Can I Lose My Salvation?

A study of the theme of apostasy in Hebrews

Presented to: Dr. Rodney Reeves

Joshua Wingerd

April 28, 2014

Neglect of salvation, departure from God, falling short of God’s grace, deliberate sin, and

impossible repentance 1 are five clear statements that prove that “[t]he letter to the Hebrews is the

locus classicus of the subject of apostasy in the NT.”2 While no one but God knows for certain

who wrote the book of Hebrews,3 it is blatantly clear, even in a quick reading of the letter, that

the author knew and used the Hebrew Scriptures authoritatively in his work. 4 This is crucial for

understanding the author’s argument throughout the book. He is not preaching heresy or at all

going against the beliefs held by Christians of his day. Hebrews should be understood in its

original context as exhorting the original hearers not to apostatize back into their old way of

living: participating in Jewish “convictions and practices.”5

However, even with this understanding in view, the Scriptures (Old Testament and New

Testament) are beneficial for many purposes and are active even now (2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews

4:12), which begs the question: How does this apply to Christians today? “The book of Hebrews

contains perhaps the most severe warnings in the New Testament, warnings that raise the

question of whether a Christian can lose his or her salvation.”6 These warnings appear to teach

that loss of salvation is possible, and many different theological persuasions have come down

decidedly on what the warnings are really saying by squeezing Johannine or Pauline soteriology

into Hebrews. The warnings against apostasy in Hebrews give every theological construct

difficulty when it comes to fitting texts into preconceived doctrinal positions, and they remind us

to interpret everything in Scripture in light of their original contexts without initially trying to fit

anything into a doctrinal mold.

1
Hebrews 2:3; 3:12; 12:15; 10:26; 6:4.
2
P. W. Barnett, Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments, 73.
3
Karen Jobes, Letters to the Church, 42. Alluding to Origen.
4
I. Howard Marshall, New Testament Theology: 2004, 606.
5
William L. Lane, Hebrews 1-8, 142.
6
Karen Jobes, 134.
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Before going on, it is important to get a working definition of the term ‘apostasy.’ Jobes

defines it: “The deliberate decision to no longer be a Christian,”7 and is what the five warning

passages in Hebrews—2:1-4; 3:7-19; 6:1-12; 10:26-39; 12:14-29—warn against.8 Marshall

writes that every warning passage in Hebrews speaks of believers9 which would be conclusive in

determining that apostasy is a real possibility, but others would object (in light of 1 John 2:19) to

whether or not the people spoken of were truly believers in the first place. 10 The question

becomes: Is it possible for a truly saved person to lose his or her salvation and come to the point

at which he or she is not saved? Grudem points out that the moment someone is truly saved

refers to the moment that person is regenerated, converted, justified, adopted, and initially

sanctified; all evangelicals agree upon those five elements as marking the beginning of the

Christian life, and therefore to lose salvation would involve the loss of those elements.11

The book of Hebrews treats apostasy as a real possibility. There is a general consensus

among sources consulted12 that the apostasy mentioned in Hebrews is not simply hypothetical.

The variety comes in the way in which these authors answer the above question of whether or

not the apostates were ever truly saved in the first place. The argument that the warning passages

“are merely hypothetical or that the turning aside of those described … is from useful service but

not from salvation, are desperate expedients that responsible exegesis will happily avoid.”13

An interesting feature of these warnings is that the author nowhere gives us a formula for

how to know if a person was apostate. He simply warned them against falling away and

