Hebrews 5-6 is about the need of these
Hebrew, Jewish, believers to mature in their faith. The scripture here that
gets the most attention is the one that says “if you fall away it is impossible
to be renewed again to repentance”.
These Hebrews, who were used to having to
go make another sacrifice each time they sinned, had fallen into that trap in their
Christian faith. They were going back and trying to get saved every time they
sinned. The book will tell them and us many times that what Jesus did on the
cross he did one time, for all time, and it was sufficient to cover the sins of
all humanity that will come to him in faith.
It is impossible to be renewed
again to repentance because in terms of salvation it is a onetime event. By
trying to do it over again you say that what Jesus did for you is not
sufficient and that he must be crucified again for you, which puts him to an
open shame. If your decision to accept Christ was a genuine one, you do not
need to do it again if you fall away (Backslide), in fact it is impossible, you
simply need to come back to him with concern over your relationship being
broken and mend it.
It is no longer necessary to strike the rock (what happened
to Jesus when he died on the cross for us), now we only need to speak to the
rock (because now Jesus sits at the right hand to make intercession for us. To
say that you need to get saved again if you sin deeply enough to lose your
salvation (Which by the way, who decides what is a deep or serious enough sin),
is like saying that you and your spouse have to remarry every time you have a
serious disagreement or do something to hurt one another.
Jesus is not going to
resave you, because what he did the first time is sufficient to cover all your
sins, if you genuinely put your faith in him. Let’s move on from these
elementary things and move into perfection in our understanding of our Lord’s
sacrifice.
