In a work debating the various “warning passages” in Hebrews, Grant R. Osborne (Classical Arminian) and Gareth Lee Cockerill (Wesleyan Arminian) wrote the following about Hebrews ch. 6 and how the only meaningful exegesis of the text is that it speaks of truly regenerated people who have lost their salvation:
Grant R. Osborne:
The Danger (Heb. 6:4–8)
This is naturally the key passage and issue. In light of the low spiritual commitment exemplified in this house church, the author has a terrible fear that some may well commit apostasy. He does not think they will (6:9–12), but he has to warn them because this is the direction they are moving at present. It is difficult to be neutral at this point, for this passage has excited such heated debate that everyone for the most part has taken strong positions. In fact, I am arguing for one of those positions, so how can I be objective? Nevertheless, I must do my best to try!
The structure of 6:4–6 is difficult due to the parallel participles and complex coordination with τε and καί. The best solution is probably to take καί as the major and τε as the minor, yielding this structure:
having been once-for-all enlightened
having tasted the heavenly gift
and
having become partakers of the Holy Spirit
and
having tasted the goodness of the Word of God
and the powers of the age to come
and then
having fallen away
First, the niv was wrong to translate the final parallel participle “if they fall away” (it is corrected in the tniv; see further below). Second, it is nearly impossible to relegate these descriptions to non-Christians. If this passage were found in Romans 8, we would all hail it as the greatest description of Christian blessings in the entire Bible. Third, to take “tasted” as referring to a mere partial or superficial sipping is quite erroneous, for in 2:9 it says Jesus “tasted death,” and that was hardly a partial thing but a full-fledged experience of death (cf. also 1 Peter 2:3, “tasted the kindness of the Lord”).
While some have tried to take the six items one at a time, it is important to feel their cumulative effect. “Once enlightened” (ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας) is most likely a reference to the completeness of their conversion. The idea of “tasting the heavenly gift” (γευσαμένους τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς ἐπουρανίου) further deepens the image, picturing the full experience of God’s grace in the gift of salvation. The word “heavenly” is used because it comes from above (cf. John 3:3, “born from above”) and thereby encompasses forgiveness, the Spirit, and sanctification. “Partakers of the Holy Spirit” (objective genitive) continues the meaning of 3:1, 14 (see above) that they participate fully in the gift of the Spirit (including the “gifts … distributed” in 2:4). This deepens the meaning of the salvation experience they had when the Spirit came upon them (cf. Rom. 8:9–11, 14–17), as they have partaken of a heavenly calling, of Christ, and now of the Spirit. Next, the emphasis shifts to the Christian life, as they have “tasted” (from γεύομαι) or fully experienced two things: (1) “the good Word of God,” often described as good to the taste (Pss. 19:10; 34:8; 119:103; Ezek. 3:1–3; 1 Peter 2:2–3; Rev. 10:9–10) and meaning the goodness of the Word of God has been experienced in their lives (cf. on 4:12–13 above); (2) “the powers of the age to come,” undoubtedly referring to the “signs, wonders, miracles, and gifts” of 2:3–4. The “age to come” refers to the final kingdom, inaugurated in Jesus’ first coming (Mark 1:14–15; Luke 11:20) and operative in the fact that the believer is even now living in “the heavenlies” (Eph. 1:3, 20; 2:6–7; 3:10; 6:12). They have experienced the Holy Spirit and the power seen in the charismatic gifts.
This is a truly remarkable list of experiences, and there is hardly anything to compare with it elsewhere in terms of a brief, creedal-like presentation of the privileges in being a Christian. Yet it occurs in the strongest warning passage in Scripture. In fact, the author says it is “impossible” (ἀδύνατον) to ever again “bring them back to repentance” once they “have fallen away” (παραπεσόντας), not a conditional participle as the niv erroneously translates (corrected in the tniv but strangely retained in a footnote) but part of the string of substantival participles (“those who have once been enlightened … and have fallen away”). Virtually all recent commentators admit this must be final apostasy, the absolute rejection of Christ. The major question is identifying the readers. Could they be true believers who are in such great danger? Our study above of the terms in the epistle for the readers as well as the six participles in this passage force us to answer in the affirmative. So is this the unpardonable sin? Koester notes the options: (1) impossible for the apostate to repent; (2) impossible for other Christians to restore the person (but not God, cf. Mark 10:27, “impossible for men but not for God”); (3) impossible that God would restore such a one (not “could not” but “would not”). This third is by far the more likely in light of passages like 10:26–31 and 12:15–17. In Jesus’ teaching the unpardonable sin was blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28–30), but Jesus is now the exalted Lord, and final apostasy is unpardonable.
