Lordship Salvation

Sorry. I am experiencing technical problems.

 

The doctrine of two justifications is, from my point of view, a false teaching that is a consequence of a lack of understanding of the use of the Greek word ergon (translated in English as “works”) by Paul and James. Paul uses the word in reference to keeping the Mosaic Law; James uses the word in reference to works resulting from faith. Paul teaches that no one can be justified by being a good Jew, and that being a good Jew is not necessary for justification. James teaches that faith that does not result in works can not justify a man.

Rom. 4:1. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3. For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS."
4. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
5. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
6. just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7. "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.
8. "BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT."
9. Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, "FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS."
10. How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised;
11. and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them,
12. and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.
13. For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
14. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified;
15. for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.
16. For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
17. (as it is written, "A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU") in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

James 2:14. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
15. If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16. and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17. Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
19. You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22. You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23. and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God.
24. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (NASB, 1995)

For a further understanding of the relationship between faith and works, study Hebrews 11 from both of these perspectives.

 

No its because most are disobedient. How many church leaders do you know who are actually carrying out the command Jesus gave in Mt. 28:19, 20? the number is almost zero. Discipleship is not having another Bible study. It is teaching the person by example, practice and knowledge how to walk with God and be obedient to His commands. Take a look a how Jesus taught his disciples. He did not give them a Bible study. He took them with Him in doing ministry. We must do the same. Young believers wil often get distracted. We must help to guide them. We would never think of leaving a baby alone and telling it to nourish itself and make a living. But we do with new believers. When we take someone along with us when we share our faith we are encouraging them and showing them how it's done. We are equipping them for ministry. In the process we help them to have the same vision Jesus gave His disciples. By teaching and training them we are preparing them to reach others and effectively disciple others. We need to take themn in hand and guide them from profession to possession. Too often we tell them to win souls but never disciple people. We measure baptisms and conversions but not disciples. It's disciples who are the producers. We may have 200 on the roll and 80 attend but how many are disciples?

A church that makes disciples will most often have more in attendance than their membership numbers indicate.

 

There is not one "justification". There are not two "justifications". There are however many "justifications the context dictates. "Justification" is an English word. It must have context (Like all English and Greek words) to have meaning. There is no magic definition. It must be rightly divided.

Here is the word used in an absolute sense. (Salvation in eternity.)

This is obviously a more "relative" meaning of the word. (Works)

lacy

 

DeaconLew, you said the following:

Christians are not saved by being good. Ephesians 2:8-9 clarifies that we are saved by faith, not works. Good works are the evidence of true faith. All Christians produce fruit, but all Christians do not produce the same amount of fruit. For example, some bring forth “a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (Matthew 13:23). The Mormons, JWs, Muslims, and Buddhists that you mentioned are not saved because they have not been willing to surrender their lives to Jesus in repentance and faith, and they have not been willing to let go of their current master. “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). Christians continue to sin after they are saved, but those sins are not intentional, willful sins. The Bible makes it clear that sins of ignorance (unintentional sins) can be forgiven. Notice the following passages:

Now when these things have been thus prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship, but into the second only the high priest enters, once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. (Hebrews 9:6-7, NASV)

And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him that he may be forgiven. (Numbers 15:28)

The apostle Paul said that even his blasphemy as a non-Christian could be forgiven because he “acted ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:13). He was not experiencing the special, illuminating, irresistible conviction of the Holy Spirit when he blasphemed. Similarly, when Paul unintentionally sinned after he became a Christian, he said that he was not doing “what I would like to do” (Romans 7:15); rather, “sin which dwells in me” was responsible for his actions (Romans 7:17). Thus, both Christians and non-Christians can commit unintentional sins.

When Peter addressed the Jews in Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus, he said that the Jews “acted in ignorance” when they put Him to death (Acts 3:17). Jesus said from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Willful (defiant, intentional) sin, however, is an unforgivable type of blasphemy. Again, notice the following passages:

But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be on him. (Numbers 15:30-31)

“Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:31)

Christians often find themselves in disagreement with other Christians when they try to interpret Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-29.

