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NASB | Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. |
Bible Question:
What does this verse mean? The verse says that whoever has an evil unbelieving heart will fall away from God? How could a person be in God and then not believe and fall away? tumbleweed, God's Own |
Bible Answer: How is it possible to ever 'fall away from the Living God"? That is a difficult question because it gets complicated by all kinds of assumptions and complications. Let's begin at the beginning: did Adam and Eve 'fall away' from God? Yes, I think that is a fair description. They had a direct and personal relationship with God that none of us can understand. And they knowingly broke that relationship through direct and willful disobedience. Yes, they fell away from God and were literally kicked out of the Garden and later died physically as a result of that falling away. But had they fallen away from an 'eternal life' relationship with God? That's a different thing. Fast forward to the Exodus: the Hebrews did not really know too much about God at this point. But by the time they left Egypt, they had more than enough knowledge about Him to know that *He* was in charge and that He was taking charge over them to make them His people, His Nation, His testimony among the nations (people groups) of the world. They were not entirely happy with everything that this would mean, and they rebelled... repeatedly! Did they 'fall away' from God? Yes, again that seems like fair description. But, again, had they (even Moses and Aaron) fallen away from an 'eternal life' relationship with God? That seems like something very different. And now we fast forward to the world of the early church when Christ has come, has died, has been buried, resurrected, and ascended to the place where He is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father (He. 1:3), and where the Gospel (the good news) of God's incredible grace and mercy (He. 4:16) is being preached to people, beginning with the Jews (Hebrews) first. Are there those who are falling away from God? Well, first of all, there are those who are Hebrews that are rejecting the gospel. Are they falling away from God? That would seem to be an apt description comparable in many ways to the 'falling away' of both the first humans and the million or more people that fell dead in the wilderness over the 40 years of wandering. They have considerable knowledge of God but still reject the gospel. But are they falling from an 'eternal life' relationship? That is a different thing, I think. It is, I think, possible for people to fall away from particular kinds of relationships with God; the kinds of relationships that are of an earthly and non-eternal nature. And there are consequences for doing so, sometimes very serious consequences. But those consequences are not necessarily eternal. The rebelliousness of even Aaron and Moses eventually cost them their life and the privilege of entering the Promised Land. But that does not mean that it cost them their 'eternal life' relationship with God. In much the same way, it is also true that those who *seem* to have an 'eternal life' relationship with God through faith in Jesus may not, in fact, *actually* have such a relationship. Sometimes the reality of the lack of an 'eternal life' relationship becomes apparent in this life (He. 3:14). Sometimes, the reality of the lack of such a relationship does not become apparent until the judgement (Mt. 7:21-23 - one of the most terrifying passages in the whole of scripture!). |