The participles in Hebrews 6:6 (“crucifying,” ἀνασταυροῦντας and “exposing to ridicule,” παραδειγματίζοντας) are certainly causal (so Bruce, Lane, Attridge, Guthrie, Koester) and detail both the reason they cannot be restored and, with the present tenses, the ongoing attitude they will have. Those who come and say they wish they could repent show by their very words that they have not committed this sin. If they had, they would have nothing but “open contempt” for things Christian for the rest of their lives.
In 6:7–8 the author illustrates his point by building on the parable of Israel as God’s vineyard in Isaiah 5:1–7, which explains the basis for the divine judgment. There are two kinds of land, both blessed by abundant rain from God. The one that produces a good crop is blessed, but the land that produces only “thorns and thistles” will be cursed. The meaning is clear: the good land refers to those who “go on to maturity” (Heb. 6:1), while the bad land refers to those who “fall away” (v. 6). The thorny soil alludes to Genesis 3:17–18, the curse of Adam, who was told, “Cursed is the ground.… It will produce thorns and thistles” (niv). The fact that “in the end it will be burned” (Heb. 6:8) refers to fiery final judgment (Heb. 10:27; 12:29, cf. Matt. 13:30, 42, 50; John 15:6). (Grant R. Osborne, "A Classical Arminian View" in H. W. Bateman IV, ed., Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews [Grand Rapids, Mich: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2007], 111-15)
Grant Lee Cockerill:
Hebrews 5:11–6:8
The writer whets the appetite of his hearers for what he has to say about the “great salvation” by exhorting them in Hebrews 4:14–16 to take advantage of the yet-to-be-explained privileges believers now have in their High Priest. He gives them an introductory snapshot of his thought by comparing and contrasting the high priesthood of the Son with that of Aaron in Hebrews 5:1–10 and piques their curiosity by announcing that the Son is “a priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (5:10). Thus after shocking them with the fate of the wilderness generation and giving them a taste of the “good things” (9:11) to come, he launches into this exhortation of 5:11–6:8 that is honed to awaken his hearers from their childish spiritual immaturity and lethargy so that they can grasp the truth of the “great salvation” he is about to explain in Hebrews 7:1–10:18. Refusal to apprehend this truth is to “neglect” the “great salvation” (2:3) and is equivalent to falling away. Its embrace is the essence of faithfulness and the means of endurance.
The writer’s description of apostasy is in Hebrews 6:1–8, the heart of this warning passage. In Hebrews 5:11–14 he cautions his readers against an impending sluggishness and unnatural immaturity that may expose them to this apostasy. The writer balances this warning by reminding the recipients of their steadfast past (6:9–12) and then urging them to continue that steadfastness by being like Abraham (6:13–20) and others (cf. 11:1–40) who received the promises assured by God’s oath. We will first direct our attention to the picture of apostasy at the core of this admonition in 6:4–8 and then look at the sluggishness described in 5:11–14 that threatens to draw the slothful into apostasy.
In Hebrews 6:4–8 the Greek article joins five substantive participles to form a description of true believers who fall away. The first four of these participles put the genuine character of their faith beyond dispute. The “once” accompanying the first participle underscores the significance of the aorist as indicative of spiritual privileges truly experienced. Nothing is more distinctively Christian than the fact that they have experienced “the powers of the coming age” of salvation. This description of their experience anticipates the magnitude of Christ’s work soon to be explained in Hebrews 7:1–10:18.
To argue that these verses do not describe “regenerate” persons because Hebrews sees salvation (primarily!) as something people receive only at the judgment is to play with words. It is merely another way of saying that there is no state of grace in this life from which a person cannot fall. Indeed, focus on the hortatory sections of Hebrews may blind the interpreter to Hebrews’s emphasis on the great privileges Christ our High Priest makes available to believers in the present: “forgiveness” of sin (10:17–18), a “cleansed” conscience (9:14; 10:22), God’s law written on the heart (10:14–18), and access to the heavenly throne room through a Great High Priest in order to receive “mercy” and “grace” (4:14–16; 10:19–25; 12:22–24). Thus, reduction of these participles to a description of sub-Christian experience is diametrically opposed to the author’s intended use. Their cumulative effect is to emphasize the breadth and richness of the spiritual benefits received from God and thus the greater obligation to honor God with continued faithfulness. “God’s salvation and presence are the unquestionable reality of their lives.”
The fifth of the aorist participles occurs in Hebrews 6:6 and describes these same people of genuine faith as having “fallen away” (παραπεσόντας). The fact that this participle too is substantive and joined to the other four participles by the same article binds the genuine nature of their faith and the reality of their fall into the closest relationship. No one would argue that this term always means a fall from grace resulting in eternal loss from which there is no recovery. However, the immediate context, especially the phrase “it is impossible to renew them again to repentance,” makes it clear that in 6:6 it is referring to a “fall” into irreversible apostasy. Like Esau (12:17) and the wilderness generation, these people have turned “away from the living God” (3:12). This is not a “fall” caused by accident or mishap. It is a deliberate choice to court the values and friendship of unbelieving society and an abandonment of God despite this grand experience of his goodness.
