Hebrews 5:9-14 "And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek," of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
Notice that Jesus became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. What is our obedience in the context of these verses? We are to believe the gospel and not be moved away from it back to an Old Testament mindset. Jesus is the author of eternal salvation. We are forgiven and saved eternally. If we believe that we are forgiven one sin at a time or, at best, one week or year at a time, that is not eternal salvation. Notice that the writer uses the phrase dull of hearing. This is the same as drift away or fall away. All of these phrases are referring to drifting away from the word of righteousness.
These Jews had accepted Christ but were under intense persecution from the people around them. They were under intense pressure to revert back to the Old Testament thinking and practices. They had accepted Christ for long enough that they should have been teaching others. But when they became dull of hearing the gospel, they had become unskilled in the word of righteousness before God apart from our works. They had become babies again in their thinking. We move into maturity through reason of use of the word of righteousness. As we face temptation or even failure, we declare that we are righteous before God apart from our works through the shed blood of Jesus. As we continue in this, we will discern within us both an evil conscience and a good conscience. Hebrews 9:14 says that our conscience must be cleansed from dead works to serve the Living God. When we try to approach God by our works and fail, our conscience will condemn us and cause us to pull away from God due to fear of punishment. This is an evil conscience that we must be cleansed from. Hebrews 13:18 describes a good conscience as desiring to live honorably in all things. We should live godly lives before the people around us. It benefits us and those around us. But we don't live godly to try and earn God's favor. Jesus paid for the sins of our entire lifetime. That is why God is pleased with us.
Hebrews 6:1-8 "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it it cultivated, receives blessing from God, but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned."
These verses have been used to teach that a mature believer can reject and lose their salvation. Notice the phrase fall away. We have seen it already in Hebrews. It is speaking of falling away from the word of righteousness, not rejecting your salvation. It is speaking of reverting back to an Old Testament mindset of being forgiven one sin at a time. These verses are describing a person who has moved into maturity but then falls away from the word of righteousness. When we fall away from the gospel or the word of righteousness in Christ Jesus, it is impossible to renew us to repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Why? Hebrews 6:6 says that we crucify again for ourselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. Notice the word "again". It is in contrast to Jesus being crucified once for the sins of our entire lifetime. Hebrews 10:12 says that Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins forever. If we fall away from the gospel that Jesus made one sacrifice for the sins of our entire lifetime, then we are saying He needs to be crucified over and over again each time we sin. We have moved back to the Old Testament mindset of forgiveness one sin at a time. If we hold to this Old Testament mindset, then it will be impossible to renew us to repentance from dead works and faith toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that you have lost your salvation and can never be saved again. The subject of these verses are people who had accepted Christ long enough ago that they should have been teaching others, but they have reverted back to the Old Testament mindset. Notice verses 7 and 8. They refer to the Old Testament Law of blessing or cursing based upon our actions. That is what our thinking will be when we fall away from the gospel, and it will produce fear of punishment in our thinking. But God is dealing with us by His grace and mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is it any wonder that Christianity has not worked very well for many people? Many Christians believe that God has forgiven our past sins, but then each new sin that we commit is a new offense to God that has not yet been paid for. We will never receive rest for our conscience when we believe this.
Keith Oliver
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