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Question
In Hebrews 6:4-6 it says that it is impossible for someone who has been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and has fallen away to be brought back to repentance. This seems at odds with the story about the prodigal son and elsewhere in the Bible where it says "nothing is impossible with God." Can you explain what seems like a contradiction?

Answer
Thank you for your excellent question. One of the first principles of biblical interpretation is that we must examine passages in light of other passages instead of building a doctrine out of a single verse. In the New Testament, we have an overwhelming consensus of verses that tell us that salvation is a free gift from God that cannot be earned, nor taken away. The only thing we can do to receive God’s salvation is to believe in the deity, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and to agree with the tax collector in Luke 18:13 who cried out, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Just a few of the many verses addressing this truth include the following:

Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us that those who believe in Christ have received the Holy Spirit, “who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” in Heaven. The fact that the Spirit lives in us is evidence that we belong to God eternally. To use a financial term, we are “locked in.”

1 John 5:13: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” The Apostle John is telling us that we can be certain that we have eternal life if we believe in the deity, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There need not be any uncertainty, John says.

Romans 8:38-39 tells us that absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love.

John 10:27-29 tells us that nothing can take us away from the eternal life that God gives.

John 5:24 tells us that the act of believing is what leads to salvation.

If you would like to explore this topic in-depth, then I recommend reading and studying the entire books of Romans and Galatians, which deal extensively with this topic. I also recommend an article on our Web site.

With this background, we are now in a position to better interpret Hebrews 6:4-6 in light of the overwhelming scriptural consensus regarding assurance of salvation. Let’s look at the verse in question:

“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, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”

There have been numerous interpretations of this passage over the centuries. One of the most common interpretations is that this passage refers to unbelievers who have been intimately involved with the Christian community but have stayed unsaved. They would be like the “rabble” that traveled with the Israelites when God powerfully delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt and led them to the Promised Land. This rabble refers to the Egyptians that journeyed with the Jews into the wilderness (Numbers 11:4, Exodus 12:37-38). They would not and did repent even though they had seen and tasted of the mighty wonders and signs of the Lord.

It would be very helpful if people could wear a God-ordained tag that indicated whether they were truly saved. Yet God alone has this knowledge, “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Timothy 2:19). I think we will be shocked to see some people missing from Heaven who we assumed would be there, and likewise will be surprised to see some there who we assumed would not make it. This does not means that the criteria for one person are different than for another. My point is that God alone can know what is in a person’s heart.

A second common interpretation is that these people are believers who have “lost” their salvation and thus cannot be saved again. For the reasons stated above, I do not hold to this view. During the trial of Jesus, the Apostle Peter swore that he did not know Jesus. Did Peter lose his salvation? No! And later in John 21, Jesus reinstated and reaffirmed Peter.

There is a third interpretation that states that these are believers who have become so deceived and hardened by sin that they will not repent. These believers do not lose their salvation but they lose eternal reward. If you read all of Hebrews (especially Hebrews 2:1-4; Hebrews 3-4; Hebrews 5:11-6:20; all of Hebrews 6; Hebrews 10:1-36) the author emphasizes the concept of eternal inheritance and reward rather than salvation. So, I personally am persuaded that there are Christians who can experience all that is said in verse four and five but can allow their heart if they are not careful to get to such a place that they will not repent. They reject the very reason why Jesus died for them in the first place. They are like the many Israelites who were redeemed from Egypt and saw the mighty hand of God in the wilderness but hardened their heart in unbelief so much that God took an oath saying that none of them would enter the Promised Land and the rest of God. The Promised Land is more of a picture of entering the victorious Christian life than it is of entering Heaven.

However, as the author of Hebrews says, “But beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking this way” (Hebrews 6:9).

As I mentioned above, this passage has been interpreted in various ways over the centuries and there is much more that could be said here in regards to those conclusions. But for our purposes, the bottom line is that salvation is dependent on the work of Christ. If we have received Christ, we do not need to fear losing our salvation. If we are not sure whether we have received Christ, that is another question altogether. For those of you in this realm, I recommend another article from our Web site.

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