First, some interpreters think that the Hebrews 6:4-6 passage describes an impossible hypothetical situation. It would not be logical, however, for the Bible to warn people about such a serious situation that is impossible.

Second, other interpreters believe that the two passages refer to the arrested spiritual growth of Christians and the loss of possible rewards. The Hebrews 10:26-29 passage, however, describes the burning of adversaries, not the burning of rewards.

Third, Arminians believe that the two parallel passages refer to Christians becoming non-Christians. Hebrews 10:29 seems to refer to people who are “sanctified,” and thus Arminians can argue that these people were Christians who rejected Christ. Other people, however, believe that the word “sanctified” refers to Jesus. In any case it is clear from 1 Corinthians 7:14 that non-Christians can in some sense be sanctified: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.” Non-Christians can be in a special sphere of Christian influence, and in that sense, they are sanctified. Arminians believe that if Christians lose their salvation, they can later become Christians again. The two passages in Hebrews, on the contrary, state that people who have fallen away by committing willful sin will have no future opportunity to receive salvation.

I think that both Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-29 describe non-Christians under the special conviction of the Holy Spirit who refuse to surrender their lives to Jesus in repentance and faith. They make an ultimate, final decision with their free will to reject Jesus, and this is a willful, unpardonable sin.

 

koreahog2005,

This post reminds me of walking through Sam’s used car lot—“special” Chevy’s, “special” Toyotas, “special” Fords, “special” Hyundais, and a hundred other makes and models, some “special,” some not.

 

Craig, I'll take that as a complement. I think I'm in good company when I distinguish between different types of sin. F.F. Bruce (1910-1990), Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester, England, and editor of The Evangelical Quarterly, commented on Hebrews 10:26-29:

F.F. Bruce, “The Epistle to the Hebrews,” The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F.F. Bruce, vol. 14 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), page 124.

Likewise, Calvinists and Arminians frequently distinguish between common, prevenient grace and special, regenerating grace. I do need to clarify something I said in my last post. I mentioned Christians continuing to sin after they become Christians. I meant that they sin occasionally after they are saved. I did not mean that they continually commit the same sin over and over again (as a sinful lifestyle), which is impossible according to 1 John 3:9: "No one who is born of God practices sin."

[ October 13, 2004, 08:56 PM: Message edited by: koreahog2005 ]

 

The attack of the Skitzophrenic Graemlins! Love ya Craig.

Lacy

 

koreahog2005,

I believe that you misunderstood my points regarding your post. What I was alluding to were two things:

1. You jumped all over the “car lot” going from subject to subject and verse to verse rather than systematically building a case for your position.

2. You spoke of “special” this, and “special” that, especially “special” grace. Yes, there is more than one “kind” of grace, the concepts behind the Greek word charis being such that it is very difficult if not impossible to really accurately translate the word into English. I believe, however, that James Strong and Ernest Käsemann contributed much to the understanding of the essential Greek concepts behind the word. Nonetheless, what does this have to do with Lordship Salvation vs. Free Grace theology?

 

It has been several years since I read F.F. Bruce's commentary on Hebrews, so I had to go back and read again his comments and notes on Heb. 6:4-8 (not 10:26-29 [pp. 257-262], by the way). I also read his comments and notes on the same passage in the 1990 revision of the commentary in which the comments on this passage were almost identical but additional notes were included.

As much as I admire Dr. Bruce, he, like certain other individuals, rather than specialize on one subject or book of the Bible and committing his life (or at least a large portion of it—Compare Ernest Käsemann and his 50 years on Romans and Ernest DeWitt Burton and his 25 years on Galatians) to it, jumped from subject to subject and book of the Bible to book of the Bible, writing very good but somewhat brief works in which his necessarily limited knowledge of his subject matter is all too apparent.

In the passage from his commentary on Hebrews that you quote in this post, Bruce wrote, “But the writer to the Hebrews himself distinguishes (as did the Old Testament law) between inadvertent sin and wilful sin, and the context here shows plainly that the wilful sin which he has in mind is deliberate apostasy.” This statement is contrary to fact. There is not in this passage even the slightest allusion to “deliberate apostasy.”

