It is Impossible to Renew Them?

Do you think you have committed a sin or sins that are beyond God’s forgiveness?  One can stray away, but it does not mean it is too late.  I know of a person where someone had used the passage in Hebrews 6 to convince the person that they could never be forgiven.   Here is what she said,

“I fell and was later convinced by a man that even though I came with Godly sorrow and truly was so ashamed of what I had done, that I could never be forgiven.  I felt so hopeless that I wanted to die because nothing mattered anymore if the Lord no longer wanted me then I would just wait until I faced my eternal torment that I deserved.”

 The passage used was Heb. 6:4-6

“For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

This passage certainly is talking about the impossibility of repentance. However, where does the impossibility lay? With God? With Man? Many focus on the word “impossible.”  Yes, we read it is impossible to renew them. However, we are told WHY this impossibility exists. If we look up the word for “crucify,” it is in the present tense. The impossibility lays on those who continue crucifying the Son of God afresh, and repentance only remains impossible while they are doing this.  As the ISV states:

“…and who have fallen away, as long as they continue to crucify the Son of God to their own detriment by exposing him to public ridicule.”

God talks about the hardness of heart because of sin. This is an impenitent heart. Once a person reaches this point, it is virtually impossible for the person to reverse his direction on the road he once traveled. It is not because God is not willing to forgive, the problem lies in the person who will not turn his heart from sin.

Nowhere in God’s word do we find that an individual who is truly seeking repentance has been turned away by God.

“God is not willing that any should perish, but ALL would come to repentance.”

Again, this has nothing to do with God’s willingness to forgive, but with the person who continually rejects and re-crucifies the One who can truly grant him salvation.

“My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”  James 5:19-20