Be careful lest any
of us may seem to fall short of entering His rest. Some who had the
gospel preached to them did not combine it with faith and so will
never enter God’s rest. The disobedient will not enter God’s
rest, so, do not harden your hearts.
“Rest” seems to
indicate resting in Christ from our works. In other words, having
faith, or believing. Those who are disobedient are those who heard
the message about Jesus but did not receive it with faith.
Hebrews 4:11
Be diligent to enter
God’s rest.
The author is
referring to the “People of God” (4:9), the Jewish people. Then
here in 4:11 he indicates that that they, too, need to enter God’s
rest – need to overcome any reluctance they may have and trust in
Christ.
Hebrews 5:9
Having been made
perfect Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey
Him.
Those who obey Jesus
are those who have faith in Him.
Hebrews 6:4-8
If someone falls
away after having been enlightened, having tasted the heavenly gift,
shared the Holy Spirit, tasted the goodness of the Word of God and
the powers of the age to come, it is impossible to renew that person
to repentance because he is crucifying the Son of God again and
holding Him up to public disgrace. Ground that drinks God’s
blessings but produces thorns is close to being cursed and ends by
being burned.
Does this mean that
if someone who really believes in Jesus falls away that this person
is permanently cursed and unable to repent?
No. First of all,
I’m doubtful that this even refers to people who really believe in
Jesus. The author of the Book of Hebrews is talking specifically to
Jews and I believe he is saying to them that Jesus is the full
expression of the Jewish faith, and he is urging his Jewish readers
not to turn away from their own faith.
The Jews had to a
great degree been enlightened; they had tasted of the heavenly gift
(1 Cor. 10:1-5), shared in the Holy Spirit (Genesis 41:38, 1 Samuel
10:6-7, 1 Samuel 10:10, 1 Samuel 16:13-14, 1 Chronicles 28:12, Psalm
51:11, Psalm 139:7, Haggai 2:4-5, etc.), tasted the goodness of the
Word of God and the powers of the coming age. Also – like David and
many other Jews in the past – many had repented of sins. But if
they fell away now – that is, if they rejected the Christ who is
central to their faith – it would be impossible to bring them back
(More on the “impossible” part in a moment).
Notice that the
passage says these people “tasted” spiritual blessings; they
merely touched their tongues to them, they didn’t really surrender
their lives to Jesus. The passage (Hebrews 6:7-8) describes good and
bad land, suggesting that this is not a falling away from Christ, but
rather that the land which experiences God’s blessing is either
good or bad to start with, much like Judas Iscariot, who (Matthew
10:4) certainly “tasted.” In fact he tasted much more than many
of his contemporaries. He was even sent out by Jesus with the other
eleven disciples to preach, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse
leprosy and drive out demons. Yet he was still condemned. He had
merely tasted and had not truly let Jesus rule in his heart.
But why would it be
impossible for them to repent?
When the author says
it is impossible to renew those who publicly are crucifying
the Son of God again, this suggests something these people are
continuing to do, and it truly is impossible to oppose God and repent
to God at the same time. You have to stop opposing in order to
repent. Further, they are making it extremely difficult for
themselves to repent because they are proclaiming their opposition in
public, which adds the threat of public embarrassment if they want to
change their minds and repent.
But it is not
absolutely impossible for such people to repent. Notice that
the ground that produces thorns is close to being cursed,
which suggests there is a possibility of repentance, though the
passage then says that this ground ends by being burned, suggesting
either that the likelihood of repentance is extremely low or that
such land will, as in 1 Cor. 3:12-15, go through fire in which the
person’s worthless works will be burned up, though the person
himself be saved. So, any impossibility in repenting would seem to be
much like the impossibility of a rich man entering the kingdom of
heaven. Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Then, when his
followers asked Him who could be saved, He said that what is
impossible for men is possible for God (Matthew 19:25-26).
Hebrews 6:11
The author of
Hebrews wants the people to be diligent to the very end, “to make
your hope sure.”
Our obedience will
give us great confidence that God is at work in our lives and that we
are, indeed, saved.
Hebrews 7:25
Jesus is able to
save forever those who draw near to God through Him.
Hebrews
9:26
Jesus
did away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Hebrews 9:28
Christ was offered
once to bear the sins of many and he will appear a second time to
bring salvation to those who await Him.
In addition to the
salvation of Christ taking away our sins, there is also a future
salvation in which the very presence of sin will be banished.
Hebrews
10:14
By
one sacrifice Jesus made perfect forever those who are being made
holy.
Hebrews 10:18
Where sins have been
forgiven there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Jesus made the one
sacrifice (Hebrews 10:4), and any other sacrifices, such as the Old
Testament sacrifices, are of no value.