4. For 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, it is impossible to renew 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 brings forth 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. (NASB, 1995)

The wording of this sentence in the 1990 revision is exactly the same.

In the same passage from his commentary on Hebrews that you quote in this post, Bruce wrote further, “People who commit this sin, he says, cannot be brought back to repentance; by renouncing Christ they put themselves in the position of those who, deliberately refusing His claim to be the Son of God, had Him crucified and exposed to public shame.” Heb. 6:4-8, however, is NOT about “people” who commit the sin of “deliberate apostasy.” Heb. 6:4-8 is about those people described in vv. 4 & 5 who then “have fallen away.” The sin that brought about the falling away can be understood as deliberate, but to understand it as “deliberate apostasy” is unfounded.

For a much more detailed exegesis of Heb. 6:4-8, see:

Philip Edgcumbe Hughes. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews.. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1977. (Although this commentary is much more detailed than that of Bruce, I am in closer agreement with Bruce than I am with Hughes on this passage).

 

This is a somewhat unusual comment for a Baptist to make, so I shall also make a comment that is unusual for a Baptist. I believe that the New Testament teaches that the atonement of Christ was sufficiently efficacious to redeem those who believe the New Testament gospel message not only from the penalty of sin, but from sin itself. I believe that this is expressly taught in Rom. 6:1 - 8:39, and that Rom. 7:14 - 25 is the experience of the Jew who loves the Law and wishes to keep it, but finds it impossible to do so without faith in Christ and the supernatural ministry of grace by the Holy Spirit. In other words, I believe in the Ante-Nicene interpretation of Romans 1 - 8 and the doctrine of salvation, not because the Ante-Nicene Church Fathers believed that way, but because I came to that belief independently from the Church Fathers and independently of any commentary on Romans through the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit. However, I am not totally ignorant of what the commentators have written on the Epistle to the Romans since I now have in my library 225 commentaries on that epistle that I have studied.

 

The attack of the Skitzophrenic Graemlins! Love ya Craig.

Lacy </font>[/QUOTE]Brother Lacy,

I love you too, but take another look at the Graemlins and the sequence in which I posted them. (Some of my posts include subtleties that are often overlooked).

 

Craig, thanks for your comments. More on Hebrews 6:

In Hebrews 6:4 the key phrase is “who have once been enlightened.” The word “enlightened” is a passive participle in Greek. The Greek adverb translated as “once” ( hapax ) means “once for all time.” It is also used in 1 Peter 3:18 where Christ is said to have died for sins “once for all,” in Hebrews 9:27 where men are said to die “once,” in Hebrews 9:28 where Christ is said to have been “offered once to bear the sins of many,” and in Jude 3 where the faith is said to have been “once for all delivered to the saints.” Clearly, the most literal meaning of the phrase in Hebrews 6:4 is “having been once for all time enlightened.” Thus, the enlightenment in Hebrews 6:4 refers to a one-time event from which people fell in Hebrews 6:6. John Calvin interpreted the Hebrews 6:4-6 passage as an ultimate, final rejection of common grace. The reception of common grace, however, is not viewed by anyone as a one-time event. The enlightenment mentioned in Hebrews 6:4 must be viewed as a special event. Thus, I believe the passage describes a non-Christian's ultimate, final rejection of Jesus while under the special conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Some Arminians also interpret the enlightenment of Hebrews 6:4 as something experienced by every person as in John 1:9: “There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” The light in John 1:9 is clearly a reference to common, universal grace. Some non-elect people never have the opportunity to hear the gospel, but they still benefit from common grace. It is clear from Hebrews 10:32, however, that a special type of enlightenment occurred which was followed by persecution: “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings.” Hebrews 6:4, John 1:9, and Hebrews 10:32 all use the Greek word for “enlighten” ( photizo ), but the contexts clarify the different meanings. The Hebrews verses refer to a special enlightenment that is not experienced by all people.

