Foundations of Faith
ETERNAL SECURITY (II)
Mr. Ronson gave a lecture to his Sunday school class on eternal security based on the Feb98 issue of GROWING. At the end of his lecture he asked his class if they had any questions or comments. Here is the dialogue that took place:
Dale:Everything you have told us, Mr. Ronson, really makes sense and has answered a lot of my questions. But I still have a problem with the passage in Hebrews 6.
Mr. Ronson:Yes, a lot of people have had a problem with that passage. Would you read it for us please, Dale?
Dale:The passage is Hebrews 6:4-6:”It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 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.” It just seems to me that this passage is talking about believers who lose their salvation.
Mr. Ronson:Yes, I can see how you and others might get that impression. But let us look at this passage more closely. Five benefits received by these individuals are listed:
1. They “were once enlightened.” I once read a book about Buddhism. I became enlightened to some aspects of that religion. But much of it made no sense to me; besides, it did not show me how my sins could be forgiven. So I rejected it.
2. They “tasted of the heavenly gift .” What or who is “the heavenly gift”?
Stacy:”The gift of God is eternal life” (Rom. 8:23).
Fran:”Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15), which I take to be the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mr. Ronson:Good answers from the Word of God, both of you! The heavenly gift is the Lord Jesus Christ and his eternal salvation. But notice, it does not say “swallowed the heavenly gift”; it does not say “received the heavenly gift.” It says “tasted of the heavenly gift.” In John 6:53,54 we find that it is not enough simply to get a taste of Christ. “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (See Assignment 3)
3. They “were made partakers of the Holy Spirit.” On the day of Pentecost the people who were gathered at the temple from many different countries “were all amazed and marveled, saying … We hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:7-12). Many were observing and hearing and partaking of the power of the Holy Spirit as displayed through the disciples who were filled with the Spirit. But only the 3,000 of the observers who later received the Word preached by the apostle Peter were actually saved (Acts 2:41).
4. They “have tasted the good Word of God.” Everyone present at this Sunday school class is tasting “the good Word of God.” Most of you, I hope, are also swallowing it, taking it in, and allowing it to give you spiritual life and energy and make you to grow and mature spiritually. But some of you may be thinking, “This teaching about following Jesus and God is silly. I’m not going to let God mess up my life.” So you may merely taste, but then spit it out.
5. They have tasted “the powers of the world to come.” The miracles performed by the Lord Jesus, the apostles, and others, and witnessed by many, are often described by the word “power” (Luke 4:36; 5:17; 9:1; Acts 6:8). The Lord Jesus also looked ahead to the time of “the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30; 26:64). But many of those who followed Christ did so only for the food or material benefits they might get from Him as a result of His miracles (John 6:26,27; Acts 8:13,18-23).
Judas Iscariot tasted every one of these benefits, but rejected them all and perished in his sins (Mark 14:21; John 13:11). On the other hand, not one of the blessings of salvation- such as forgiveness, justification, sonship, eternal life, or sealing of the Spirit (Sep97-Jan98)-is mentioned in the passage in Hebrews 6.
Dale:Thank you, Mr. Ronson, that helped me a lot.
Eric:I never looked at this passage in the way you described it and it makes sense to me. But I have another question. [He glances at his two unsaved friends whom he brought to Sunday school for the first time.] Does this mean that one who leaves this class rejecting Christ will never again have an opportunity to be saved?
Mr. Ronson:I don’t believe the passage goes quite that far. One who hears the gospel and puts it off, saying, “Maybe I will reconsider when I am older” (see Acts 24:25), is taking a great risk, but may still repent of his sins, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved (Rev. 22:17), I believe.
This Epistle to the Hebrews gives several warnings to Jewish men and women who have heard the gospel and have professed to follow Christ. If they give up Christ and go back to trusting their Jewish rites and rituals and good works to save them, there is no hope for them in that state of soul. They are basically saying that Jesus Christ really did deserve to be crucified after all, and thus “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.” There is no salvation apart from trusting in the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ for our sins.
Gerry:I have heard a lot of people say, “There are many roads that lead to God and heaven, and Christianity is just one of those roads.” Shouldn’t we be tolerant of other religions?
Mr. Ronson:Can anyone find a verse in the Bible that says that salvation is found in Christ alone? (See Assignment 4)
Mr. Ronson: If being “tolerant” means showing love and compassion to people of other religions, yes, we should be tolerant. But if we really desire to show the love of God to such people, we will want to rescue those dear souls from the lake of fire. And so we will faithfully seek to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way for their sins to be washed away.
We must stop now, but we shall continue this discussion next time.
Running the Race
Assignment 3: Write out verses in John 1 and Colossians 2 that speak of receiving (not just tasting) Christ.
Assignment 4: Write out a verse in John 14 and one in Acts 4 in response to Gerry’s and Mr. Ronson’s questions.