Bible Challenge-Hebrews 6

Many challenges face us.  Light for instance is it a wave or a particle?  Through the years different folks have seen light differently.  Our current consensus?  Light is both wave and particle. 

The Bible challenge in Hebrews 6 has set many people to research the Scriptures and others into despair.  I read recently of a man called to pastor who decided which denomination to join based on the denomination’s interpretation of Hebrews 6. 

The issue is one of salvation.  Is a believer’s salvation safe for all eternity or is it fragile and subject to being lost?  Hebrews 6 interpreters arrive at different answers. 

One human problem in finding answers in the Bible is like finding answers in other areas of life.  We see what we expect to see.  You know the tendency.  A young man and woman find each other.  They have a fondness for one another.  The character flaws (supposing there are some) which are obvious to others not in the same emotional state as the young couple are blindly lost on the young couple.  They see the person they want to see.  If a person has a perspective on what the Bible ought to say then it is difficult not to see that perspective on the pages of the Scripture. 

This human tendency to see what we expect to see will impact those who approach Hebrews 6 just as it does other areas of the Bible.  That tendency, by the way, does not mean the meaning of the text is always misinterpreted, but it is good to realize how what we see can be colored. 

Here is our passage.  Feel free to read it in the wider context of Hebrews, but for our quick look this will do.

 

⁴For 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, ⁵who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—⁶and 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 6:4-6 NLT

Take a look at the passage.  What do you see?  What does it mean?  What consequences does that interpretation bring?  You may want to do some further study on this.  Here is a video from a Bible teacher explaining one possible approach. 

Can believers forfeit their salvation?  Q & A with John MacArthur 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fez2y7tqWo8

After you have looked over the passage see what you come up with.  Write it down for future reference.  Do you agree or disagree with the various interpretations and applications you have seen?

The Sunday message at Grace Bible Church will include this passage from Hebrews 6.  Get ready.