Hebrews 10:26
If we sin willfully
after receiving the truth, no sacrifice remains.
If we know the truth
of Jesus yet willfully go on sinning and do not trust in Him, that
truth we have heard is of no benefit to us. And if we do not trust in
Jesus, there is nowhere else to turn – there is no other sacrifice
for sin.
Hebrews 10:29
There is severe
punishment for the one who tramples underfoot the Son of God, who
regards the blood that sanctified him as unclean, who insults the
Spirit of grace.
The preceding
verses, Hebrews 10:26-28, indicate that the author is addressing
people who receive the knowledge of the truth but deliberately keep
on sinning. They are compared to those who rejected Moses’ law and
died. Apparently they heard about Jesus but refused to accept Him.
Also, a bit earlier, in 10:14, the author says Jesus’ sacrifice
“made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” “Perfect
forever” certainly suggests these people are permanently saved.
Then, in 10:39, the author says that “we are not of those who
shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are
saved.”
So, with those
apparent assurances of salvation for believers surrounding it, why
does this passage say that a person who rejects the truth had been
“sanctified?” It sounds as if the person had been saved and then
was lost.
Well, first of all,
sanctification does not necessarily mean salvation. In 1 Corinthians
7:14-16 an unsaved husband or wife is “sanctified” by being
joined with a believing spouse. Sanctification means being set aside
for God’s purposes, whether a person is a believer or not. Nor does
punishment always imply hell; God frequently disciplines us right
here on earth.
Also, the book of
Hebrews is written particularly to Jews, and at the beginning of
Hebrews 10 the author makes the point that the animal sacrifices of
the Old Testament were “a shadow,” the reality of which is the
sacrifice of Jesus. (We see that sense of shadow and reality again in
1 Corinthians 10:4, which says that when the Jewish people left Egypt
they “drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that
rock was Christ.”)
So, in that shadow
sense, the Jewish people were sanctified – set aside – by
Jesus’ blood. But now that Jesus has appeared, the author wants his
readers’ faith in the shadow to become faith in the reality and he
urges them not to reject Jesus’ blood as unholy, and not to insult
the Spirit of grace that draws us to Him.
Hebrews
10:39
we
are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who
believe and are saved.
Hebrews
11:1-40
Throughout
this entire chapter the author of Hebrews recalls heroes of faith
from the past.
Hebrews 11:6
Without faith it is
impossible to please God.
God will be happy
with our works, but only if they proceed from faith.
Hebrews
12:14
Make
every effort to live in peace with others and to be holy, because
without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Our
holy desire and holy efforts to live in peace with others is evidence
of the holiness we have received from God.
Hebrews
12:25
Do
not refuse Him who speaks. If those He warned on earth did not
escape, how much less if we turn away from Him who warns us from
heaven.
The
Book of Hebrews is written primarily to Jews, and the author is
warning his fellow Jews not to reject Jesus and turn away from Him.
James 1:12
Blessed is the one
who perseveres under trial. When he has stood the test he will win
the crown of life promised to those who love the Lord.
The crown of life is
for those who love the Lord, and it will be given “when” those
who love the Lord persevere, not “if” they persevere. As James
says in 1:2, trials build perseverance in our lives, so trials are
God’s way of shaping us, and He will put us through various
difficulties until we withstand the tests and He has made us into the
people He wants us to be.
James 1:21
In humility receive
the Word implanted in you which is able to save you.
This appears to
refer to God’s Word saving us from the power of sin in our daily
lives. James urges us to get rid of all moral filth and evil and to
do what the Word commands.
James 1:26
Religion that does
not bridle the tongue is worthless.
A religion that has
no affect on our lives is nonexistent. Real faith allows God to
change us from the inside out, and the first outward evidence is
likely to be in our language, so if we really have faith, it should
have its most immediate effect on our tongue.
James
2:10
Whoever
breaks just one point of the law is guilty of breaking it all.
The
law is like a chain; if we break one link we have broken the chain.
And since we have all broken the law, James is pointing out our need
for mercy. We can see this explicitly a few verses later, in James
2:13, where James tells us that we need mercy from God.
James 2:12-13
Act as those who
will be judged by the law of liberty. Judgment will be merciless to
the one who has shown no mercy – mercy triumphs over judgment.
We will all by
judged by God. If we believe in Christ there will be evidence of it
in the mercy we show, and we are accepted. If we do not show mercy
then that shows we never believed in Christ, and we are rejected.
James 2:14-20
Faith without works
cannot save. Works show faith. Faith without works is useless.