Your statement that the Hebrews 6 passage represents a deliberate falling away but not a deliberate apostacy puzzles me a bit. How can someone deliberately fall away without understanding what he is doing? Please clarify that for me. Another comment you made also needs to be clarified. You said that Christ's atonement redeemed believers "not only from the penalty of sin, but from sin itself." Do you mean that believers can attain the state of sinless perfection before they physically die? Is your concept the same as Wesley's? Perhaps I have misunderstood you on this. You asked how the Hebrews 6 and 10 passages were relevant to lordship salvation. As with the parable of the soils and the rich young ruler, I think the two passages in Hebrews describe people who have intellectual assent but who never become Christians because they make an ultimate, final decision to reject Christ's lordship. They cannot be saved because of this rejection.

 

I find your posts to be very difficult to understand because you use very vague, non-theological terminology. For example, in the post above you used the adjective "special" four times, and in other posts even more times. I could respond to your posts in a much more precise manner if you would word them using adjectives with a much more precise meaning.

 

No, that is not the key phrase in this verse; there is no key phrase in this verse. The Greek word hapax can mean either “once” as an actual number, or “once for all.” The meaning in Heb. 6:4 is “once” as an actual number (see BAGD).

See also:

--Geneva Bible
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible that they which were once lightened, and haue tasted of the heauenly gift, and were made partakers of the holy Ghost,

-- King James
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

-- New King James
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

-- American Standard
Hebrews 6:4 For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

-- Revised Standard
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

-- International English
Hebrews 6:4 Some people once had the light. They tasted some of the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit.

-- New American Standard
Hebrews 6:4 For 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,

-- New International Version
Hebrews 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,

-- New Jerusalem with Apocrypha
Hebrews 6:4 As for those people who were once brought into the light, and tasted the gift from heaven, and received a share of the Holy Spirit,

-- New American with Apocrypha
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the holy Spirit

-- New Revised Standard with Apocrypha
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

--English Standard Version
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

-- Young's Bible
Hebrews 6:4 for [it is] impossible for those once enlightened, having tasted also of the heavenly gift, and partakers having became of the Holy Spirit,

-- Darby's Bible
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible to renew again to repentance those once enlightened, and who have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

-- Webster's Bible
Hebrews 6:4 For [it is] impossible for those who have been once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.

-- New Living Translation
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible to restore to repentance those who were once enlightened-those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit,

-- International Standard Version
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible to keep on restoring to repentance time and again people who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have become sharers of the Holy Spirit,

--World English Bible
Hebrews 6:4 For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

-- William's NewTestament
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who have once for all been enlightened and have experienced the gift from heaven, who have been made sharers of the Holy Spirit

-- Montgomery New Testament
Hebrews 6:4 For in the case of those who have been once for all enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and become partakers of the Holy Spirit,


Compare:

-- Weymouth's New Testament
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

 

No, the adjectives used in this passage make this passage the clearest, most precise and explicit description in the New Testament of what constitutes a true believer, a true Christian:

“those who have once 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”

Whether one sees here the enlightenment as “once” or “once for all” makes no difference regarding that fact. The writer of this epistle did not know of any “special” enlightenment of those living in the darkness of sin that did not result in salvation. The writer of this epistle did not know of any “special” unbelievers who received the Eucharist and had hands laid upon them by the apostles so that they could receive the Holy Spirit.

 

Korea,
You never satisfactorily answered my questions. Here they all are in outline form.
1.) How much fruit is evidence that one is saved?
2.) If I go an entire year without fornicating does that prove I am saved? During that time I didn't steal, or any of the things in 1Cor 6, does this prove I am saved?
3.) So as long as Mormans, Devil's (not Jehovah) Witnesses, Muslims and Budhists do good, this proves that they are saved. But as soon as they fail in any of the points in 1Cor 6, or Gal 5 then that is PROOF that they are not saved, right?

Oh, and thank you for identifying yourself.

