Here is an interesting challenge I got today to the Heb. 6:4-6 passage.

One of the students in my class posted a question on the COC “House To House” website about the proposed-reading of Heb.6:4-6 that is in HSARG (basically, taking the scripture exactly at face value).

Here is the paste. I am going to space the question way apart from the answer so there is no confusion:

Here is the question from the person in my class:

If you believe that people can fall away, then repent and be in God’s grace again.. then how do you explain Hebrews 6:4-6? My belief is that one can indeed fall away, but once one falls away, one cannot come back. Not because God wouldn’t forgive him, but because he would not have the desire to come back. One can fall away by losing faith, losing penitence, and trying to be justified by works. (It is much harder to fall away than the traditional coc view)

[Jay--how about some props to my student! How is that for a concise description of falling away!!]

HERE’S THE ANSWER FROM THE COC “House To House” WEBSITE:

Good to hear from you again. I think there is an important part of Hebrews 6 that you are failing to consider, and that is verses 4-5, which indicate that these fallen ones have been partakers of the miraculous spiritual gifts and the powers of the age to come.

James 5:19-20 makes it very clear that a Christian can fall away and be restored, (emp mine)… “19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” NKJV

The text is clear that the fallen one is one who is among the brethren, and can be turned back to the saving of his soul.

BACK TO JMF:

Jay, here is what I take from that: The person that answered this question would have to take a Word-only view of the HS–as he is saying that the “heavenly gift” is a “miraculous gift” and thus, wouldn’t apply to us today. And so, it seems, he writes off this whole verse.

As to the James passage, I don’t recall that being covered in HSARG. It is obvious, to me, that in order to be “brought back”, one would still have to be penitent. It appears that he has made the leap that “wandering from the truth” would equate to “falling away.”

Do you have any thoughts as to how I answered these challenges?

Jay, I read an old post today titled, “Myth: Teaching grace is dangerous”. I think you should change the name of that post to, “FACT: Teaching grace is dangerous!”

This has been way harder than I ever would have imagined. I’m trying to stay on top of it; I’m probably putting in 20-25hrs/week in prep for each class. But, new ideas are challenging to a class. I didn’t expect this, since (1) I like to be challenged and (2) we have no spoken theology on falling, and I’ve clearly proven that in the class.

On the positive side, a dialog has been opened up and something that we never talk about is being discussed. My students love the class; some asked the elders if we could skip the devo service and go straight to our class so that we’d have more time. We’ve had three classes, and two of them have gone until 11 pm (seriously). One pre-med student texts me daily with questions. It is an incredible feeling.

But man, I’ve taken a few bumps and bruises as well. I guess I was naive, as I didn’t expect that. My nature is combative, so I’ve really been trying to drape myself in Romans 14 and 1 Cor. 13.

Okay, so this has turned into a rant/vent.

I’d appreciate any feedback you have on the challenge I was dealt. And I’ll certainly take anything else you have to offer for encouragement.

Sometime after I wrote this book, I wrote Born of Water, which deals with baptism. http://oneinjesus.info/books-by-jay-guin/born-of-water/

The short answer is: the Churches of Christ aren’t the only Christians.

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