Monday: Impossible to Restore
Compare Hebrews 6:4-6, Matthew 16:24, Romans 6:6, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 5:24, and Galatians 6:14. What does this comparison suggest about what it means to crucify Christ?
Image © Krieg Barrie at Goodsalt.com
The original text in Greek emphasizes the word “impossible.” It is impossible for God to restore those who have “fallen away” because “they are crucifying once again the Son of God” (Hebrews 6:6, ESV). Paul wants to stress that there is no other way of salvation except through Christ (Acts 4:12). Salvation by any other means is as impossible as it is “for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18) or to please God “without faith” (Hebrews 11:6).
To crucify again the Son of God is a figurative expression that seeks to describe something that happens in the personal relationship between Jesus and the believer.
When the religious leaders crucified Jesus, they did it because Jesus posed a threat to their supremacy and autonomy. Thus, they hoped to eliminate Jesus as a person and destroy a powerful and dangerous enemy. Similarly, the gospel challenges the sovereignty and self-determination of the individual at the most fundamental level. The essence of Christian life is to take up the cross and deny oneself (Matthew 16:24). This means to crucify “the world” (Galatians 6:14), the “old man” (Romans 6:6), and “the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24, ESV). The purpose of the Christian life is that we undergo a kind of death. Unless we experience this death to self, we cannot receive the new life God wants to give us (Romans 6:1-11).
The struggle between Jesus and self is a struggle to death (Romans 8:7-8, Galatians 5:17). It is a difficult battle that is not won at once. This passage does not refer to the person who sometimes fails in the battle against the “old man” and the “flesh.” This sin refers to the person who, after having experienced genuine salvation and what it implies (Hebrews 6:4-5, ), decides that Jesus is a threat to the kind of life he or she wants to have and moves to kill their relationship with Him. That is, as long as the person does not fully choose to turn away from Christ, there is still the hope of salvation.
| What does it mean to die to “self,” to take the “cross”? What is the thing that you find most difficult to hand over to the dominion of Christ? |
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I have been to the Grand Canyon in the USA. It is impressive; there are huge cliffs everywhere. Some of them are thousands of feet of sheer vertical drop. We went there in early winter when the crowds were small and spent a couple of days wandering along the cliff tops. The paths were slippery with ice in places and both Carmel and I ended up on our backsides a couple of times. It is actually quite scary to slip over 2 metres from the top of a 1000ft cliff. We read stories of people who had fallen to their death in the Grand Canyon. Most of those people had climbed over safety fences and ignored prominent public warnings about where they could walk; to put themselves in serious danger of falling. Once the falling had started, the only way to stop it was to hit the bottom.
In the two days we explored the Grand Canyon, Carmel and I were in danger of slipping over on the ice and falling on our backsides. We could even hurt ourselves. But we were never in danger of falling over the edge accidentally. We kept within the boundaries, obeyed the public signage, and had an enjoyable time. There is something magic about being at the Grand Canyon when it is snowing.
Do I need to spell out the parallel between our experience at the Grand Canyon and what the lesson is saying today? If you want to step outside the safety net of God's love you need to make a conscious (selfish) decision to do just that. Nobody will be accidentally unsaved.
Today's lesson states:
What the lesson has presented here is essentially a summary of what salvation necessarily involves. Consider what has been said above and compare it with what happened back in Eden. Prior to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve trusted God and had hearts that were other-focussed. Thus they were in harmony with what was needed for life. However, the serpent deceived Eve (Genesis 3:13) into mistrusting God and correspondingly indulging self-seeking (Genesis 3:6). And Adam joined her. Having become out-of-harmony with the two things that are essential for life, Eve and Adam lost their connection with life and therefore entered death (non-life), just as God had warned would inevitably happen (Genesis 2:17). In order to 'fix' this problem, this reality needed to actually be reversed. Humanity needed to actually be brought back to trusting in God and having hearts restored from self-seeking back to other-focussed. What today's lesson has outlined aligns with this.
