“Is it impossible to be renewed again to repentance after falling away?“

The Scripture says “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, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 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” (Hebrews 6:4-6).

Has this passage haunted you? Has it kept you from returning to serve the Lord Jesus Christ? Has Satan tormented you with this Scripture and condemned you to Hell thru its misinterpretation, thus resulting in slavery without the possibility of deliverance? If so, you are not alone! Satan has literally lead many to hell thru this lie. There is always reconciliation in the Kingdom of God! (See 2 Samuel 14:14).

First, let us examine how one may perceive this passage of Scripture. What many conclude is that once someone hears the message of salvation in Jesus and accepts Him as Lord and Savior then falls away they cannot come back and serve Him again. This is so far from the truth. If we examine the Scriptures, we will quickly conclude that this interpretation is incorrect. Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, is a good example of the misinterpretation we have concluded about this verse in Hebrews. Peter, who was given the keys of the Kingdom, (Matthew 16:19), fell away. We can safely say that Peter “tasted the heavenly gift” when Jesus gave him and the other apostles authority over all the powers of hell (see Luke 9:1-6). Yet after Peter denied Jesus three times, Christ found room for forgiveness and reconciliation for Peter. Jesus specifically makes it known that He wants Peter to serve Him even after he had fallen away. He makes it known through one of His angels who spoke to Mary Magdalene saying, “but go, tell the disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7). Peter’s name was the only one mentioned because God knew that Peter needed to know that he was still His disciple. We too can safely place our name there knowing that God loves those who repent and have a heart for him even as Peter later proved in the book of Acts. Let us not forget that Jesus even prophesied to all the disciples saying, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me” (Matthew26:31). If they all fell away, how were they reconciled if Hebrews 6: 4-6 condemns them from seeking a renewed relationship with Christ? Again Jesus affirms Peter by telling him to go and feed His flock (John 21:15-17).

What about other Scriptures throughout the New Testament that admonish the brethren to lead God’s fallen back to Him? We are to do and act like the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one strayed lamb (Luke 15:1-7)! Talk about extreme! God is more concerned about one who has strayed from Him than those who are following Him. For example, the Scriptures says, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul”(James 5:19-20). In Romans Paul addresses this concern of falling away and returning in the analogy of the olive tree (Romans 11:22-23). Let us be assured that these verses are not as we have concluded. So what did the writer mean and to whom was he speaking? The writer’s audience was mainly Jewish; hence, the epistle is called Hebrews. A thorough reading will give us a good understanding of the writer’s concerns for the Hebrew people who had accepted Jesus as their Savior, nevertheless, were being persuaded to revert back to Judaism and the sacrificial ceremonies that pertained to sin offerings and sacrifices. He was stressing the fact that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for all time and that He was the completed work for redemption. Those who would not listen had ultimately rejected God’s sin offering, Jesus Christ the Perfect Lamb of God. He was admonishing the Hebrews that Jesus was the suffering servant, the Messiah and there would be no other (Isaiah 53). To revert back to sacrifices would be to deny the one who fulfilled all prophecy and sacrificial offerings. The giving of Himself upon the cross, fulfilled for all time the need to offer up sacrifices (Hebrew 10:12). Therefore, if they were rejecting the works of Jesus as the perfect sin offering and fulfillment of the law, they had missed the mark. The thought here for the writer is this: how can you bring someone to repentance that has believed in the works of Jesus and now has lost confidence in His sacrificial blood by what other means could they be saved? There is none! There will be no other acceptable sacrifice from now on they had rejected and missed God’s salvation! Jesus said to the Jewish leaders “you shall die in your sins, for unless you believe that “I AM”, you shall die in your sins (John 8:24). This is what the writer was conveying to those who wanted to trust in the blood of lambs instead of the blood of Jesus. For the blood of lambs and bulls “are not able to clear the conscience” but only the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 9:9)! For there can be no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22).

Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).