Of Salvation, Its Loss, and its Perseverance

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:28-39)

This is, quite simply, a hard passage. As a TULIP pusher (coined by our own Pilot Missionary), I do not believe this contradicts the doctrine of the Perseverance to the Saints. I am going to make three points on this subject. I will present two arguments why this does not contradict the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints and why it does pose a problem for that doctrine of spiritual insecurity; i.e., we can loose our salvation. But I do feel it is very necessary to first put forth wither in Scripture as defines the doctrine of Perseverance. Lets us look to Scripture as our advocate, in John 5:24 we are told them as "hear the Word and believes him who sent me[Christ] has eternal life" and will not come into judgement. Both John 6:35-37 and John 10:27-29 tell us that "All that the Father gives me[Christ] will come to me, and whoever comes to me I[Christ] will never cast out" and that "My Father, who has given them[Christ's sheep] to me[Christ], is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." And thees not to mention Romans 8:1, Romans 8:35-39, Rom 11:29, and Hebrews 3:14. These passages strongly defend the doctrine, and many others as are said to contradict this doctrine do nothing of the sort. However, the passage of Hebrews 10:28-29 seem to throw a monkey wrench into the mix. Therefore, I hope to clarify with the following three points.

First, we need always, when reading a passage as defines a theological point to read it in context. Above I quoted the whole passage all the way to verse 39. Wherein we will find our first defense and a great point. Verse 39 says:

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

We have here where Paul explains to us that we have 1.) "faith" and 2.) "preserve" our souls. Please note Ephesians 2:8-10. By faith, our souls are preserved and from Ephesians we see that this faith is not of us but a gift of God. Quite simply, the Lord saved us and will carry His work to completion (Philippians 1:6). So what does this say to the loss of our salvation in context of the full passage in Hebrews 10? Well, what we have here is a picture of the terrible wrath that should come on us should we shun what the Lord hath done in our hearts. This is a picture of the consequence of what could be if we did shun the Lord but, as v.39 says, we hope of promise in our sealed faith. What then are we told? We are told not to fall away and that the wrath of God for doing so would be great. It is a warning of what would happen, not what does happen to them as are chosen.

Second, we do infact have examples of them as appear to "fall away". The argument for this goes thusly, that these individuals were quite simply never saved in the first place. Our Biblical example was King Saul, 1 Samuel 16:14, "Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul". We do not have a picture of a man "after God's own heart" but a man of rebellion and sin. He was never truly of God's fold. This can be evidenced in Saul's life. Let us look briefly, in 1 Sam. 9:5-8 shows us that Saul was not a man of God and that his servant knew more about the Lord and the Prophet Samuel than even did he. Saul himself had tried to hide himself from God's calling (1 Sam. 10:22). Further, Samuel disobeyed, a sign of his reverence in his heart for God, before the Spirit of the Lord left him (1 Samuel 15:22). Samuel was never truly saved. However this passage would and did apply to him as the Lord was quick in His wrath upon Saul and the kingdom was indeed torn from him. Which brings us to our final point.

Third and finally, this passage posses a problem for them as believe you can loose your salvation and you must come back to faith. If you read this passage fully, you will see that when one "shrinks back" he is "destroyed". The passage is very harsh in its description of them as "spurn the Son of God", "profane the blood of the covenant", and has "outraged the Spirit of Grace" (Heb 10:29). And we are told in v.39 that these "who shrink back... are destroyed" (Heb 10:39). So this passage is as difficult for those against the Perseverance of the Saints as it is presumed to be for them who hold to that doctrine. For my part, I feel that my first point is our strongest defense and, as always, encourage you to read in context and let Scripture interpret Scripture. The grace of Christ be with you.

Soli Deo Gloria