Is it impossible?

Christ4Life

Hey everyone...

Ok when I was reading in the Bible I came across these three verses...

Hebrews 6:4-6
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

But anyone can come back to God regardless of what their past was...

Christ4Life

anyone?

please, if you even have the slightest hint say something...

Unknown

Fr. Tadros Malaty states in his Patristic Commentary on the Book of Hebrews, pages 66-67:

What is the viewpoint of the Church regarding a believer who got baptized, was enlightened with the Holy Spirit, have tasted
the word of God, enjoyed the joy of salvation, and experienced the power of the new heavenly life, then he deviated under the pressure of persecution, or the temptations of sin? If he repents, does he need to be renewed through baptism once more?

St. Paul said that he cannot be re-baptized. He says, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame" [4-6].

St. John Chrysostom emphasized that it is impossible to re-baptize those who fell away and repented88. He says, [It is impossible to repeat baptism, therefore, we cannot practice what is impossible! He says that those who were enlightened, and tasted the heavenly gift, that is, received forgiveness and became partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, that is the educational part, and the powers of the age to come, that is performing miracles and the zeal of the spirit (2 Cor. 1:22), and fell away, it is impossible to renew them again for they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. This does not mean that they cannot repent. God forbids! But it means that they cannot be renewed through baptism. Renewal here means makes new, i.e. “makes a new man,” and what makes new is the baptismal font. It is mentioned that "Your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:5). Thus, repentance works in those who were renewed and became old once they fell away. It liberates them from being aged so they may become strong once more89.]

St. John Chrysostom emphasizes that it is impossible to repeat baptism by saying that St. Paul says that they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. For baptism is crucifixion with the Lord Christ, and repeating it
means repeating the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus as if putting Him to shame.

Christ4Life

Thank you Iqbal....

but I realized something, in the verse that was quoted in the book, it says to be renewed throught repantance, not brought back through repantance (The New International Version). Shouldn't such an important difference be aknowdelged?

Unknown

In the Hebrews verse, the expression “renewal unto repentance” can be understood synonymously as “baptism that leads one unto repentance”, since true repentance is the fruit of baptism, and hence necessitates the antecedent performance of baptism.

The Hebrews verse is thus not saying that it is impossible for one to repent of the error of deviating from the faith per se, but rather that it is impossible for them to undergo the baptism that leads one unto (i.e. makes them capable of) repentance in the first place; they are already capable of, and experience true repentance, by virtue of the very baptism they received upon entering the faith.

In this sense, one cannot undergo the “renewal unto repentance”, through a repentance that is already experienced by virtue of their already being renewed at their first baptism.

Peace.

mikeforjesus

I understand now my previous post was wrong

Unknown

Well you’re reading the verse incorrectly. The public disgrace of Christ is a result of His being crucified again through a second baptism which implicitly declares the first baptism and hence the first occasion of being crucified with Christ, invalid or of no effect.