7
Ibid., 135.
8
The scope of this paper will focus primarily on the warning in chapter 6, though the other passages will come
when necessary.
9
I. Howard Marshall, Kept by the Power of God: 1974, 139-140, 143-144, 147.
10
Norman Geisler in Matthew Pinson, Four Views on Eternal Security, 110.
11
Wayne Grudem in Thomas Schreiner, Still Sovereign, 135-137.
12
See Bibliography: Berkouwer, Eaton, Jobes, Marshall, and Schreiner especially.
13
D. A. Carson in Thomas Schreiner, Still Sovereign, 261.
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encouraged them to press on in the race (12:1) in order to take hold of salvation. 14 As in sexual

sin, the question should never be, “How far is too far?” but rather the warnings should motivate

believers to faith and perseverance in Christ. “The sheer number and weight of these many

verses that speak of the necessity of continuing faithfulness to Christ makes it clear that this is

not merely a passing thought but is the overarching purpose for the letter.”15

The warning in Hebrews 6 has been handled many different ways throughout church

history. The following paragraphs survey the popular views from the time of the early church

until now in order to show just how many ways this passage has been taken. Eaton compiled a

list of sixteen basic interpretations16 which gives a clear picture of how many views there are on

these warnings.

The first recipients of the letter would have understood the reference to continued sin in

10:26 to warning against continued animal sacrifices. “Sacrifices are not sinful, but Jesus is the

one, ‘full and final sacrifice’ who was denied by continuing animal sacrifices.”17 The context of

the book fits this interpretation, but the modern reader is 2,000 years removed from this situation,

typically is not Jewish, and therefore has to either say that it is impossible for a believer to fall

away and recrucify Jesus today, or to say that there is a deeper truth in the passage applicable for

all believers regardless of their social context.

The sense of Hebrews 6:4-6 in the earliest church traditions was typically that a person

could not repent again after being baptized. 18 If this is the way the passage was meant to be

taken, then it would greatly affect interpretation of other calls to repentance, such as those to the

14
I. Howard Marshall: 1974, 151.
15
Karen Jobes, 134.
16
Michael Eaton, No Condemnation, 208-212. However, his list does contain overlap between interpretive
options.
17
Karen Jobes, 135.
18
Erik Heen, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, 83.
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churches in Revelation 2-3. Tertullian viewed Hebrews 6:4-6 as teaching that sins like adultery

were unforgivable; the Shepherd of Hermas agreed, but said that they could only be forgiven

once more after initial salvation.19 Theodoret of Cyr, Ephrem the Syrian, Ambrose, and

Chrysostom all made statements comparing baptism to the crucifixion, referencing Paul in

Romans 6, to say that if being baptized with Christ is sharing in His death, then being baptized

again is to crucify Christ again. 20

The Reformation saw John Calvin’s opinion of the subject, and Jacobus Arminius’s

disagreement with him. Calvin explained the descriptions in verses 4-5 and the subsequent

apostasy in verse six by saying, “There is therefore some knowledge even in the reprobate which

afterwards vanishes away, either because it did not strike roots sufficiently deep, or because it

withers, being choked up.”21 This is likely a reference to Jesus’s parable of the soils in the

synoptic gospels, thus explaining that those who were once enlightened were never truly in

God’s household of faith, and therefore never lost their salvation. Alternatively, Arminius wrote:

“It [is] impossible for believers, as long as they remain believers, to decline from salvation,”22 in

order to give the allowance that it could happen to occur that a person could cease being a

believer and thus lose salvation. Luther also held the position that apostasy was possible.23 Thus,

the debate that continues until today had begun.

Calvinists and Arminians of today have very different, and oftentimes, much more complex

answers than the simple, though opposed, solutions proposed by Calvin and Arminius. John

Wesley saw the description in Hebrews 6 as blatantly clear of a true believer, and wrote that

19
Michael Eaton, 208
20
Erik Heen, 84-87.
21
John Calvin quoted in David Allen, New American Commentary, 356.
22
Jacobus Arminius quoted in Pinson, 15.
23
David Allen, 357.
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anyone who disagreed must be biased.24

Grudem asserts that Hebrews is definitely not contradictive of the doctrine of perseverance

in Reformed doctrine.25 “The church can be admonished in this way precisely because of the

riches of salvation and the anchor of the soul. The writer … does not offer a view concerning the

apostasy of the saints, but he comes … to the endangered Church and calls her to keep the

faith.”26 This is a very important place to start. Faith must be kept central in the discussion,

especially as faith in Christ is the centerpiece of the letter to the Hebrews.

