Subject: Hebrews 6:6 explained |
Bible Note: Greetings John! Excellent post my friend! This is an excellent example of how two brothers in Christ can disagree and discuss Biblical issue - through a friendly examination of Scripture! I’m going to respond in two posts so that we can focus on the different issues more closely. John 17:12 - Was Judas Lost? What does ‘ei mei’ mean? The two words are literally ‘if not’. A. T. Robertson’s "A Grammar of the Greek New Testament" (Long version) says of ‘ei mei’: "(vi) Ei mei. This phrase marks an exception, as in Mt. 12:4; Jo. 17:12. We even have ektos ei mei (1 Cor. 14:5; 15:2; 1 Tim. 5:19)." (pg. 1188). This phrase is used 86 times in the New Testament. All of them that I have examined introduce exceptions. In fact, an adversative pretty much does the same thing. Webster’s defines ‘adversative’ as "…expressing opposition or antithesis." An English example would be: "All of my disciples loved me, but not Judas." Or "All of my disciples loved me, except for Judas. The point is that the statement made in the first clause is not true of the person mentioned in the second exceptive clause. The first clause of John 17:12 says that "none of them have been lost". The exception, anti-thesis, is Judas. There simply isn’t any way grammatically to say that Judas was not the exception to the first clause. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this phrase from John: a) John 3:13 - "No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man." b) John 6:46 - "No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father." c) John 14:6 - "Jesus answered, ‘‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Even John Calvin recognized that Judas was an exception to the rest of the disciples. His way of harmonizing this verse with His theology though was to say that the verse was not speaking of salvation. He said: "The same account is to be given of the passage lately quoted, in which Christ says, that none is lost but the son of perdition, (John 17:12.) The expression is not strictly proper; but it is by no means obscure: for Judas was not numbered among the sheep of Christ, because he was one truly, but because he held a place among them. Then, in another passage, where the Lord says, that he was elected with the apostles, reference is made only to the office, "Have I not chosen you twelve," says he, "and one of you is a devil?" (John 6: 70.) That is, he had chosen him to the office of apostle. But when he speaks of election to salvation, he altogether excludes him from the number of the elect, "I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen," (John 13: 18.) Should any one confound the term elect in the two passages, he will miserably entangle himself; whereas if he distinguish between them, nothing can be plainer." (Institutes - Book 3, Chapter 24, Section 9). Thus, there seems to be only two ways of looking at this verse. 1) It is not speaking of salvation, in which case it can not be used to say that no one can ever reject one’s salvation. 2) Or, it is speaking of salvation, and demonstrates that some who are saved can subsequently be lost. The only problem with option 1 is that John consistently uses ‘destroyed or lost’ as the opposite of eternal life. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |