I have discussed various passages that show that a truly
justified individual can and indeed has lost their salvation (e.g., King
David Refutes Reformed Soteriology and this
exegesis of Heb 6:4-9). One critic of Reformed theology wrote the following
about Heb 6:4 (“For it is impossible to those who were once enlightened, and
have tasted of the heavenly git, and were made partakers of the Holy
Ghost"):
In Hb 6:4,
the word “impossible” is the Greek αδύνατον,
a combination of the prefix “α” and the root “δυναμις,” literally meaning “without power.” It is
the normal word for “impossible” in the New Testament (cf. Mt 19:26; Rm 8:3). It is used again in
Hebrews 6:18, stating “it is impossible for God to lie,” and it is used for the
same degree of “impossibility” in Hebrews 10:4 and 11:6. Hence, the word has a
very specific meaning. Moreover, the companion passages of Hb 10:26-27 and 12:17
speak of the same type of “deliberate” sinning, which will soon end in God’s judgment,
and thus salvation is “impossible.”
Two key
verses in Hebrews 6 show the direction of St. Paul’s thought. The first is Hb
6:3: “And this we will do if indeed God permits.” It is clear that God is in
control of the process of teaching and growth. Following this, 6:4 begins with
“For it is impossible,” indicating by the word
“for” that God must permit the learning and the subsequent repentance if
anything is going to occur (compare 1Co 3:6’s use of planting imagery to show
that “God gives the increase,” with the planting imagery of Hb 6:7-8 to show
the result of what “God permits”). Hence, it is “impossible” for the apostate
to repent, especially when it involves willful and deliberate rejection of the
truth (cf. Mt 12:45; Jn 6:64-65; Rm 11:8). If the
apostate does repent, it is only by a special movement of God’s grace, usually
due to the prayers and sacrifices of others on the apostate’s behalf (cf. Mk 9:29; Mt 17:21— Douay-Rheims, KJV). In
this sense, “God permits” or does not permit. What limits His permission is the
constraint not to “crucify the Son of God all over again and subject him to public
disgrace” (Hb 6:6).
The second
key passage is Hb 6:8, which states that the individual who rejects the faith
is “reprobate and near a curse, of which the end is for burning.” The use of
“near” (Greek: εγγυς) shows that the individual is on the verge
of death and judgment, if not for God’s grace to spare him. All in all, Hb 6:4
teaches that it is impossible for a willful apostate to repent, unless a
special grace of God permits it to be so. (Robert
A. Sungenis, Not by Bread Alone:
The Biblical and Historical Evidence for the Eucharistic Sacrifice [2d ed.; Catholic Apologetics
International Publishing Inc., 2009], 353-54)