Michael Horton27 holds the classical Calvinist position. He argues that the whole debate

would be concluded if scholarship would return to covenant theology. His basis is that the

covenant—visible church—has always included more individuals than those elected—invisible

church—and therefore those who fall away in Hebrews were never elect.28 They simply enjoyed

fellowship in a church but were never elected, were never running the race (12:2) in the first

place, and therefore they could never persevere.

Norman Geisler holds the moderate Calvinist position. His main argument is that the

warnings in Hebrews refer to the loss of eternal rewards, but not eternal life;29 he explains away

Hebrews 6:6 as parapipto (Greek for “fall away”) not denoting a one-way action; he says that the

impossibility of renewed repentance is due to the fact that repentance is once-for-all and those

referred to are already saved.30 The huge problem with this interpretation is that it allows for

unrepentant sin and no sanctification, despite the author making it clear that sanctification is

required for salvation (10:14; 12:14). One responder to Geisler writes that those committed to
24
Ibid., 357.
25
Wayne Grudem in Thomas Schreiner, Still Sovereign, 182.
26
G. C. Berkouwer, Faith and Perseverance, 120.
27
A brief look at the debate between different branches of Calvinism and Arminianism will be sketched now,
loosely following that of Matthew Pinson, Four Views on Eternal Security.
28
Michael Horton in Matthew Pinson, 36.
29
Norman Geisler in Matthew Pinson, 200.
30
Ibid., 99.
 Wingerd 6

Scripture’s plain meaning cannot find the loss of rewards idea satisfying. 31

Stephen Ashby holds the Reformed Arminian view. He quotes D. A. Carson on responsible

exegesis in Hebrews to assert that his exegesis will be responsible, and therefore takes the

warning passages as actual occurrences, and apostasy as possible. 32 “[Hebrews 6:4-6] is speaking

of those who were saved. They have fallen away. Now they cannot be saved again. The apostasy

spoken of here is irremediable.” 33 He makes himself clear, however, that apostasy is only a

denunciation of Christ, and not a result of habitual sins.34

J. Steven Harper holds the Wesleyan Arminian view. This view sees apostasy as possible,

but future repentance also as possible. “Even when we fall from grace, we do not fall beyond

grace.”35 Ashby argues against this by simply pointing to his view and saying, “[we] believe that

apostasy … is without remedy.” 36 Geisler argues that Harper is inconsistent by using Hebrews 6

to refer to loss of salvation, yet also say that it can be restored, despite the impossibility of

repentance being clear in the passage.37

Grudem, in arguing for a Reformed Calvinist view, explains that if Hebrews 6:4-6 is

interpreted in isolation, it can be argued to speak of believers losing salvation. He goes on to say

that none of the seventeen usual descriptions of true saving faith used elsewhere in Hebrews are

used in Hebrews 6 (except for “enlightened”); if the author of Hebrews wanted to explain true

believers falling away and not being able to repent, then he easily could have.38 Grudem

interprets 4-6 as not providing us enough information on the subject and verses 7-8 as a

31
Stephen Ashby in Matthew Pinson, 177.
32
Ibid., 175. Carson quote reproduced on pg. 2 of this paper already.
33
Ibid., 176.
34
Ibid., 183-186.
35
J. Steven Harper in Matthew Pinson, 241.
36
Stephen Ashby in Matthew Pinson, 280-281.
37
Norman Geisler in Matthew Pinson, 269.
38
Wayne Grudem in Thomas Schreiner, 137, 172.
 Wingerd 7

metaphor for the gospel seed being sown on different types of hearts.39 In his interpretation,

verses 7-8 hold the answer to the mystery of apostasy in Hebrews 6.

