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NASB | Hebrews 6:4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 6:4 For [it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who have tasted and consciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit, |
Subject: Heb6:4-6 Loosing salvation or what? |
Bible Note: Hi, Tim... Yes, it is tough interpreting some of those old letters when the fellows who wrote them aren't consistent even in the same letter. The Reformed hermeneutic is so ingrained in my thinking that I assume that I must be ignorant of the common presuppositions between the writer and his reader. At any rate, that seems a bit more magnanimous than reproving them for lacking clarity... or simply deeming that they were just "all mixed up." Since you find yourself at odds with Arminius, I'll not draw attention, to the other places in which Arminius makes more formal -- although far less succinct -- assertions on Hebrews 6. Only a handful of decades later, John Wesley was much more Arminian in his interpretation of this passage, than was Arminius. Wesley, contradicts Arminius -- although without explanation or argument. (Hence, whereas you disagree with Arminius, you will find agreement with Wesley.) Curiously, after making that statement, Wesley waxes monothematic -- without distraction from the Reformed hermeneutic on the right, or the implied soteriological synergism on the left -- using the entire chapter to support his doctrine of perfectionism. In the monergistic camp there is such unanimity of diverse sources -- extending from John Chrysostom and Augustine of Hippo up through Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John MacArthur -- that it pretty much settles the issue for me. But, I naturally figured a similar, although opposite, consensus would exist on the other side of the aisle, given the criticality of this question to Arminian theology. So, now I'm curious. I'll poke around to see -- if possible -- where the likes of Richard Allen, Charles Finney, Albert Outler, and Clark Pinnock line up on the question. Should that research reveal, at least, a meaningful statistical consensus, I'll share it with you. In Him, Doc |