Okay, one of you preacher guys just help me get past this.
Hebrews 10:26-29
26For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
28Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
I know I'm just an uneducated layperson, and I've read the commentaries, but can someone be sanctified that has not been born again? If so, does this passage not say that a born again believer can turn away from Christ? I'm sorry if I seem like the most biblically-illiterate person ever, but this passage has hung me up for years now. Explain it in 'laymen's terms'.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Once saved...
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2 comments:
HERMENEUTICS comes to the rescue again!
The first thing you have to take into account is who is the writer writing to? The letter is addressed to a Hebrew audience who apparently were still wrapped up in the sacrificial system.
Hebrews 10:3-4
3But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
This would indicate that it is pre 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed.
A hard study of the Levitical sacrificial system reveals that all of the Levitical sacrifices were for unwitting sins. That is, there was NO sacrifice for intentional sins. Basically, you could not willingly go do something you KNEW was a sin and then expect a sacrifice to cover it.
This is what the writer of Hebrews is addressing here in verse 26.
Many of the underlying principles of Hebrews (priesthood of believers, Jesus as high priest, blood atonement, etc..) apply to us as modern day Christians but we have to keep in mind the Jewish audience. The writer is attempting to persuade people adhering to the Mosaic covenant (the Law) that Christ was the Messiah that they were waiting on.
Verse 29 speaks to those "Hebrews" who have basically "trampled under foot the Son of God" and have negated the value of Christ's shed blood thus insulting the mercy of God and the Holy Spirit who supplies grace.
Quick and to the point, but hope it helps.....
It occurs to me as I step back from the text that what really is being called into question is whether or not the folks Paul was addressing were really saved at all.
What was the nature of that spiritual experience? Had they really be confronted with the power and love of the REAL Jesus?
I am of the humble opinion that everyone who confesses with his mouth does not believe in his heart - hence we have the endless returning to old ways, habits, traditions, and dead works...
After we abandon ourselves and embrace the Cross of Christ as the sole means of our redemption - how can we fall and not get up again? How can we remain in an unregenerate state? How can we remain unchanged and unfazed?
Could it be that our 'association with Christ' was not genuine in the first place? Could it be that many are acquainted with Him but few 'know' Him? Could it be that the relationship was established under false pretense (health, wealth, prosperity, etc.)? I do not know.
I know you wanted a nice clean answer but in my estimation the passage raises these even more penetrating questions... worthy of our pondering...
ihs,
adam
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