by Jonathan Koehler | Aug 26, 2024 | Articles, Mentors Corner
Of the five warnings in the book of Hebrews, warning #3, found in chapters 5:11-6:8, is one of the most controversial and severe passages in the entire Bible. It is important to remember that eternal security for the possessor *of salvation is a given and therefore loss of salvation is not the issue in this warning. The corollary is also essential for correct understanding: certainty of salvation is not compatible with faith and therefore not in play this side of the grave. However, chapter 6 teaches that legitimate assurance is important, encouraged by God, and hinges on a heart for obedience. The Hebrews referenced in this letter are professors of salvation but are criticized for their immaturity. They have continued holding onto the old and comfortable Judaistic ways as well as not maturing in their new faith in Christ. Chapters 6, vv. 1-2 include practices associated with life under the Mosaic Law. But verses 4 and 5 are marks associated with those who profess new life in Christ. Thus, the author is indicting those Hebrews who are attempting to live under both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The crux of most controversy is the warning embodied in the term “fall away” in v. 6. It carries the idea of “abandonment”. Consider vs 4-6: “…those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they...
by Micah Olson | Aug 12, 2024 | Articles
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). In Part 1 we traced the importance of warfare in the economy of God, looking at being a warrior through the lens of the Old Testament saints, angels, and Jesus Christ. This leads to an obvious question for Christians in the New Testament age: Does this apply to us? And if so, what does being a warrior look like? There are two fundamental passages in the New Testament on being a soldier: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and Ephesians 6:10-17. Both passages teach that the New Testament Christian is to be a soldier and fight wars; however the realm of our warfare is not physical but spiritual. This is not to say that Christians cannot or should not fight physical wars (i.e. serve in the military). There is no New Testament command for or against participating in physical wars. But irrespective of whether a Christian fights in physical wars, his true warfare is spiritual. All of us live in two realities, the physical and the spiritual. The physical world is the one we experience on an everyday basis. It is the one we can see and hear and touch and smell. Our earthly bodies and every other material thing that we experience in this life are part of the physical world. The spiritual world, on the other hand, is not something that we experience in a material sense. But that does not mean it is any less real. The bible teaches us that the spiritual world is more “real” than the physical, in the sense that the...
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