Notice what is not mentioned in today's lesson - there is no mention of legal status. I would propose that this is because legal status is not what is needed. Rather, what is needed is the actual restoration that the lesson outlines and which is summarised by Jesus in Matthew 16:24. Then, what about the legal status that is so predominate in Christian teaching and belief? I would invite you to consider its basis for a moment. Why do we believe sin must be punished, that a penalty must be paid for sins? If you consider it, you will find that there is a belief/feeling that if sin wasn't punished, it wouldn't be just/fair/right.
But have we considered this even further? Why is it believed/felt that it wouldn't be just/fair/right? Because the person would be getting away with sin? No they wouldn't. Sin kills and destroys in every instance. It kills conscience and character in-the-moment (whether the person realises it or not) and ultimately sin will destroy the sinner (Galatians 6:8; James 1:15). In its unrestrained state, sin destroys instantaneously. However, God is temporarily restraining it from doing so in order to provide a period of salvation (as per 2 Peter 3:9-10). And this temporary restraint unfortunately gives us a misperception that sin is not inherently self-destructive. Because of this misperception, we also mistakenly conclude that unless someone is punished they 'get away with sin', which we believe/feel wouldn't be fair/just/right.
However, because sin is inherently self-destructive, the application of punishment as an (additional) penalty for sin serves no beneficial purpose. And if you stop and carefully consider it, the desire for God to carry out this additional punishment that serves no beneficial (beneficent) purpose is actually a self-seeking desire at its core. It can be so subtle as to be virtually imperceptible. So, does that mean that God will just forgive someone without punishment needing to be paid for their sins? Yes, absolutely (Luke 23:34; also the parable of the prodigal son)! But this isn't how we do things on this earth. Precisely! This is because God's ways really are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Don't believe a word I have said above, but consider it carefully and check it out for yourself. I am happy to address concerns people may have regarding what I have outlined because it is a very important issue that has very practical and wide-ranging implications.
Romans 3:24-26
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Romans 3:24-26 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/rom.3.24-26.KJV
Hi Peter
Thanks for taking the time and effort to contribute to the conversation. Would you please outline the point you are trying to convey by presenting this verse?
Thank you.
I belive that Jesus Christ told us the plan of Salvation in a nutshell:
Joh 3:16 MKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
What happens to those who reject the LORD as their King and Saviour?
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to tell us:
2Th 1:6-9 ISV Certainly it is right for God to pay back those who afflict you with affliction and to give us who are afflicted relief when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in blazing fire. He will take revenge on those who do not know God and on those who refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Such people will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction by being separated from the Lord's presence and from his glorious power.
It is a little disappointing that the lesson today glossed over the seeming difficulty of understanding Hebrews 6:4-6. It appears to be saying that people who backslide cannot be reclaimed. So rather than giving a solution ("Paul wants to stress that there is no other way of salvation except through Christ"), there should be a discussion on how this "solution" was arrived at.
Tuesday's lesson discusses Heb 6:4-6
"This sin refers to the person who, after having experienced genuine salvation and what it implies (Hebrews 6:4-5, ), decides that Jesus is a threat to the kind of life he or she wants to have and moves to kill their relationship with Him. That is, as long as the person does not fully choose to turn away from Christ, there is still the hope of salvation."
Seems like there is much hope if we return to Him.
I love today's lesson. It puts together the explaination of Hebrews 6:4. And I do believe also. 2Thessalonians 2:11. Matthew 24:24. Two texts brought up last week, as well as by Shirley, they are simular and can also be explained by applying today's lesson. Kudos to the author and editors for the excellent explaination and others augmentation on todays lesson.
I do like the before and after explaination of. 2Thessalonians 2:11. Before: Because they did not recieve the love of the truth that they might be saved.
After: They had pleasure in unrighteousness.
I do believe that we must surrender to Christ, thus we die to self. To die to Christ is to die to self. Any other way puts you in a tail spin, that is impossible to recover from, except you return to Him Isaiah 55:6-7.
"This sin refers to the person who, after having experienced genuine salvation and what it implies (Hebrews 6:4-5, ), decides that Jesus is a threat to the kind of life he or she wants to have and moves to kill their relationship with Him. That is, as long as the person does not fully choose to turn away from Christ, there is still the hope of salvation."
Now that's good news!!!!