Hebrews 6:1-8. presents the greatest problem in the Bible. Almost all the ones who doubt that salvation is eternal take Hebrews 6 as their city of refuge. All of them dig their support material from here. They argue that if a man was saved and now has fallen away, it will be impossible for him to be renewed again to repentance. Would that not mean that such a person is through and is doomed to perish? Because many are not clear, they take this passage as reason for man's perishing.

But we have to realize that the subject of Hebrews 6 is not salvation. It has nothing to do with salvation at all. If one wants to understand this passage, he must begin from the end of chapter five. There it says that many who should be eating solid food are still taking milk. According to their age, this group of believers should have been the teachers already. But they were still like babes and were not progressing, but were staying at the same place. Hence, chapter six begins by saying, "Therefore leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be brought on to maturity." The subject of Hebrews 6:1 is therefore progress, and not salvation. If you put the subject of salvation in, surely you will encounter difficulty. The purpose of this chapter is to tell others how to progress, and not to tell us how to be saved. The first thing we must take note of is that the topic here is on progress to maturity, not regressing to perdition.

The apostle was here talking about being brought on to maturity. Verses 1 through 8 can be divided into three sections. We can use three words to represent these three sections. The first section is on having no need, the second section is on having no possibility, and the third section is on having no right. This portion tells the Hebrew believers from these three standpoints that they have to progress. First, they have to leave the word of the beginning of Christ and should not lay again a foundation. The word of the beginning of Christ is like the cornerstone in a building. In building a wall, a person does not need two foundations. The apostle said that these ones had been talking about foundational things. But the foundation was laid already; there was no need to lay the foundation again. The word of the beginning of Christ are teachings such as repentance from dead works, faith in God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. All these are the words of the beginning of Christ. The apostle said that these need to be done only once. There was no need to do them again. He was exhorting them to go on to perfection................,

The second section requires an introduction. Before we read verse 4, let me first tell you about this introduction. Before the apostle wrote verse 4, he anticipated that these ones would ask, "If you say that we should not lay again the foundation, what then should we do if we sin again? If a person has failed, backslidden, and sinned, does he not have to lay again the foundation?" Here the apostle said something in anticipation of their question. "For it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift..." If you have a Greek New Testament in your hand, you will see that the word once according to the grammar of the original language does not refer only to the first item of the list, but to every item in the list. It should read, "...those who have once been enlightened, and who have once tasted of the heavenly gift, and have once become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have once tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come..." This is very clear in the original text. Here is a man who has been enlightened, has tasted of the heavenly gift, and has become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and has tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. The age to come is the millennium. This one has tasted the powers of the millennium. In other words, he has seen and tasted miracles, wonders, healings, and the casting out of demons. If such a one falls away, it is impossible for him to be renewed again to repentance. "And yet have fallen away..." One British brother who studied Greek and who specialized in the book of Hebrews for his whole lifetime said that the falling away here means to have a slip of the foot. When it says that it is impossible to again renew themselves unto repentance, many think that it means perdition. But this explanation is not valid.

If there is a man who has once been enlightened, who has once tasted of the heavenly gift, who has once become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, who has once tasted the good word of God and once tasted the powers of the age to come, is it possible that such a one cannot any longer repent once he makes a slip? Are there cases of fallen Christians who have risen up again? The Word of God tells us that indeed there have been many, and church history also tells us that indeed there were many. Many Christians who had once slipped eventually became the best runners of the heavenly kingdom course. Beginning from Peter, there have been countless Christians who have fallen and have risen up again. If there were no possibility for these to rise up again, then Peter would have been the first one that could not have risen up. He slipped terribly. We can say that he had fallen flat on his face. Peter was not the only one. Throughout the two thousand years of church history, countless Christians have failed. But eventually they became the best testimonies. I can enumerate countless proofs of this. If what was said before was right, then there should not have been a single one; if there is one, the Bible would be wrong.

The apostle was telling the Hebrew believers here that the repentance from dead works, the faith in God, the teaching of baptisms and of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment, are all words of the beginning of Christ. If they have once been enlightened, once tasted of the heavenly gift, once partaken of the Holy Spirit, once tasted the good word of God, and once tasted the powers of the age to come, and have then slipped, they cannot lay again the foundation and cannot again be renewed to repentance.


Please remember that the repentance here is the foundation spoken of in the first section. The repentance here does not mean repentance in general, for in the previous verses there are six items of the words of the beginning of the Christ. The first is repentance from dead works. Hence, we cannot take the repentance we have in our concept and equate it to the repentance here. We must consider the context of the Scripture, and we must expound it according to the thought of the apostle. The repentance spoken of by the apostle is the same as the repentance from dead works in verse 1. The meaning here is that after a man has believed in God and has been baptized, and after he has understood the coming judgment and the truth of resurrection, and has repented of dead works, he cannot repent again for what he has repented of. Once he is baptized, he cannot be baptized again. Once he has believed in the teaching of judgment, he cannot try to believe again. Once he has believed in the teaching of resurrection, he cannot try to believe again. The word repentance here includes all six items mentioned above. The apostle did not repeat the words "to renew again" as many times as I did: to renew again the repentance from dead works, to renew again faith toward God, and to renew again this and that. He only needed to use the words to renew again once. If there had never been anything yet, we would use the words to begin. But if there was something already, we would use the words to renew again. The apostle was afraid that we would not understand the meaning of renew, anakainizo. Hence, he added a further word again, palin. Hence, the repentance spoken of in verse 6 must refer to the repentance in verse 1. If the repentance in verse 1 were mentioned as the second item, we might not be very clear. But thank the Lord, it is placed as the first item. As long as it is the first item, we know that all the other items are like this one.

