¹² Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another every day,  as long  (that is) as it can still be described as “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ if and only if^note1  we keep the beginning of our commitment  firm until the end.¹⁵ While it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.” ¹⁶ For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? ¹⁷ And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ And so we see that they were not able to enter because of faithlessness (Heb3:12-18).

The writer to the Hebrews continues to warn against the possibility of the Christian falling from grace “through the deceitfulness of sin” (v13). And, just as I have headed this short post, the catalyst for falling into sin and its consequences can be summarized as unbelief or faithlessness. For the Christian, that is not necessarily that one ceases to believe in Christ as Saviour, but as in Jesus’ parable of the seed choked by thorns one can become distracted by “the deceitfulness of riches” (Mt13:22) such that (ironically) one fails to persevere on the path that actually leads to greater riches (spiritual and material) than this current world could ever offer. For faith (Greek: πίστις) and its derivatives is not just referring to belief but to faithfulness (same word in Greek). That is evident in the final two verses of our passage (above). Those who were destroyed by God  before they could enter the promised land “were disobedient” (v18). Yet the passage concludes “And so we see that they were not able to enter because of faithlessness” (v19)

The example the writer to the Hebrews is using is that of God’s people of the Old Testament whom Moses brought out of bondage in Egypt. They began to mutter, complain and doubt God’s promises – His and Moses’ assurances that they would remain under divine protection until they attained the promised land and “entered His rest”. Likewise the  recipients of the Epistle to the Hebrews had “become partakers of Christ” , that is “if and only if they keep the beginning of their commitment firm to the end” (see note #1 re the conditional clause).

Perseverance not guaranteed

Such warnings concerning falling away from the Faith are not restricted to Hebrews, there is Jesus (too numerous to mention), but also Paul. Referring to the Jews as the natural branches and Christians as those who had been grafted in: “You might well say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. However, do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. ²² See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off” (Rom11:19-22).

As someone who has always taken the bible very seriously, I wonder these days how I could ever have believed in the guaranteed “perseverance of the saints”. I have subsequently been shown that that doctrine along with the rest of Calvin’s “TULIP” can   be largely^Note2 disregarded, together with the dire cosmic outcomes for the bulk of humanity that result from it.

No ordinary day

Finally, there is an intriguing statement in verse 13  in which the writer to the Hebrews anticipates a Day coming that shall be like no other day. “Today”, he implies, could never do it justice. It is sometimes described in Scripture as a  Day of Wrath, and observing our world as it is now and frankly  has always been, that is no surprise. The truly  wicked who would never bow the knee to Jesus Christ shall be ignominiously dealt with (2Thes1:8 cf. Enoch1:1); many more shall have cause to mourn for their sins and ignorance of their Saviour during their lifetime (Rev1:7), whilst the saints of God who have been raptured or (if deceased) resurrected shall return with their Lord in triumph (1Thes3:13).

But what then shall be initiated? Jesus described such a time as the renaissance or re-birth (Mt19:28), Luke as the universal restoration (Acts3:21) and the liberation (Lk21:28), John as the millennium of Christ’s rule with His saints (Rev20:4-5) and Paul as the restoration of the physical creation (Rom8:21). Whatever precisely unfolds at Christ’s return, those whom the writer to the Hebrews describes as “having becoming a partaker of Christ” (v14) is the best place to be for those privileged (but also obligated) to have been enlightened concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

NOTES

Note #1  εἴπερ – an infrequently used strengthened conditional clause meaning “if it is indeed the case that” or in modern parlance “if and only if”…   

Note #2 – TULIP= Total depravity/Unconditional election/Limited atonement/Irresistible grace/Perseverance of the saints. As considered in the previous post, election is indeed unconditional (in terms of innate merit/deservedness) but pertains to calling and embarking upon the Way, not completing the course.

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