Sunday, March 26, 2023

W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson on Hebrews 10:31 (cf. 6:4-6; 10:26-29) and the Restoration of the Apostate

  

The preceding passage (from v. 26) and the similar passage, vi. 6-6, have proved perplexing to many readers; and were such a stumbling-block to Luther, that they caused him even to deny the canonical authority of the Epistle. Yet neither the passage asserts the impossibility of an apostate’s repentance. What is said amounts to this—that for the conversion of a deliberate apostate, God has (according to the ordinary laws of His working) no further means in store than those which have been already tried in vain. It should be remembered, also, that the parties addressed are not those who had already apostatized, but those who were in danger of so doing, and who needed the most earnest warning. (W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson, The Life and Epistles of St. Paul [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964], 809 n. 9)