WHAT ABOUT APOSTASY?
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. What About Apostasy? Can Back Sliders and People Who
Have Fallen Away from Faith Ever Be Saved?
a) Apostasy is a deliberate abandonment of faith. Several New Testament passages (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-27, 2 Peter 2:20-21) seem to say that someone who has fallen away from Christian faith has no chance to repent and come back. These passages have been interpreted many different ways, and it is fair to say than no one is really sure of their original intent. In their original context, these were warnings, in the strongest possible terms, to the first century Christians not to abandon their new faith because of persecution or false teachings. Thus, the authors may have used some hyperbole (exaggeration) to emphasize the point. Jesus also used hyperbole for emphasis (Matthew 7:3-5, Mark 10:25).
b) If these verses really mean that a person who has fallen away has no chance to repent, that would seem to contradict many other New Testament teachings about God's mercy and constant willingness to forgive. These verses are probably not directed at people who have doubts or who lose their faith and come back later. It is the person who deliberately, permanently and hard-heartedly rejects faith who will never repent, and thus can never be forgiven.
The End ...
1. What About Apostasy? Can Back Sliders and People Who
Have Fallen Away from Faith Ever Be Saved?a) Apostasy is a deliberate abandonment of faith. Several New Testament passages (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-27, 2 Peter 2:20-21) seem to say that someone who has fallen away from Christian faith has no chance to repent and come back. These passages have been interpreted many different ways, and it is fair to say than no one is really sure of their original intent. In their original context, these were warnings, in the strongest possible terms, to the first century Christians not to abandon their new faith because of persecution or false teachings. Thus, the authors may have used some hyperbole (exaggeration) to emphasize the point. Jesus also used hyperbole for emphasis (Matthew 7:3-5, Mark 10:25).
b) If these verses really mean that a person who has fallen away has no chance to repent, that would seem to contradict many other New Testament teachings about God's mercy and constant willingness to forgive. These verses are probably not directed at people who have doubts or who lose their faith and come back later. It is the person who deliberately, permanently and hard-heartedly rejects faith who will never repent, and thus can never be forgiven.
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