James says that
faith without works is useless (James 2:14, 20), that it is “dead”
(James 2:17, 2:26). Works are the evidence of faith (James 2:18). In
other words, if there are no works then there was never any real
faith. Such “faith” is dead; not that it was ever living, but it
is dead like a rock is dead – it was just never alive, or, as we
sometimes say, “dead as a door nail,” never intending to suggest
that a door nail was ever alive.
James 2:21-22
Abraham was
justified, or, “shown to be justified” in the Amplified Version,
by works. His faith was working with his actions and his faith was
completed.
Abraham’s faith in
God led him to be obedient to God. His works were a powerful evidence
of his great faith. If our faith does not result in works then our
faith is not complete; we haven’t really believed in Jesus.
James 2:24-26
Man is justified by
works and not faith alone. Rahab was justified by what she did. As
the body without the spirit, so faith without works is dead.
Again, there need to
be works if we have faith! If there are no works, then likely there
never was any faith; it was a false faith, dead as a door nail.
James
5:12
Let
your “Yes” be “yes and your “No” be no, “or you will be
condemned” (NIV), or “fall under judgment” (NASB).
We
are not to be weaselly in our speech. Say it straight and honestly.
If we don’t, we may be condemned right here on earth, by both our
peers – who don’t appreciate being misled – and by God, who may
need to discipline us for being weasels. I do not believe this is
refers to eternal condemnation, but rather earthly judgment and
discipline.
1
Peter 1:3-5
God
has given us new birth through Jesus’ resurrection into an
inheritance that can never perish. We are shielded by God’s power
until the coming of the salvation to be revealed at the last time.
1
Peter 1:9
You
are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
We
have been saved for heaven if we believe in Jesus, but this passage
seems to refer to our being saved from the power of sin
right now in our daily lives.
1
Peter 1:18-19
We
were redeemed by the blood of Christ.
1
Peter 1:23
We
have been born of imperishable seed through the living word of God.
1
Peter 2:2
As
newborn babes we should long for spiritual milk, that we may grow up
in our salvation.
1
Peter 2:24
Jesus
bore our sins on the tree that we might die to sin and live for
righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed.
1 Peter 3:21
Baptism saves you by
being the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Body and spirit walk
together. Being baptized parallels and demonstrates the inward,
spiritual act of believing. But it is a “good conscience,” a
trusting surrender, toward God through the resurrection of Jesus that
saves us.
1 Peter 4:17
Judgment starts with
the household of God. What will be the outcome for those who do not
obey the gospel of God?
I don’t believe
this means believers are subjected to a judgment that weighs their
good and bad deeds and decides whether they go to heaven or hell, but
rather it is speaking of the here-and-now.
Peter 4:12 says not
to be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come upon you. So, this
judgment upon believers is happening at that moment. Peter is saying
that non-believers are being used by God, apparently to test and
refine the believers, but that while the believers are being judged
first, the non-believers will get their turn, either on earth, or in
heaven, or both, and the outcome for them will not be good.
1 Peter 4:18
It is with
difficulty that the righteous are saved.
It is indeed
difficult to be saved. The difficulties are that Jesus had to give
his life for it to happen and we have to surrender our lives in faith
to Him.
2 Peter 1:1
Peter says he is
writing to people, who, like himself, have received a faith by the
righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:3-4
Jesus has granted us
everything we need. He has given us His precious and magnificent
promises so we can be partakers of the divine nature.
2 Peter 1:10-11
Make sure of Jesus’
calling and choosing you. If you do these things [the things listed
in verses 1:5-7] you will never fall and will receive a rich welcome
into His eternal kingdom.
We should check that
our lives show evidence of God at work in us. If we don’t see any
evidence, do we really believe in Jesus? If we are doing the things
outlined in 2 Peter 1:5-7 then we can be confident we are being
effective in God’s kingdom (2 Peter 1:8), that we won’t trip or
fall, and that we have been saved. Also, if we do these things we
will receive a “rich welcome” (2 Peter 1:11) into Christ’s
eternal kingdom, perhaps suggesting that otherwise we may receive a
more ordinary welcome, or that we will be as the one whose work burns
but who himself is saved (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
2 Peter 2:20-21
If they are ensnared
by defilements they had begun to escape by the knowledge of Jesus,
their state is worse off than at first. It would have been better for
them not to have known the way than to turn from it.
I don’t believe
this means that a real believer caught up in sin is damned.
Peter is speaking of
false prophets and there are several suggestions that these false
prophets never trusted in Jesus in the first place. 2 Peter 2:12 says
they slander things they do not understand, suggesting that they
never had any real spiritual understanding. It also says that they
were born only to be caught and destroyed, suggesting their original
nature never changed – it was bad in the first place and remained
bad. 2 Peter 2:22 makes their unchanged nature explicit when it says
that a washed pig – clean on the outside but with its piggy nature
unchanged – is still a pig and goes right back to the mud. These
false prophets were clean on the outside but their sinful nature was
unchanged.
