2 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to the things we have heard, SO THAT WE DO NOT DRIFT AWAY. ² For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a JUST PUNISHMENT, ³ how will we escape if we NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION? After it was at first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, ⁴ God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will (Heb2:1-4).

I mentioned in my introductory post to the letter to the Hebrews that Martin Luther didn’t like it very much. This is one reason why – the phrases I have capitalized above relating to the possibility of a Christian “drifting away” from the faith . The writer to the Hebrews amplified this warning a few chapters later when he writes:  ^“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame” (Heb6:4-6).

I will comment on that in more detail when we get to chapter six. But briefly, it could be taken to imply that once a Christian falls into sin there is no possibility of repentance. That is absolutely not the case as both human experience and Jesus’s parables such as the prodigal son and the 99+1 sheep typify. What it does however mean is that “once saved, always saved” is a no-no. Either the Protestant Reformers are right and the writer to the Hebrews is wrong or vice versa; both cannot be right. But as I have been consistently demonstrating, Paul when rightly understood teaches nothing different, it’s just that Hebrews is more explicit on the matter.

And, counterintuitively for many, this is great news. It confirms our God to be the fair and intelligibly good Creator the “Little Book of Providence” proves Him to be. That would not be the case if the path to glory were all of grace. God is fair to all and a Rewarder of those who in Jesus’ oft-repeated words “overcome”  (Rev2:7,11,17,26 ch3:5,12,21 ch21:7), or in Paul’s language, for those who “win the race” and “gain the prize” (Phil3:14; 1Cor9:24).