “apostraphēs” 654 ἀποστρέφω “apostrephō”).” – Matthew 5:42
The writer of Hebrews is unmistakably pleading with his Israelite audience not to reject/refuse the Lord or turn away from the Lord Jesus Christ who now speaks from heaven of the New Covenant, for if they do, they will not escape from their eternally sealed fate, just as many ancient Israelites did not escape their eternally sealed fate when they rejected/refused/turned away from God’s Old Covenant He made with Israel on Earth during Israel’s Sinai experience, as well as those Israelites “that did not believe in the Lord their God” (2 Kings 17:14).
The decision is theirs, and the writer of Hebrews is warning his brethren, the Israelites, not to neglect, refuse/reject, or turn away from the Lord and the New Covenant gospel message freely given to those who come to Him by grace through saving faith in Messiah Yeshua.
There is no reference to anyone losing their salvation in this verse; only a warning to the Israelites not to refuse, reject, or turn away from Messiah Yeshua’s life-saving Words, the New Covenant He provided for them with His perfectly shed blood on the cross, and His free-gift offer of salvation made to every man and woman in every age.
Conclusion
We pray this second installment of Eternal Security: Difficult Passages has been helpful to the Bible student in understanding that the doctrine of a born-again Spirit-indwelt believer’s Eternal Security in Christ Jesus is an absolute. Please remember that if any professing Christian falls away from their profession and denies Messiah Yeshua as their Lord and Savior, they were never saved to begin with; they were False Converts.
In Eternal Security: Difficult Passages 3, we will be examining just one passage from the book of Hebrews. Some have taught that the book of Hebrews, 1 and 2 Peter, and James present a totally different gospel than that which was taught by the Apostle Paul, who was the Apostle to the Gentiles. There is absolutely no warrant for such a conflicting and contrasting view that would only render the Scriptures and the precious gospel of Christ contradictory.
While Hebrews (along with 1 and 2 Peter and James, which are all addressed to the children of Israel) has a distinctly Jewish flavor for its intended readers, with many allusions to past Israelite history – in which the context is extremely important in ascertaining the writer’s objectives – in truth, there is a cohesiveness with the epistles of Paul that cannot be overlooked, utterly lacking any conflicting or contradictory doctrines with the teachings of the Apostle to the Gentiles.
If the reader has any other difficult passages in the books of the Brit Chadashah concerning the Biblical doctrine of Eternal Security that they would like to share with me, please email me. If we get enough passages that would warrant a fourth installment in this series, we will include them in a new study, Eternal Security: Difficult Passages 4.
Epilogue
Truly born-again Spirit-indwelt believers in Jesus Christ are kept eternally secure in the hands of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – the One True God – by the same grace that saved us in the first place!
“That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” – Ephesians 1:10-14
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” – 1 Peter 1:2-5
May we all keep Answering the Call of The Great Commission, and giving an answer to every man and woman who so desperately needs Jesus and asks us, “Why Am I Here and What Is It All About?”
Love, grace, mercy, and shalom in Messiah Yeshua, and Maranatha!
***
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