Hey, Donna. Good to hear from you.
I would say the Bible draws a clear distinction between
falling away and
apostasy. Though we cannot read hearts and the distinction is not always clear to
us (we are often unclear about many people), to God the difference is as clear as the difference between sheep and goats. God is never fooled (Mt. 7.21-23; Lk. 13.22-30).
I see a very helpful text in 2 Tim. 2.12-13. There (in my opinion) we see a clear difference between faithfulness (falling away, backsliding) and apostasy).
if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
It's a fairly common perspective that the book of Hebrews was written to the Hebrew people, and therefore it pertains particularly to them and their various perspectives. (That's not to say it wasn't written
for us, because it was. But it was not written
to us. It was written
to them, but it's still written
for us. Does that make sense?
Scholars like Craig Hill says, "Interpreting this text traditionally (as a discussion of Christian immaturity and maturity) misses the whole point. The author’s theme is not moral or spiritual dullness that needs a refresher course." The book was written, he says, to Hebrew people who were still trying to get by on their Jewishness (a common theme of Paul's). The "foundational Christian doctrine" mentioned in Heb. 6.1-2 is not distinctly or uniquely Christian. "It could play in any 1st-century synagogue." The items that eventually distinguish Christianity from Judaism are not in the list of vv. 1-2, and "Jesus is Lord" is conspicuously absent.
Ken Wuest writes, "The section (5.11-6.12) consists of a description of the spiritual status of the Jew to whom the writer wishes to reach, of a warning not to go back to the abrogated sacrifices of the Levitical system, and of an exhortation to put a heart faith in the NT sacrifice, the Messiah."
Again, Craig Hill: "The audience is not in danger of apostasy related to a continual sub-par, immature Christianity. Rather, they are in danger of exchanging the perfect and more specific teaching about Jesus the Messiah in favor of the imperfect and more general teaching about the Messiah in the old covenant."
Matthew McAfee: "The issue in this passage is not so much a matter of determining whether or not this list describes genuine believers. The text assumes they are members of the covenant community who have experienced the good word of God’s promised rest in the now, and who are destined to experience the powers of the age to come should they persevere. In the same way, the OT covenant context assumes that the members of the wilderness wanderings were members of the covenant community; what was not a given, however, was that all covenant members would by necessity achieve the promised rest. "
Gordon Fee: "Backsliders cannot lose their salvation. However, God will not save a person against their will: if you openly abandon God, he will."
So let's look at those terms in that light. They should be interpreted with the Old Testament force.
"Enlightened." Enlightened is an OT word referring to teaching or instruction. These are people who had been given the Law; they had received the teachings from God. They had been taught and responded positively, but failed to trust the Lord (Dt. 1). The same is true for us today. Many people have the truth, but fail to trust the Lord.
"Tasted." "Tasted" means "to experience." The Jews in the OT sent out spies; they saw the land and heard the promises of God, and yet they turned back. The Jews in the first-century church are making the same mistake: They received all the revelation available, and yet still want to live by law rather than grace. The high-handed sin of apostasy is plaguing them as it did their forebears (Num. 14-15). Just as Paul said in Galatians 3.1-14; 5.1-2: If you turn back, Christ is of no value to you. George Guthrie writes, "The language here is reminiscent of those who fell in the desert through lack of faith even though they had heard God’s voice and seen his mighty acts (3.7-11). Even though they had experienced God’s word and power, they were never people of faith."
"Partakers" (shared in). Oh, the Israelites sure shared in what God was doing. They were sure glad to leave Egypt, sure glad to eat the quail and manner, and drink the water from the rock. They were willing participators in what God was doing, but their hearts were full of rebellion, as we see all through Numbers.
These messages are
for us as well. People who have heard the Word, who have even experienced the promises of God, who were certainly glad to go along for the ride as long as the going was good—but it was never in their hearts. It's the second and third soils in the Parable of the Sower. It's the Jews of the wilderness generation. It's the Christians who are carnal. It's the Christian-in-name-only" fakers. It's the "Christians" who say they have professed Christ but did not have a genuine conversion experience and are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