Use of the third person has freed the writer to join this description of true faith and apostasy in one substantive construction as described above. The whole has conditional force—“if people with true Christian experience fall away.” If this description of true faith did not reflect the experience of his readers, the author’s exhortation would have no force. If they had already “fallen away,” it would have been to no purpose—“but we are persuaded better things of you” (6:9). It is because they have had such an experience that he would have them avoid falling away.
The two present participles of Hebrews 6:6 and the parable of the field in 6:7–8 further certify that this “falling away” is apostasy. These causal participles, “crucifying again” and “exposing to public disgrace,”45 describe a severance from the benefits of Christ that leaves no basis for renewed repentance. Fear of the Canaanites led the wilderness generation to turn “away from the living God” (3:12) by rejecting his provision, his proffered promise, and his power. Fear of society’s approbation appears to have been leading these Christian believers to reject God’s power and promise provided in the crucifixion of Christ.
The contrast between fruitful and unfruitful “soil” in Hebrews 6:7–8 illustrates and reinforces what has been said in 6:4–6 about those who have received the grace of God and then turned away. It is important to note that there is really only one soil in this passage. In verse 7 this soil is described by two attributive participial phrases. The first of these participles describes it as receiving benefits—“drinking the rain often coming upon it.” The second describes the land as giving an appropriate response by “bringing forth a crop useful to those on account of whom it is farmed.” The conditional participle of verse 8, however, implies, “What if this very same soil brings forth weeds and thistles?” The “burning,” which is the end of such unresponsive ground, is certainly indicative of eternal judgment. The qualification “near” gives the writer permission to open the next paragraph with “But we are persuaded better things of you” (6:9).
But what about the “sluggishness” or “immaturity” for which the writer castigates his hearers in Hebrews 5:11–14 and the concomitant “maturity” (6:1) to which he urges them? The author may have intentionally exaggerated their retrogression into spiritual childishness in order to shame them into awakening from lethargy. Notice particularly such humiliating phrases as “those who have need of baby’s milk rather than adult food.”52 If, however, there were not a degree of real retrogression, the exhortation would not produce the desired result.
It is important to note what the author specifically says about this “sluggishness” or “immaturity.” First, he fears that this unnatural “immaturity” will prevent the hearers from grasping what he has to say about the Son’s effective high priesthood (5:11). Instead, their “immaturity” seems to be focused on “the elementary doctrines of Christ” (6:1). Second, this “sluggishness” would prevent them from being imitators “of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (6:12), such as Abraham (6:13–16) and the other faithful in Hebrews 11:1–40. Thus it would appear that grasping and appropriating the “great salvation” of Christ’s high priesthood as described in Hebrews 7:1–10:18 is the means of imitating those who “through faith and endurance” inherit what God has promised and is thus the very opposite of this sluggish immaturity, which is retarding the readers’ advance. It is the “solid food” that they should begin to chew. It is the “word of righteousness” (5:13) that will enable the readers to follow the examples of the “righteous” in Hebrews 10:38–11:40. It appears then that failure to appropriate the benefits of Christ’s high priestly work is failure to follow the example of the faithful, which results in loss of entrance into the heavenly homeland.
This understanding of the passage is confirmed by a look at “maturity” (τελειότητα) in Hebrews 6:1: “let us go on in the way of maturity.” The writer exploits the fact that this word means both “maturity” and “perfection.” He employs it here in contrast to the “immaturity” from which he would arouse his readers. Yet he gives content to this “maturity/perfection” (τελειότητα) by his use of the related verb, τελειόω, “to perfect,” in such passages as 2:10; 5:9; 7:28; 10:14; and 11:40. First, Jesus, through his obedience unto death and ascension/session, has been “perfected” as savior; he has become a high priest able to cleanse the readers from sin and bring them into God’s presence (2:10; 5:9; 7:28). Second, those who experience his provision and thus live in faithful obedience have been “perfected,” and they are those who live in this “maturity” (9:9; 10:1, 14; see 11:40; 12:23). Thus, a contextual understanding of the “maturity/perfection” of Hebrews 6:1 reinforces our contention that the appropriation of the preacher’s word about Christ’s high priesthood (7:1–10:18) and accompanying benefits (10:19–25) is the “maturity/perfection” that he urges. Therefore, going “on in maturity” is the opposite of “neglecting” the Christ-provided “great salvation” (2:3) and the only means of entering the heavenly homeland. After expounding this “great salvation,” the writer will apply it in the warning of Hebrews 10:26–31, to which we now turn. (Grant Lee Cockerill, "A Wesleyan Arminian View" in ibid., 272-80)
Further Reading: