Bible Question: once saved always saved? |
Bible Answer: Born again again? Hebrews 6:4-6 (ESV) FOR IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RESTORE AGAIN TO REPENTANCE THOSE WHO have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, [5] and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, [6] if they then FALL AWAY, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. (Emphasis added.) 'For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have (done all these things in Heb. 6:4-5) and then have fallen away...Those who want to make this verse mean that believers can lose salvation will have to admit that it would then also say that one could never get it back again' (MacArthur Study Bible, Word Publishing, 1997). '...it is impossible to restore [them] again to repentance..." ' . . . logically v. 4 implies that if salvation were to be lost, it would be impossible for that person to be born again, lose it, and then be born again again. 'This much is clear: whoever openly and consciously rejects Jesus Christ is unregenerate even if he seemed to have been saved ealier... [Whether he had lost his salvation or never had it to begin with,] either way, the result is identical.' (note at Heb. 6:4ff, NRSV Harper Study Bible) |