Can You Lose Your Salvation? - Hebrews 6:4-6

Hebrews 6:4-6
6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,2 instruction about cleansing rites,[the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting,we will do so.4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

This passage raises some interesting if not controversial questions about the security of one's salvation in Christ. Once you are saved can you lose it? The passage states that it is impossible for those who have tasted the heavenly gift to be brought back to repentance after they have fallen away.  What does this mean?  

If someone is saved can they ever "lose their salvation". The technical term for this is "apostasy". The other side of this argument is often called, "once saved, always saved". This essentially says if we are saved it is by God's grace and just as I couldn't save myself, I can't unsave myself. So how do we answer the questions this passages brings up?  As you already know the most important principle in studying the bible is context. 

The context of this letter to the Hebrews, as we have said, is a letter to Jewish Christians who were being tempted to return to Judaism.  It was hard for them to break from their past religion and its laws, rituals and traditions.   This is why the author encourages them to go beyond the elementary truths which emerged out of their Jewish faith about baptisms, cleansing rituals and issues regarding the resurrection.  What the author is most worried about is that they are going to go back to trying to be saved by the Law.  After receiving the gospel that set them free from the Law, the author's biggest fear is they would return to trying to earn their salvation by religious works and deeds. 

So this in the sense in which they would be falling away, by going back to trusting in themselves for their salvation. It is impossible to "unsave" yourself.  When a person becomes a Christian they are "regenerated". They become a new creation in Christ.  Salvation is God's work in us through the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit.  I can't take credit for my salvation.  Even faith is a gift from God.  So what is impossible in this passage is for a person who has been saved by faith in Jesus, to go back to being saved by something or someone else.  If there was another way we could be saved, then Jesus died in vain.  Or, as the writer says, "He would need to be crucified again".  You can see the absurdity in his argument.  

We all fall down.  It is dangerous to move away from God with an unrepentant heart.  But God is always waiting for his sons and daughters to come back to him, like in the story of the Prodigal Son.  When we start defining how bad we have to fall away from God to "lose our salvation" we are playing God.  God keeps him promises. When God promised to save us, it was not due to our righteousness but His.  So thank God for your salvation.  It is a gift.  You can't lose it, but you can use it to serve God and give your life up as an offering for Him to use.