Sin, Rebellion and Hardness of Heart - how bad theology hurts people

Recently, we have had discussions on the Forum here at AAG.net about whether or not a person is saved eternally by Christ or whether a person can lose (and possibly regain) that salvation. Usually, this question is derived from a misquoting or misappropriation of some verses out of context, where it becomes unclear if God has truly saved us in Christ, or merely set us up for a disappointment.

The main root, I have found, is in a misunderstanding of the book of Hebrews and in particular the passages in Chapter 6. Generally, someone will refer to some of these verses completely out of context from the first 5 chapters, tie them together with verses that have an entirely different context and thereby create a pretext that leaves people doubting if they are saved, or if they may have lost their salvation. 

Please follow with me, as I tell you my story and what God has shown me from a long and in-depth study of Scripture in the original context and with some efforts to study and understand the scripture in the original languages. 

I was saved and truly led by the Holy Spirit to a church that had many great aspects. One of their distinctives, however, was that they believed you could lose your salvation. The same folks would routinely go "down to the Alter" to repent and pray to receive back their salvation week after week. Their Theology rubbed off and I caught that perpetual doubt in myself, after previously experiencing great assurances from the Lord that I was "saved".

The Holy Spirit then clearly led my family and I away from that church. For a season, God led me to many places that also had some good practices, but which also had bad Theology that diverged away from Scripture’s intent. Through that process God drove me to search Scripture deeply for myself to "prove" what was true and right from His word – because frankly many of the things I was being taught were very disturbing. Finally, I learned the vital need to fully understand the context of each particular book and the intent of the verse to the original reader.

My first point is this: before I can understand and apply what Scripture means to me, now – I must first understand what that passage meant to the recipient, back then.

Hebrews, which is the book in question, is one of the most misunderstood books of scripture, chiefly because it is rarely read in its context. In fact, if you do not understand the full context, you will completely misread many parts of the book. So, let’s look at that.

1. The book is written to a select ethnic group, unlike any other book in the New Testament. Verse One of Chapter One says to the audience “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets …” (Heb 1:1 NIV).

So, the book is written by a Jew, to Jews. (Hence we call the book “Hebrews”). Let’s not forget that. This begs the question: why would an apostle single out Jews for this specific book? There is a very simple and profound reason, which colors the meaning of everything shared therein.

1. Therefore, what is the topic? What is the reason for this particular book to be written? We see that demonstrated in Hebrews 2:1 “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard…”. Notice that the contrast is being made to “what we have heard” versus what was heard before. He makes this personal in verse 3, where he says “ This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him”. The writer goes on to explain in the rest of Chapter 2 that the “He” and “Him” being referenced is the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

So, apparently what was happening is that some Jewish Christians were failing to take heed to what Jesus had taught. They were in danger of falling away. But, falling away to what? To sinful lifestyles? Hardly - they were Temple worshipping Jews, not pagans. They were in danger of falling away from the Savior – by going back to the Law (Torah) and thinking they could continue under the Old Covenant.

1. Notice how Chapter 3 is entirely devoted to showing the superiority of Jesus over Moses: “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.” (Heb 3:3 NIV)
2. And in the passage from Chapter 3:16 - 4:3 he goes on to show that refusing to accept the New Covenant is as disrespectful and rebellious to God in their times, as it was disrespectful and rebellious when most of Israel refused to trust God in the Exodus, leading to their 40 years of wandering. 

“Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'…”  (Heb 316 - 4:3 NIV)

You see, the book of Hebrews was written to Jews who were going back to temple worship, sacrificing lambs and doves and continuing to participate in the activities proscribed to the Levitical Priesthood. Rather than accepting that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law (Torah) of Moses, which we now call the “Old Covenant”. In fact, the book of Hebrews uses a term which is not mentioned to the any of the books written to Gentile Christians, where the writer calls the “Old Covenant” OBSOLETE (null and void) because it has been replaced with a New and Eternal Covenant.

So, when Hebrews is talking about Sin, Rebellion and hardness of heart. It is talking about the rebellion of refusing to accept that Christ is the fulfillment of the Law, that Christ is our High Priest and that He alone is the only Savior, the only acceptable sacrifice for sins. The writer is saying that going back to the Law of Moses, is like Israel in the desert when they wanted to go back to Egypt, The LORD God caused them to wander for 40 years for their disobedience.

This is what is meant by “trampling under foot” the “precious blood of God’s own son”. In other words, the one sin that is of concern in this book is the sin of failing to recognize Jesus blood as satisfactory for the final and complete atonement of sin.

Recognizing all of this, you can now see how there is so much rhetorical thinking and references to the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, in the book of Hebrews. The writer is using Rabbinical teaching style to explain to a bunch of stiff-necked 1^st Century Jews that they need to turn to Jesus as “the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Heb 12:2) because He is the “Author of Eternal Salvation” (Heb 5:9). This is a style of teaching and manner of speech that would have been foreign to Gentiles of that time, but which was very evident to the Jewish Christians, especially those who were very biblically literate and most likely to return to Temple worship.

The entire point of the book is a rebuke to the very same people who were telling the Galatians that they needed to be circumcised. But, those points have to be made from a Hebrew/Jewish context in order to be fully understood by the Jews who were tempted to go back to the obsolete system of Moses.

Understanding that all takes some digestion, but once you do, it makes it clear that the only “unforgivable sin” is the sin of refusing to accept that Christ is the acceptable sacrifice for sins and that He has indeed pronounced forgiveness on the whole world and that He is the only Savior. In other words, if we try to devise any additional means to save ourselves, we have in fact failed to accept His salvation.

The points referred in Chapter 6 are entirely rhetorical and satirical – as is typical of Jewish Rabbinical teaching style. That manner of teaching and speaking is still very common among Jews today. It is the same style of teaching that Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount when he taught about having a beam in your eye while trying to remove a speck from your brother’s eye.

There is much more to say on this topic, but I think this is a good foundation for anyone who wants to truly learn the scripture and understand what God is saying to us today through his living and active Word, the Holy Bible.