The apostle was saying that the word of the beginning of Christ can be compared to the foundation. For one to be a Christian, first there is the need for the repentance from dead works, to judge his sins. Then he has to have faith in God, to be baptized, to have the laying on of hands, and to believe in the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment. All these are foundational matters. Once the foundation has been laid, there is no need to lay it again. While one is building on this foundation, even if his foot slips, there is no need to lay again the foundation. Even if one wants to lay a foundation again, it is impossible to do so. For example, a Brother has just come into a church meeting hall from the main entrance on Lekki phase1. After he came into the alley from the entrance, and as he was turning the corner to come into the building, he slipped. What then should he do? His goal is to come to the meeting. Now he has slipped. He does not need to start all the way from Lekki phase1 again. He can rise up from where he has slipped. The apostle was saying that once a person has been enlightened and has tasted of the heavenly gift, if he slips, he cannot repent from dead works again, believe in God again, be baptized again, have the laying on of hands again, and believe in resurrection and eternal judgment again. In other words, the apostle has no intention to say that a man can perish again after he is saved. What he means is that after a Christian is regenerated, he cannot be re-regenerated. At most we can be regenerated once. The apostle was not saying that one is not allowed to repent again. He was saying that it is impossible to repent by starting all over again.


The next part of verse 6 says, "Crucifying again for themselves the Son of God and putting Him to open shame." Some have said that to fall is to crucify the Son of God again. Who can crucify the Lord again? The work of the Lord Jesus was accomplished once for all. He was not like the bull and the goat, which must be slaughtered when they are needed. On your side, you cannot renew your repentance. On the Lord's side, He cannot renew the crucifixion. If you have to renew your repentance, that means that the Lord Jesus will have to renew His crucifixion. If that were the case, then you would be putting the Lord to open shame. You would be saying that the Lord Jesus' onetime crucifixion was not enough, that there have to be more crucifixions. Hence, this is not a question of salvation and perdition here.

eternal salvation is a fact that cannot be overturned. If there is a fallen and backslidden Christian among us, who was once clearly saved and was clear about God's salvation, for him to rise up again does not require a fresh start. As long as he would rise up today, that is all that is needed. There is no possibility of crucifying the Lord Jesus again and putting Him to open shame.

In the last section in verses 7 and 8, not only was the apostle saying that there is no need and that there is no possibility, but he went on to say, in a more serious way, that there is no right. Why do we not have the right? It is because a laying again of the foundation would crucify again the Lord Jesus. If one does that, there would be serious danger ahead of him; he would suffer great punishment. "For the earth, which drinks the rain which often comes upon it and brings forth vegetation suitable to those for whose sake also it is cultivated, partakes of blessing from God. But if it brings forth thorns and thistles, it is disapproved and near a curse, whose end is to be burned." After one reads Hebrews 6, he can see that this chapter speaks of the matter of progress. It is not on the question of salvation or perdition. Hebrews 6 never tells us that a saved person can perish.

Hebrews 6:1-9 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
And this will we do, if God permit.
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

Hebrews 6 speaks of those who after receiving the truth about the salvation of Christ, turned back and reject it and turned back such person cannot be restored to faith again, they are doomed already.

solite3:
Hebrews 6 speaks of those who after receiving the truth about the salvation of Christ, turned back and reject it and turned back such person cannot be restored to faith again, they are doomed already.

Hi bro
You are wrong.Hebrew6:1-6 has nothing to do with Salvation being lost,but on Christain maturity.
1Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3And this will we do, if God permit. 4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
The above verse meant that we that have been saved should progress I to maturity.even if we slip and fall we should get up and move forward,that Christ can't come back and be crucified again for us.
We should get up and move on bro.

Those who think sin is greater than the finished works of Christ are in delusion while they themselves still ask for forgiveness of sins. If their doctrine is correct, their names too should be erased when they sin and write back again when they repent etc. It doesn't add up to scriptures. Scriptures says, when Christ comes again he is not coming to deal with sins. Why? Because he already dealth with it once and for all times.

Goshen360:
Those who think sin is greater than the finished works of Christ are in delusion while they themselves still ask for forgiveness of sins. If their doctrine is correct, their names too should be erased when they sin and write back again when they repent etc. It doesn't add up to scriptures. Scriptures says, when Christ comes again he is not coming to deal with sins. Why? Because he already dealth with it once and for all times.

Thanks bro.longtime.
It's like one travelling from Abuja to OSHODI ,Lagos through road.when he gets to Ojota,Lagos there his car broke down.will he now go back to Abuja and start the trip all over again to OSHODI,Lagos since he didn't get to his final destination(OSHODI) intially?
Or after fixing his car at Ojota he will jus drive down to OSHODI ?
Thanks bro believers need to know the whole Gospel and not just half baked doctrine given to them by there MOG .

ichuka:

Hi bro
You are wrong.Hebrew6:1-6 has nothing to do with Salvation being lost,but on Christain maturity.
1Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3And this will we do, if God permit. 4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
The above verse meant that we that have been saved should progress I to maturity.even if we slip and fall we should get up and move forward,that Christ can't come back and be crucified again for us.
We should get up and move on bro.

I didnt say a Christian can lose his salvation. Heb 6 Vs 1-3, is talking about teaching in the church. The church of hebrews need to move on to perfection not laying foundations again but if it was necessary by the will of God they will come back to the basis.
The person who cannot be renewed to repentance was not saved in the first place.

solite3:
I didnt say a Christian can lose his salvation. Heb 6 Vs 1-3, is talking about teaching in the church. The church of hebrews need to move on to perfection not laying foundations again but if it was necessary by the will of God they will come back to the basis.
The person who cannot be renewed to repentance was not saved in the first place.

Good bro

Amen