Does Hebrews 6 Mean I can Lose my Salvation?
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. —Heb 6:4–6 (ESV)
For many, Hebrews 6 can be one of the most confusing passages in the Bible.
One of the reasons why this passage is so confusing is because of the author’s confusing sentence structure. In the next section, I’ll take the ESV passage and reorganize it so that it is easier to understand.
Hebrews 6:4–6 reorganized
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who
have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift,
and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
and then have fallen away,
to restore them again to repentance,
since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”
WHY Restoration is impossible
At first glance, it seems like the text is saying that “it’s impossible to restore people to repentance (and salvation) if they once shared in the Holy Spirit (were saved) and have fallen away”.
I found that message to be confusing for the longest time. Why wouldn’t those people’s salvation be able to be restored??
Then it dawned on me. The last part of the passage spells out WHY restoration is impossible for these kinds of people. It says that restoration is impossible “SINCE they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.”
The reason why this group of people is incapable of being restored is because they are holding Christ up to contempt. They hate him. They loathe him. They despise him, disregard him, and ridicule him. They are basically crucifying him all over again in their own hearts. Having this kind of heart condition towards Christ is the thing that makes it impossible for these people (or anyone) to be restored to repentance / salvation.
Looking at the passage this way has really helped me make a lot more sense of it.
Conclusion
Anyone who despises Christ in their heart will be incapable of repentance and incapable of receiving salvation. When this passage says it’s “impossible,” that impossibility is due those people’s CURRENT heart posture—if that heart posture were to change, it would then make possible the repentance that was formerly impossible.