Is It Possible To Fall Away From God’s Grace?
This is not an easy question.
It’s often a painful question because there can be painful personal stories mixed into the desire for truth. Sometimes the personal or familial aspects of why we want answers can cloud our ability to hear the truth.
I ask myself this question every time I come across Hebrews 6. Honestly, my mind lights up with all sorts of questions. Before we start unpacking them, let’s read through the passage.
“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” (Heb. 6:4-6)
Can people really fall away?
Does this happen? Are there people who have lost their salvation? Some of you may have automatically responded with, “It’s in the Bible, so of course it can happen!”
That’s not the answer I’m looking for though. I want to know if this has happened recently in the sense that someone can give an account of it. Is it possible for someone to be cognizant of this happening to them?
I’m not talking about the slow walking away. Is there a person who directly and intentionally rejected Christ after following Him for many years? Maybe, maybe not, but this is where my mind wanders.
Do you know someone who has fallen away?
What about from the outside, looking into someone else’s life? Has anyone ever interacted with a strong, fruit-bearing, committed believer who all of a sudden threw it all away intentionally and settled on total disbelief? This is where the conversation gets fuzzy doesn’t it?
Depending on your doctrinal position, you might have plenty to say at this point. Unfortunately, none of it ever sets my mind to rest. I’m often amazed to see the divide in opinion when we start going down this path.
People seem to be on one of two doctrinal lines:
Position 1: “One can never fall from glory. If they do, they never attained the position in the first place.”
Position 2: “One can fall from glory but has the option to regain one’s position through re-commitment.”
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but Hebrews doesn’t seem to lay out either of these positions. Yet, these seem to be the most popular options. Perhaps that’s the purpose of Hebrews 6, to lay out clearly how and why someone legitimately falls away from grace.
Maybe God is trying to show us how difficult it is to fall away once God has placed His Spirit inside of us. Yet, from popular opinion, I’m convinced that it’s an extremely challenging topic to tackle.
I might be trying to wrap my mind around it for my entire life. Considering someone’s soul hangs in the balance, I’m content not coming to a final conclusion, or at least striving to understand for many years to come.
Join the Conversation, Share Your Thoughts:
- Do you believe it’s possible to fall away from God’s grace? If so, explain your position.
- How do personal experiences impact our view of people walking away from faith?
- Have you witnessed committed believers intentionally reject faith? How did it shape your view of salvation?
Jeremy, this is a great topic (with eternal significance) and a huge debate. Like you and most of your readers, it is perplexing to see someone who exhibits a great zeal and desire to serve God turn back to the former way that Paul describes in Galatians 5:19-21. As a pastor, I watched one of our most prepared and passionate disciple-making Sunday School teachers abandon a life of following Christ, deny Christ, and return to the pattern of a former life (a time before he professed to know Christ as his Lord). Never have I been more confused and asking God, “What happened here?”
The answer is that I have no clue. Was he saved? Was he playing a great game? What is his eternal destination? I don’t know.
In my own life, this issue (often labeled “eternal security”) has been a defining process of learning and spiritual growth. Christ led me to repentance and faith in Him at the age of nineteen. I believed for many years that my salvation was in jeopardy if I returned to ANY of the sins from my past. This is a wrong and dangerous thinking for many reasons. 1) This gives satan the opportunity to remind me of my failures, 2) The mindset focuses on my current and future failures rather than the grace of God, 3) It undermines the power of God to keep me in His grace.
Let me offer three reasons why I have come to trust that a true follower of Jesus cannot lose his/her salvation:
1. Salvation is based on the promise of God not my commitment to Him. The Holy Spirit makes the first move by convicting a person of sin and convincing him/her of the Truth of Christ. The only human response that God honors is surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then becomes our Guide and seals us until the day of redemption (John 14-16 and Ephesians 1). When we understand the work of the Holy Spirit, we see that God keeps His promises and we have assurance in Him alone.
2. Salvation is a gift. I did not earn salvation by works, therefore, I cannot lose my salvation by works.
3. Followers of Christ are bought with a price. We accurately use the word “redemption” and “salvation” interchangeably. Upon salvation, we are given a new life, a new identity, a new heart, a new vision, and a new hope in Christ. What God has redeemed, He changes.
This explanation is just scratching the surface of a major point of doctrine. Thanks for bringing this up. I hope that many others will join the conversation about this topic.
In Christ, Jeremy Amick
Thanks for your comment Jeremy! I like your three reasons. You could actually wrap them into a good Gospel-centred sermon: The (1) Promise, the (2) Present and the (3) Purchase!
Thanks for supporting Lead Biblically!
Jeremy
I guess this is where Jeremys get to comment. I’m an Arminian. Being such, my position is neither one that you stated. It is impossible for those that have fallen away to come back. Impossible. Regeneration only happens once.
I would encourage you to read Grace, Faith, and Free Will for a deeper understanding of my view. http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Faith-Free-Robert-Picirilli/dp/0892656484
Ha, I guess this is the Jeremy post! Thanks for your comments and your book suggestion! Always looking for another goo read!
Jeremy
So Hebrews 6: 4-6 does seem to be a very blunt & definitive statement. However the real question to me is the definition of ‘Fall Away’. What defines this vs. The frequent sins of thought and action which all of us as believers still committ and are convicted of by the Holy Spirit to confess / acknowledge to Christ and seek his forgiveness for the hurt these things have caused him and to seek his strength and awareness to avoid and forgo repetition?
Thanks for the comment! I should explain my struggle a bit further within the context of the Hebrew letter. I’m trying to place myself in the Hebrew church, assuming a background in Tora and the prophetic writings, and perhaps a Gospel account. Without any of the Epistles, or maybe having been read one or two once or twice (and they might have had related content), how would I perceive the teaching? What would I understand without subsequent texts? All that considered, your questions are also valid, in striving to understand how direct the statements are.
I recently listened to sermon audio by R.C. Sproul titled “The Unpardonable Sin” dealing with the same issue. He landed in the same place as I do, but with multilple source text, having the benefit of living in a more fulfilled time. I am assured of my salavtion, but I still wonder what those First Century Hebrews must of thought of this letter. Here’s the Sproul message if you’re interested: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/sermons/mark-unpardonable-sin