How the unforgivable sin helps us understand Hebrews 6
This is adapted from my video on this subject, which you can view here.
One of the scariest, and most debated, passages in Scripture is in Hebrews 6 — you know, the one that makes Christians wonder whether they can lose their salvation.
Another question that has vexed believers through the years is why blaspheming the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin, as Jesus said in Matthew 12:32 and Mark 3:29. Can Christians commit that sin?
The answers to those questions are related, possibly in a way that some Christians who have pondered those passages might not realize.
Hebrews 6
Let’s start with Hebrews 6. As we should with all Scripture, remember who the immediate audience is. That’s right in the title of the book: Hebrews. It was written to Jews who have converted to Christianity from Old Testament Judaism. That was the religion that they observed all their lives before believing in Jesus as their Messiah.
Therefore, they heard the book in the context of their old beliefs. That’s critical to understanding the text.
The author’s line of thought in chapter 6 begins at the end of chapter 5. In verse 11, the author of Hebrews tells them, “you have become dull of hearing,” and in the next verse, “you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God.”
The oracles of God basically means the sayings of God, which means Scripture, the word of God. So he’s saying, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the Scriptures.
The first principles
What were the Scriptures of these Jewish believers? What we call the Old Testament. They needed to be taught the first principles of the Old Testament. Keep that in mind when going into chapter 6; follow the line of thought:
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.
Verse 1 mentions “the elementary principles of Christ.” You may think, that has to be the New Testament, right? It’s about Christ, so it must be the elementary principles of Christianity.
But remember that Christ repeatedly said the Old Testament is about Him. Therefore, the elementary principles of Christ is the Old Testament.
Later in verse 1, the author uses the word foundation. You see the pattern here: The first principles. The elementary principles. The foundation. It’s all about the same thing.
Now let’s look at what he says the foundation is: repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
That list has always confused me, because I’ve always assumed and always been taught that that verse is about foundational teachings of Christianity. I’ve always wondered, are those things really foundational? Baptisms? Laying on of hands?
If you were to ask any orthodox Christian theologian what the essential, foundational doctrines of Christianity are, almost unanimously, they would say things like the Trinity, the deity and humanity of Christ, the atonement on the cross, the resurrection, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and the inerrancy of Scripture.
So then why is the list in Hebrews so different? Again, we need to read this list as a first-century Hebrew would hear it. Let’s go through each doctrine:
1. Repentance: Repenting of sin is an Old Testament principle; that’s nothing new for them. That’s not exclusive to Christianity.
2. Faith toward God: Notice it doesn’t say faith toward Christ; just God. That’s also an Old Testament thing — Abraham’s faith was accounted to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). The just shall live by faith, says Habakkuk 2:4.
3. The doctrine of baptisms: Baptism is a Christian doctrine, right? We don’t see baptism in the Old Testament. However, the word translated baptisms, baptismos, can also be translated “washings,” as it is in 9:10. That refers to a ceremonial washing that was part of the old Levitical system. Look at Exodus 30:
17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18 “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, 19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. 20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them — to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”
4. The laying on of hands: That has a specific definition and context among many Christians today that doesn’t even consider the Old Testament. But it meant something different to the Hebrews — it was about their method of atonement, which would certainly be foundational.
Look at the instructions in Leviticus 16; this is what would happen on the Day of Atonement:
20 “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.”
Laying hands on the scapegoat symbolized the goat bearing the people’s iniquities. That’s how first-century Hebrews would have heard it; therefore, that’s what it means.
5. The resurrection of the dead: Notice it doesn’t say the resurrection of Christ; just people’s resurrection. Remember when right before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” That’s what this is talking about.
6. Eternal judgment: We see that in Daniel 12:2 — “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
The entire list is doctrines of Old Testament Judaism.
Who Hebrews 6 describes
They’re all still elementary principles of Christ; they’re all fulfilled in Him. We come to Christ through repentance and faith. He cleanses us of all unrighteousness and takes our sin upon Him. He raises us from the dead and gives us everlasting life.
But again, the verses are written to and about Hebrews. That’s crucial to understanding the rest of the passage:
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 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.
Reading that text in the context of Judaism, you know who it comes pretty close to describing? The Pharisees.
You’re thinking, what? Pharisees didn’t become partakers of the Holy Spirit! That can only describe Christians!
That brings us to the other passage I mentioned at the beginning.
The unforgivable sin
In Matthew 12, Jesus heals a man who was blind, mute and demon-possessed. Verse 24 shows us the shocking reaction of the Pharisees: “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
Jesus’ first response is to destroy the ridiculous logic of that (“How can Satan cast out Satan?”). Then He says:
31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
In Mark, Jesus says, “he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness.”
Doesn’t that sound like Hebrews 6?
In both passages, you have a warning of permanent reprobation, of a condemnation that cannot be revoked. Both passages mention the Holy Spirit.
Some Christians anxiously wonder whether they can cross that line, but as with Hebrews 6, we need to understand it in its context to answer that.
The Pharisees’ unforgivable sin was that they witnessed the ministry of Jesus — both His words and undeniable signs and wonders, which were aided by the power of the Holy Spirit — and they still rejected Him. It was a final, hateful, hard-hearted rejection. They had passed the point of no return.
That’s the unforgivable sin. So if you’re afraid you’ve committed it, you haven’t.
Back to Hebrews
The writer of Hebrews isn’t calling his readers Pharisees, but he’s talking to people who are witnessing the ministry of Christ through and among His church.
They’ve been enlightened; they’ve heard the gospel.
They’ve tasted the heavenly gift; they’ve experienced God’s grace among His people.
They have become partakers of the Holy Spirit. That language could be interpreted to mean salvation, but not necessarily. There’s another warning in chapter 2:
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
This audience is familiar with the Holy Spirit’s miraculous work, which bears witness to the gospel. If they’re among the church, they’ve benefited secondhand from the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That may be how they’ve partaken of Him.
The writer’s point in chapter 2 is, you have all the proof you need to believe — like the Pharisees did. God has borne witness to the way of salvation. So if you neglect it now, with all you know, how will you be saved?
That passage can be summed up by chapter 6, verse 5 — they have “tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.” They’ve heard the word and seen the power.
If they still fall away, it’s like they crucify Jesus all over again and put Him to open shame. They do what the Pharisees did.
Contrast with salvation
Hebrews 6 doesn’t describe a lapse of faith, or backsliding into sin, or lingering doubts. It doesn’t describe ignorant unbelief. It describes fully informed, willful, permanent apostasy — the final, decisive, hard-hearted rejection of Christ in spite of all the evidence and revelation that God has given us. Whoever that describes, in the end, they’re no different than the Pharisees.
It does not describe anyone losing their salvation. We know that because of verse 9: “But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.”
See that? Things that accompany salvation are better than what he just described. Therefore, the things he just described are not things that accompany salvation.
Nobody who’s truly saved falls away in Hebrews.
