6 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, ² of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. ³ And this we will do, if God permits. ⁴ 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, ⁵ and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶ 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. ⁷ For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and produces vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; ⁸ but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.⁹ But, beloved, we are convinced of better things of you – things that pertain to salvation! (Heb6:1-9)

Despite the encouraging last verse, this is a troublesome passage for many Christians, perhaps especially those of my former (Calvinist) ilk. That not only pertains to personal assurance of salvation but to an essential feature of their faith tradition, the final and perhaps sweetest petal of the Calvinist’s T.U.L.I.P – perseverance of the saints. It undermines the all-of-grace theology I at one time understood to be biblical truth. That is why I now delight in this passage, whilst  taking heed of its intended warning. For it has been necessary to deconstruct some of Augustine’s and much of Luther’s distinctive teaching on this subject so as to demonstrate God’s intelligible goodness, kindness and  fairness towards all true humanity, not just those He is preparing to be corporately married to His Son (Rev19:7). For this purpose I have utilized the Apostle Paul’s writings as much as I have the writer to the Hebrews.

In terms of our featured passage, the writer wishes to move on from the basics of “how to get saved” to stronger meat suited to the more mature Christian regarding how she/he might grow in grace and in knowledge of the Truth. He is writing to those whom he knows have indeed “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 (vv4,5). Be assured that means they were indeed “saved”. They will have understood that regarding their own eternal estate and will have appeared as such to everyone else. In other words, this passage is absolutely referring to “falling from grace”, i.e. not persevering as saints. Such people, says the writer, act as if Christ had never been crucified on their behalf – but since He has, they are effectively “crucifying Him again to themselves” (v6).

The Hebrews writer refers in verse 6 to those who “have fallen away” [Greek: παραπεσόντας]. But how is that to be determined? Contrary to what Martin Luther might have said, it is not exclusively  a matter of belief or conviction, i.e., whether or not one continues “firmly to believe Jesus has died for one’s sins” or suchlike. As the illustration provided in verses 7&8 should make clear, it is a matter of what one goes on to produce in one’s life. Those who have fallen away “yield thorns and thistles” rather than “producing vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled”.

As is always the case whether it be the writer to the Hebrews, Paul or Jesus who is saying it, final judgement is on the basis of works, not beliefs. For faith that saves can never be alone, it is always accompanied by works or “fruit”. But those works are not merely the evidence of faith, they are its efflux. They flow out from it because of what this divinely provided gift  called faith actually is. My definition is not dissimilar to that of 2^nd century Clement of Alexandria who stated that “Faith is that which of itself and from its own resources chooses at once what is best” (my highlighting). How exactly I describe it and how such a definition reconciles the teaching of Paul with James (and indeed Jesus) is set out in chapter three of The Little Book of Providence.

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