Question:
What about those spoken of in Hebrews 6:4-6 who have “tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost”? We are told that “it is impossible…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.”

Answer:
The people mentioned in Hebrews 6:4-6 were not believers in Christ. They “tasted” of spiritual things, but were not saved. You can taste and not swallow, and this is what was true of these people.

They were “partakers” or companions of the Holy Spirit because they were in the company of Christians, but they were not saved so the Spirit of God did not indwell them. The Greek word translated “partakers” in Hebrews 6:4 is a word that means an “outward relationship only.”
The Spirit of God uses a different Greek word which means an “unlimited internal partnership” when He tells us that believers are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Hebrews 6:4-6 tells us that if an unsaved person makes a profession of being saved, and then turns away from Christ, he puts himself into the very serious position of never being saved because only Christ can save.