-DeaconLew

 

Craig, sorry I’m late getting back to you. I made a train trip to Seoul for a meeting yesterday, and I came back to Ulsan today. Let’s look at the other places where hapax occurs besides Hebrews 6:4:

2 Corinthians 11:25 – Paul was stoned “one time” and one time only. The Greek authority and former professor at The Southern Baptist Seminary, A.T. Robertson, commented on the verse:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=2co&chapter=11&verse=25

Philippians 4:16 – They sent gifts to Paul “one time” and then again. This was an idiom according to Robertson:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=php&chapter=4&verse=16

1 Thessalonians 2:18 – same as above. Robertson:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=1th&chapter=2&verse=18

Hebrews 9:7 – “one time” each year. Robertson:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=heb&chapter=9&verse=7

Hebrews 9:26 – Jesus made a “one time” sacrifice.

Hebrews 9:27 – Humans only physically die “one time” before judgment

Hebrews 9:28 – Jesus was offered “one time” as a sacrifice. Robertson:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=heb&chapter=9&verse=27

Hebrews 10:2 – Worshipers would have been cleansed “one time.” Robertson:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=heb&chapter=10&verse=2

Hebrews 12:26 – God shakes the earth “one time” more, “one time only” from the point of time when the speaker spoke. Robertson:

http://bible.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/RobertsonsWordPictures/rwp.cgi?book=heb&chapter=12&verse=26

Hebrews 12:27 – Created things which can be shaken are removed “yet once more” (at second coming).

1 Peter 3:18 – Christ died for sins “once for all.”

1 Peter 3:20 – There is some controversy about whether “once” here refers to the disobedience of those in prison or the patience of God in the days of Noah. In fact, “once” is not in some older manuscripts. “Pote” rather than “hapas” is in my UBS Greek Bible, and Robertson refers to “pote” in his commentary.

Jude 1:3 – Contend for the faith “once for all” delivered to the saints.

Jude 1:5 – You know all things “once for all.” Thomas Schreiner, a current professor at The Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, commented on the verse:

Schreiner, “1, 2 Peter, Jude,” The New American Commentary, vol. 37, 2003, page 443.

Summary – These verses clearly indicate that hapas means “one time.” The idiom in two verses, like all idioms, has a unique meaning, but the word hapas still means “one time” inside the idiom. When attached to “year” in Hebrews 9:7 it means one time that year. Hebrews 6:4-6 thus refers to an enlightenment that occurred one time, and after the person fell from it there was no chance to experience that enlightenment again. John MacArthur, Jr. summed up the situation:

MacArthur, “Hebrews,” The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1983) 146.

MacArthur also commented:

Ibid., page 148.

The Hebrews 6:4-6 passage could not be referring to a Christian for two reasons:

1. Once they fall, they cannot return. All those who believe Christians can lose their salvation believe they can return.

2. The enlightenment only occurs once. Again, after falling from that enlightenment, Arminians believe that Christians can be enlightened again. Because the enlightenment is a one-time opportunity, it is indeed “special,” not common.

 

Hi again, DeaconLew. You earlier said:

You later said:

Chuckle. Very cute. I think you are joking, right? When I tried to answer you earlier, I was just being polite. I was not saying I am an Arminian or a “Nicolaitane.” I am neither one.

I’ll do my best to answer each of your questions.

Any amount of good “spiritual” fruit in a person who professes the Christ of the Bible is evidence that one is saved.

Nope, a lot of people who don’t fornicate or steal aren’t saved. So, going a year without fornicating, stealing, or doing the things mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 doesn’t prove that one is saved. Paul said that “some” of the Christians had done those things before they became Christians (1 Corinthians 6:11). He didn’t say that all of them had done those things. There are a lot of sins that aren’t listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. People who “look good” to humans can be very lost.

Nope, once again, people who “look good” to humans can be very lost. Non-Christians are inclined to make sinful, incorrect choices until their depravity is counteracted. They have an innate inclination to sin, but sometimes they do things that appear to others to be righteous. Those actions, however, have mostly impure motives behind them. From God’s perspective the non-Christian’s seemingly righteous deeds are “like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64:6). Such a non-Christian cannot please God because he lacks faith: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:20). If we see the following good “spiritual” fruits in a person who professes faith in the Christ of the Bible, then we can assume the person is a Christian: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Some Christians will of course bear more fruit than other Christians.