And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.
Hebrews 6:3-6
These verses in Hebrews are some of strongest statements in Scripture of the warning against rejecting Christ after someone has really known Him. They leave us questioning how to interpret them. Kev, one of my readers, responded after I told you to read this passage and get ready for the “Impossible” challenge, with the comment, “It’s been a rock in my gumboot ever since you told us to read those chapters several times.” I liked the word picture, so I thought I would use it as the title for this Gem. After all that is what it is, isn’t it? The rock in the gumboot, the thorn in our side and even the elephant in the room. It’s the sense that we find these verses confronting or even an affront to our sensitivities. What do you mean it’s impossible to bring such a person back to repentance. “No surely not!” we cry. “What about my friend, Tom?” Surely a statement like that is too judgemental. What about once saved, always saved?
Let’s look at the words above once again. Allow me to make clear that which the writer to the Hebrews is saying to all of us, Jew and Gentile, ancients or moderns alike. Let me set it in layers for you. He is talking about those who have been enlightened. But then he spells out just who the enlightened are:
- Those who were once enlightened
- Those who have experienced the good things of heaven
- Those who have shared in the Holy Spirit
- Those who have tasted the goodness of the word of God
- Those who have tasted the power of the age to come
If people who have experienced all of that turn their back on God and walk away from His Son, then it is impossible to bring such people back to repentance. Impossible for whom? Impossible for God? Hardly, nothing is impossible for God. Impossible for any human? Yes most likely. Impossible for any of us who know Christ and long for those who have rejected Him to return. Yes most definitely! Why is it so impossible? Is this the unforgivable sin? Let’s look at it from the positive perspective and not the negative for a moment.
Those who were once Enlightened
Those who experienced enlightening [φωτίζω] (phōtidzō), or those have been illuminated [τοὺς ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας]. The last of these three Greek words [φωτισθέντας] is an aorist participle of the verb [phōtidzō] which relates to the [phōs] – the light of God being shone upon the recipient in order to bring the enlightenment of God to the person. The [phōs] is the intense bright light of God (like the sun) as opposed to the light of man or as John described himself as the [luxnos], the small oil burning lamp in the room. (John 5:35). John wasn’t the [phōs] (John 1:8); he was the oil burning lamp for God. The aorist verb in Greek is a punctiliar tense, or something one-off that happened at a particular moment in time. The second word in the phrase [ἅπαξ] (hapax) adds to that one-off nature of what happened by adding the word “once” or more to the point “once for all time”, “once ever”.
τοὺς ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας
{the ones] once enlightened
In other words the sense of this enlightenment is when God shines His intense light on a person and they stay under the influence for the rest of their life. These words describe the once in a lifetime experience which John experienced when he baptised Jesus.
I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.”
John 1:33-34
“I saw this happen to Jesus” – The verb in this case is in the perfect tense which should more correctly be translated I saw this happen and I keep on seeing it. The perfect tense in Greek has the sense of something that happened in the past which has continuing effect to the present day. Are you getting the picture of what is being said here? I imagine this enlightenment experience to be akin to what Paul experienced when he saw the light on the road to Damascus, which as we know changed him forever. This was a highly significant event in Paul’s life. When you have been enlightened in such a way, how on earth can you turn your back on Jesus Messiah and reject Him?
After I had written the above, I sat there pondering the implications of me in that position. 1) The nature of the enlightenment that God has given me over the years. The breath-taking impact of it, the arresting power of it, the immaculate timing of it when it has come. 2) The good things I have received from the LORD over the years. The incredible blessings, the mind-blowing healings, the interventions in my life at the precise moment I needed them. 3) The precious moments I have heard from the Holy Spirit in the wee small hours of the morning. The moments when I have heard the audible voice of God. The times when God has revealed to me the exact insight that I had been wanting in the context of Deeper Bible. Those serendipitous moments when God has blown my mind with the timing of His intervention through the lives of others who didn’t know what I needed at that time and who lived on the other side of the world. 4) The times when I have seen firsthand the incredible depth of God’s Word. The amazing God moments I have gleaned from the Bible and the astounding depth I have found in a verse I have read a thousand times, which rises from the page to bite me. 5) The moments when I have got excited by the longing of finally being called home to begin my Life of the Age to Come. The freedom of the reality of the realisation that death does not scare me in the least; knowing with assurance that my passing will be my moment to be ushered into heaven to spend eternity with Christ. As I said to someone recently and as I quoted at the end of the Nugget for my 49th Spiritual Birthday – “I want to live life to the full and suck all the marrow out of life so that when I come sliding into home base I can shout, “Thank You God for such a wonderful ride.” That is one way to taste and to live in the power and the certainty of the Life of the Age to Come.
Now just pause and think for a moment of the degree of reversal that would have to happen for me to reject Christ and walk away from all that. Whatever would cause me to even think for a nano-second of rejecting Jesus Christ, the Son of God? This is the Son the writer to the Hebrews has been talking about for six chapters. But if it were to happen, what could possibly be said to me to convince me to return to Christ, having once rejected Him so thoroughly and completely. This is the essence of the unforgivable sin. The very ones who were aware of exactly when the Messiah would come and what works He would perform were the very ones who rejected him.
Think back now to the Israelites in the wilderness. The writer’s main point in using the Wilderness experience of the journey through the wilderness has been the nature and depth of their rebellion in the wilderness, despite the miracles they had been shown. Surely God’s hand, God’s enlightenment was upon them. I mean they had light and enlightenment day and night for 40 years. Yet the author of Hebrews has told us they rebelled and rejected him continually and look what happened. The purpose in re-telling the journey through the wilderness was to remind the Jewish Christians facing Nero’s coming persecution and to warn them not to be like the Israelites in the wilderness. If they turned back to Judaism and seeing salvation through keeping the Law, they would be doing the same thing. If you are one who has once received enlightenment; don’t turn you back on Christ! You will doom yourself to a Christless eternity!
Lest you forget, go back and look at the Gem series I wrote on That Majestic Passage, if you don’t want to read all 27 Gems then just pick up on the last 15 Gems written about Jesus being given the Name Above Every Name or even just skim through them. But make sure you read Gem 1938. That is the One you are rejecting when you reject Christ!
In the next Gem I will take up the second argument the author of Hebrews uses in this section.
God is not angry at the sinner for breaking the rules; He knows the sinner can’t keep the rules. The only unpardonable sin is for the one who has been given enlightenment to turn their back in the end and walk away from His Son having once KNOWN Him.
Ian
Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts Itself; but rather because it contradicts them.
E Paul Harvey
To reject Christ because the church has sin in it is like rejecting hospitals because they are full of sick people.
Douglas Wilson
The only sin God cannot forgive is the sin of rejecting Christ. Turn to Him in repentance and faith and He will forgive.
Billy Graham
The only way to really deal with the rock in your gumboot Kevin is to take it out; but in the case of Hebrews 6:4-6 don’t remove it.
Ian