Some try to translate the participle ajnastarou`ntaς as temporal, “while they are

crucifying,” instead of causal, “because they are crucifying.” Lane notes, “But this is a truism,

which vitiates the force of the statement. It is more appropriate to take the [participle] as causal

than temporal in this context; [it indicates] why it is impossible to restore such people to

repentance.”40 In addition, the Greek word parapivptw (translated “fallen away”), which only

occurs in Hebrews 6:6, speaks of general sinning as the LXX uses it, and it does not refer to a

specific offense, but rather “the expression of a total attitude,”41 which could support many of the

theories listed above. This debate is not going to be solved by any one of these interpretations;

scholars will still disagree. Therefore, the question must be asked: What does this mean for the

century-old debate surveyed above?

First, believers must understand that the most important thing is the salvation of souls. “The

author knows that there are some in the community to which he writes who are in danger of

falling away in just [the way described in Hebrews 6].”42 The warnings in Hebrews should

primarily be reminders to pastors and preachers that the people in their congregations are real

human beings with a soul that could be hanging over the balance between heaven and hell;

pastors today must perform their watchman duty, cf. Ezekiel 3:16-21, as the writer to Hebrews

was clearly doing in his sermon. “A biblical understanding of eternal security must be based on

the principle of perseverance in holiness, not on a delusion that salvation is a ticket to heaven

39
Ibid., 155-157.
40
William L. Lane, 133.
41
Michaelis, TDNT vol. 6, 171.
42
Wayne Grudem in Thomas Schreiner, 154.
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despite one’s ongoing attitudes and behaviors.”43 Too often in the modern church Christians do

not have the biblical understanding of security. Praying a ‘prayer of salvation’—if that is all that

is relied upon—is really just attempting salvation by works, which Paul addresses as not salvific

(Ephesians 2:9).

“In the perseverance controversy … only if we understand faith in its continuous relatedness

to God’s grace, and love in its relatedness to God’s love, does this doctrine become a doctrine of

faith itself.”44 The doctrine of security and the doctrine of apostasy are two sides of the same

coin. On one side God promises that He will never leave believers (Hebrews 13:5); on the other

side there are consistent warnings to not walk away from Him (2:1-4; 3:7-19; 6:1-12; 10:26-39;

12:14-29). Only faith can allow believers to trust that God is telling the truth in the prior passage,

and that they will not apostatize in their walk as the latter passages warn against. Believers must

heed the exhortation in Hebrews 12:1-2 and not risk growing inoculated to the gospel—putting

off repentance in order to indulge in sin today45—because no one knows how long they have to

live. Pastors must preach this truth with urgency in their voices.

At the same time, the debates about the issue, especially in the book of Hebrews, are a waste

of time, especially if they cause believers to hate each other. In Christ there is no Calvinist or

Arminian (Galatians 3:15), and the author of Hebrews is unclear as to how he wants to be

understood. “If in Hebrews the possibility of apostasy is depicted more radically than elsewhere

in the New Testament, it is equally true that this Epistle is second to none in its emphasis upon

the faithfulness of God who will perfect His people as they hold fast their confidence in Him to

the end.”46

43
Karen Jobes, 138.
44
G. C. Berkouwer, 122.
45
Karen Jobes, 140.
46
I. Howard Marshall: 1974, 157.
 Wingerd 9

Regardless of the debate over the doctrine of apostasy in Hebrews, the remainder of the

New Testament is clear. “If it is true that there are ‘eternal security’ verses and ‘Arminian’

verses in the Scriptures, then we can no longer consistently affirm that God’s Word tells one

story or that it is united by divine authorship.”47 The Bible presents one picture, though some

authors tend to emphasize different aspects more than other authors. Marshall points out that

some verses in Hebrews present salvation as a past event but others as a future event.48 “The

writer is dealing with a real, if remote, possibility (of apostasy). Therefore, consideration must be

given to whether the rest of the New Testament in fact excludes the possibility.” 49 Romans 8:28-

