Hebrews 6:4-6 "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, (5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (6) 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."
Do not take these verses in the wrong direction. Before I address what I
believe is being said, I must address what is NOT being said. The writer
is not saying that a child of God can lose eternal life. We are told over and
over that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Let me give just a few:
(John 6:39) "And this is the Father's will which hath sent
me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day."
(John 10:28) "And I give unto them eternal life; and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
(Romans 8:38-39) "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."
We can be assured from these and other Scriptures that no child of God will
ever lose their eternal salvation
So if today's Scripture is not talking about eternal life, what is he talking
about? Remember he is writing to those who have been under the influence
of a Pharisaical system of worship. That system was/is based upon the works of
an individual. We know the Apostle Paul was constantly being confronted by
those who at first eagerly received the Gospel of sovereign grace through the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Read the book of Galatians again. The entire
subject of that book is to encourage them to turn away from self-righteous
works back to the finished work of Jesus Christ.
As long as they held to the law system of worship (self righteous observance),
there can be no repentance. They had to release the thinking that they could
make themselves righteous in the sight of God.
".... seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him
to an open shame." Why was Jesus crucified? We know it was for our
redemption, but what was the motivation for the Pharisees to demand His
crucifixion? Was it not because He spoke so adamantly against them? Was it not
that His teaching was directly adverse to their stand? They demanded He be put
to an open shame by the Roman crucifixion.
The writer is saying to those who still wanted to hold to their own works -
Thinking you can make yourself righteous before God through your works, your
own decisions, your own righteousness, is to openly declare Jesus died in vain.
He did all He could do and the rest is up to you. Today, I say to you by
the Word of God, "Jesus paid it all. His work is perfection. He finished
the work of redemption, thereby making atonement for our sins."