These false prophets
appeared to have had knowledge of Jesus because they
associated with Christians (2 Peter 2:13). Further, they knew
something of Jesus’ power because He had begun to cleanse them (2
Peter 2:20), but this cleansing appears to be like the cleansing
referred to in Matthew 12:43-45 and Luke 11:24-26, in which Jesus
says that when an evil spirit is cast out of a man, it wanders around
in dry places, then returns and finds its former house tidy and
empty, then it brings even more evil spirits to live with it in the
cleaned-up man’s life. This parallel appears quite intentional as
Peter mentions that the false prophets’ last state is worse than
their first state, which is essentially the same phrasing that Jesus
used to refer to the man cleansed of demons.
So, there is a
cleansing that may be accompanied by some knowledge of Jesus, but is
not accompanied by trust in Jesus, and even though that cleansing may
have been accomplished by Jesus, that in itself is not salvation;
salvation is by trusting in Jesus.
Finally, these false
prophets’ final state is worse than their original state because –
like the man who had the demons cast out and his life swept clean of
rubbish – all that the cleansing accomplished was to make room for
more demons! Also, having had a superficial connection with Christ
and thinking that they “know all about that stuff,” then when
they overtly turned away they were, in a manner of speaking,
“inoculated” against Christ and therefore worse off than they
were at first.
1
John 1:5-6
God
is light and in Him is no darkness. If we say we have fellowship with
God but walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
If
we believe in Jesus we will tend to walk with God; not
perfectly and not sinlessly, but as a general rule. We know that John
does not mean we must walk absolutely sinlessly because in the next
verse, 1 John 1:7, he says that if we walk in the light then Jesus’
blood cleanses us from all sin. So, we can have sin even when we are
walking in the light, otherwise, what sin is Jesus forgiving us for?
1 John 1:7
If we walk in the
light then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
“Walk” and
“cleanses” are in the present tense, so this seems to refer to
our daily walk. It is about the power of Jesus to cleanse our daily
lives.
1 John 2:3-4
We know we know Him
if we keep His commandments. If someone says he knows Him but does
not keep his commands, he is a liar.
Keeping God’s
commands is evidence we know Him.
1 John 2:12
Your sins have been
forgiven for His name’s sake.
1 John 2:15
Anyone who loves the
world does not have the love of the Father.
“The world,” in
this case, appears to be used as we would say, “the way of the
world.” In other words, a path that takes no consideration of God,
for which God is irrelevant, for which only those things we see
around us are relevant. You do not love God if you prefer the way of
the world to God. You are not connected with God if you love things
that oppose God.
1 John 2:24,25
“See that what you
have heard from the beginning remains in you. If you do, you also
will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he
promised us – even eternal life.”
John is encouraging
the believers to resist teaching from false prophets.
Looking back a few
verses to 1 John 2:19, John says these false prophets were never
members of the Christian family because they abandoned the family,
which they would not have done if they were real believers. Then in 1
John 2:22 he explicitly says they deny the Father and the Son.
Instead of listening
to false prophets, John wants them to remain true to what they
learned from the beginning. If they do this they will be walking with
God, they will remain in communion with the Son and the Father in
their daily walk. And John wants to assure them that what they
believed from the beginning will result in eternal life –
God promised! – so they should not be fooled by some false prophet
who says they need something extra or different for salvation.
1 John 3:5-10
He appeared to take
away sin. No one abiding in Him keeps on sinning. The one who
practices righteousness is righteous. Practice sin and you’re of
the devil. No one born of God practices sin – he cannot sin. If you
are not righteous or if you don’t love your brother, you’re not
of God.
If we are born again
to God by trusting in Jesus we will not continue in sin – we cannot
continue in sin. We will love our brother. When John says we
cannot sin he does not mean that we will never, ever, sin; in fact he
says in 1 John 1:8, 10 that we are lying if we say we are without
sin. Instead, I believe he is saying that the willing, constant
practice of sin means we never knew God.
1 John 3:14-15
If you love the
brethren, you have life. If you hate your brother you don’t have
eternal life.
John says we “have
passed from death to life” if we love our Christian brothers. The
loving is evidence of our faith. If we reflect God’s love, we have
life. If not, we don’t.
1 John 3:23-24
John says God’s
command is to love Jesus and one another. If we keep His commands we
know we abide in Him and He in us.
1
John 4:14-15
The
Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone
acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in
God.
1 John 4:20
If you hate your
brother, but say you love God, you are a liar and you don’t love
God.
The evidence of our
love for God is that we love others.
1
John 5:1
Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
1
John 5:4
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