I recently received an email from a man who asked me a very good question. Since we love a well thought out, good, biblical question, let me answer here for all to be edified by. He told me he often listens to my teaching audios and this had raised a question. I will frame some points first then I will post his question and answer it.
He has heard me (often) say that the prodigal son fell away and had to repent and come back to life with the Father. This always raises the question from some people: so can we be born again then have to be born again and again? I don't like to answer that question with just my own words as it is pointless, lets look at scripture:
Luke 15:31
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
The key words here are... alive again.
In order to be alive "again" it also stands to reason you had to be alive once then go dead and now return to life again, amen?
This leaves the clear idea you can go from life to death and back to life again as God's Word never lies. I will leave the born again multiple times to others to wrestle with. Sadly, mostly calvinist men will just deny that you are even born again if you fall into sin, but when I ask "so you do not ever sin?", they go speechless.
The fact is we can be ALIVE in Christ who (according to Romans 6) makes us dead to sin but we can also fall "into sin" that indeed makes us dead again. The bible is full of examples of saints who went into sin and the result is always destruction, NOT a move towards redemption. In Acts 5, a man and wife were KILLED by the Holy Spirit/ God over one sin, a lie. I would call that alive then dead in sin!!!
This is the age old battle where people want to separate faith from works, is a dangerous theology path to take.
Romans 8 says we are not under condemnation.... IF... we walk in the spirit not the flesh ( sin )
Romans 8:1
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit".
Romans 8:8 says .... you cannot please God in the flesh!
Heb 5:9 says....
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
James 2 says this:
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
God's word is so clear on this that only doctrines of devils and false teachers would ever separate the 2 after some simple study of it.
I like to use righteous Noah as a example:
He was favored by God and saved by faith and obedience as he build an ark. (I always ask faith alone people - did faith alone save him or was it his faith then works, that then produced the ark that saved him? Faith plus works, not faith alone, not one bible verse says faith alone. )
Moving on...
Once IN the ark ( the ark is like Christ ) Noah was safe from wrath. But if Noah decided to jump out and go OUTSIDE of the ark (leave his faith / leave obedience to Christ) he would have perished in the flood and in his sin. Again faith and works go together.
A key to this all is the fact that Jesus comes to save us OUT of our sin, NOT save us IN our sin. (Most men want to stay in some sin.)
This is proved in many places by His command to the woman to go and sin no more John 8:11, to strive to be perfect Matt 5:48 and Him asking why do you say you love me but you do not keep my commands John 14:15 and Him saying you are my friend IF you keep my commands. John 15:14
Now with that ground work laid out, let move on to this man's question:
He asked me this:
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"Hi Jim,
I often hear you interpret the prodigal son story as meaning that someone can be born again, leave the faith, and come back.
I consider this often and wonder if it doesn’t possibly mean that humanity sinned, and that the individual sinner came back through being born again.
Also, doesn’t Hebrews 6:4-6 mean that if someone leaves the faith, that they will not return?
If that is the case, then I don’t know how that would square with the interpretation of the prodigal son that I understand you to have".
If that is the case, then I don’t know how that would square with the interpretation of the prodigal son that I understand you to have".
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So this man is comparing the Prodigal son's return to life to the verses in Heb 6:4-6 that seems to state, you cannot return?
Heb 6
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
How do we reconcile these two verses as God's Word never contradicts itself, does it?
Let me answer his question in 3 parts:
1st
He asked....
"I consider this often and wonder if it doesn’t possibly mean that humanity sinned, and that the individual sinner came back through being born again".
No... it does not mean that as the bible clearly shows all over its pages that man can believe (have faith) and still sin and then be lost.
James 5 say this:
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
It is a clear indication you can sin as a believer and be in danger of eternal death! We must ...forsake our sin/repent... to be forgiven not stay in it. 2nd
He also asked this:
"Also, doesn’t Hebrews 6:4-6 mean that if someone leaves the faith, that they will not return"?
Indeed Hebrews 6 says that but the difference is the context.
This question is a great illustration of studying "in context" to not be deceived, confused or stumbled. In context really means to know the 'when, who, what and why' of the verses in question and that will usually explain the true meaning that was intended by the author/Spirit of God.
Now let's finish answering his question as we explore the context of Luke 15 vs Heb 6
3rd
The context of Luke 15 is this:
A man believes in his Father but rebels against him (in sin) and wants to get his money / go do his own thing without being under authority of the Father. He never stopped believing the Father was His Father. No he went into sin and rebellion on his own path. He was alive with the Father, he turned away from the Father to go in SIN and he was made dead/separated from the Father. He then had the option to repent to return to the loving Father he know/believed in, to life again, and he did that! It is all about falling into sin and death with "the ability" to return to the merciful Father that you still believe in but have rebelled against.