39, among other passages, clearly presents salvation as a sure thing that cannot be lost, so in

answering the question in Hebrews, every theological persuasion is forced to look elsewhere in

the Scripture for help. Jobes’s conclusion is that “[s]alvation has been secured, and it is certain

that followers of Christ will inherit it.”50

With Jobes’s conclusion—or even a contrasting conclusion—in view, the danger is to jump

too quickly from observing a passage and interpreting it, to plugging Johannine or Pauline

theology into it. Marshall exhorts all exegetes to “beware of reading more into the passage in

Hebrews than is to be found there;” on the same page he explains that “in [Hebrews 6] exegetical

honesty demands that [the possibility of unforgivable apostasy] is at least raised.”51

Hebrews must be interpreted in its own unique context, in which case the syntax and lexical

meanings must be allowed to speak for themselves. Only after a proper exegesis has been

completed should the interpreter try to fit it into a doctrinal position. If it fits then that is good for

47
Michael Horton in Matthew Pinson, 29.
48
I. Howard Marshall: 2004, 617-618. It is interesting to note that his discourse lists eleven passages as a past
event, and only three as a future event.
49
Ibid., 620.
50
Karen Jobes, 120.
51
I. Howard Marshall: 1974, 147.
 Wingerd 10

the interpreter’s doctrinal stance; if it does not fit, the interpreter should rethink his or her stance.

“[W]e still cannot know on the basis of [the five descriptions in verses 4-6] alone, if they really

have experienced the beginning stages of the Christian life (cf. regeneration, conversion,

justification, adoption, and initial sanctification mentioned on pg. 2).”52

The book of Hebrews cautions very strongly against apostasy from Christianity. It urges the

believer to stand strong amid persecutions and trials and to focus on Jesus as the source of

salvation. The warning passage of 6:1-12 has been interpreted widely, and is still debated

between Calvinists and Arminians. Despite this, believers should side together and preach the

gospel to the world that is lost in order to urge the world to run the race with perseverance.

Berkouwer cautions any exegete: “Anyone who busies himself with [the connection between

perseverance and apostasy] in a [logical] fashion plunges himself into the abyss of pride or

frivolity.”53

52
Wayne Grudem in Thomas Schreiner, 139-140.
53
G. C. Berkouwer, 121-122.
 Wingerd 11

Bibliography

Allen, David Lewis. New American Commentary. Vol. 35, Hebrews. Nashville, TN: B & H
Publishing Group, 2010.

Barnett, P. W. “Apostasy” in Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments, eds.
Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids, 73-76. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,
1997.

Berkouwer, G. C. Faith and Perseverance. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans, 1958.

Eaton, Michael A. No Condemnation: A New Theology of Assurance. Downers Grove, IL:

Heen, Erik M., Philip D. Krey, and Thomas C. Oden, eds. Ancient Christian Commentary On
Scripture, New Testament: Vol. 10, Hebrews. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,
2005.

Jobes, Karen H. Letters to the Church: a Survey of Hebrews and the General Epistles. Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.

Michaelis. “pivptw” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 6, eds. Gerhard Kittel
and Geoffrey William Bromiley, 161-173. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans, 1964-
1976.

Lane, William L. Hebrews 1-8, in Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 47A. Nashville, TN: Thomas
Nelson, 1991.
Marshall, I. Howard. Kept by the Power of God: A Study of Perseverance and Falling Away. 2d
ed. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship, 1974.

____________. New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 2004.

Pinson, J. Matthew, ed. Four Views On Eternal Security. Written by Michael S. Horton, Norman
L. Geisler, Stephen M. Ashby, and J. Steven Harper. Counterpoints. Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 2002.

Schreiner, Thomas R., and Bruce A. Ware, eds. Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives On
Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2000.