Now the context of Heb 6:4-6 is:
The entire theme of Hebrews will solve this puzzle and answer the question. The author of Hebrews is writing to Hebrews (Jews) who had come to faith in Christ as Messiah. Now they were getting persecuted not only by the cruel Romans who hated Christians but by other Jewish leaders who denied who Jesus was and wanted Him killed. Many of these believing Jews were turning back from belief. As proof in Heb 10:25 the author encourages them to NOT forsake "gathering to Christ". The entire book is about Jews turning away from FAITH in Jesus not just those in sin against God.
Now looking directly at Hebrews chapter 6: verse 4-6 and its context we clearly see they were leaving the faith, leaving believing in Jesus was God and Messiah.
Paul warns of enduring in the faith to the end right in Heb 6:11
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
And verse 15
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
In 1 Cor 15:2 Paul says this:
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
So many verses remind us IF we endure and remain we gain eternal life. Here is a article about the IF verses....
http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2018/08/if-verses-that-refute-once-saved-always.html
Romans 11 also deals with this as well as other supporting verses:
Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own
Here Paul is dealing with Israel / Jews that often did not believe at all (stiff necked) but God will take in those who do believe and the same goes for the gentiles. Now let's compare the context of the Prodigal son to those in Hebrews 6.
The Prodigal:
He still had a faith / Father to repent / return to and be made new again if he left his sin.
The Heb 6:4-6 Jews:
they have believed but now denied the faith, rejecting Jesus as Messiah and thus they have NO PLACE to go to be forgiven and find renewed to life. It is impossible for them as there is only one name under heaven we gain salvation (Acts 4:12) so they are hopeless. They now have to find a way to somehow re-believe in Christ/ recrucify Him which it the bible says is impossible as it was ONCE for all per Hebrews 10:10
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Even Hebrews 3 say this:
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we,..... if ....we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Perhaps God will turn people over at some point ( Romans 1 ) who do not endure and there is no coming back? In this we cant claim, or know for sure as all cases are clearly very different but we must be careful to never come close enough to find out! (Like a slippery icy mountain slope, why even get close to it to find out, amen? )
Example of Leaving the Faith:
I will share this sad experience we recently had that helps in this all. We once had a brief fellowship with a Christian couple that ended quickly. The husband was in much sin and false doctrine and I tried my best but he doubled down in sin. We left them with a loving warning that he was going to shipwreck his whole family.
Well, many years later he found out that amazingly his wife is now a full blown witch ( potions, spells and pentagrams and all ) and he helps her in it, in their home as a coven and occult book shop. (The children are all a spiritual wreck and worldly as well.) It appears she has left the faith she had claimed in Christ to now serve her many pagan ways / false god's. She would appear to be a perfect example of the Heb 6:4-6 Jews. It is not just her sin alone that has her in a state of spiritual death but she has denied the Lord who died for her.
What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and the ONLY unforgivable sin? Not believing and this goes right with this question at hand.
Without us knowing her true heart and mind in exact detail (we do see her evil fruit) we would still tell her to repent and return to Christ knowing perhaps, she still had not fully left total faith in him. Perhaps the Lord would still give her repentance and I would then let God decide it all in eternity.
This is the exact situation of the Heb 6:4-6 unbelieving Jews vs the Luke 15 Prodigal who was in sin (but not in unbelief) against the Father.
In closing, it also helps to know that it is God who calls all men to repent Acts 17 but He also grants repentance and He can withhold it. The Lord alone knows the future and perhaps those who He will close the door on are those who will NEVER repent to Him and serve Him.
Does Pharaoh in Egypt come to mind?
I know all of this very well as I was a Prodigal son of sorts. I heard about Christ when I was 18-20, it forever changed me and I believed on Christ. But I went away into the world for 25 years into much sin and carnality. I never denied Jesus was God, no, I was just rebelling against Him being my Lord/Savior/Master over my life. Amazingly, He allowed me to live and granted me to repent / come back to Him 12 years ago.
I am so grateful to Him for His grace and mercy that now I serve Him, daily, with all that I am!
How about you? Are you serving Him with all that you are today?
Remember to always study in context, know the difference between sin that you can repent of and disbelief that makes you totally hopeless. Also if you claim Christ, make sure you are living in a manner that fully shows your saving faith in God, which means you flee all sin to holiness. 1 Peter 1:15
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