Thursday, June 29, 2017

Is Apostasy Possible For Christians?

Ben Witherington argues that Hebrews 6 does state that it is possible for Christians to fall away from the faith.
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2 comments:

  1. Timothy JosephJune 30, 2017 at 7:21 AM

    Brian,
    This passage, along with the other warning passages in Hebrews have been points of contention for quite awhile. Ben, as usual does a nice job debunking some obvious contrived interpretations, yet Ben seems to see the arosit as still point of time based. He also seems to miss how these passages relate to the purpose for the letter/sermon. If the letter is a warning that Jesus alone is the answer, particularly to Jewish Christians suffering persecution because of their faith in Jesus and reminiscing about being the 'Chosen People' before Christ, then the issue is not apostasy, but faithfulness. The answer for the writer of Hebrews, Jesus alone is truly faithful, so where else can you go? Nowhere, especially not back to Judaism, since Jesus is the fulfillment of all the symbols and types revealed in the OT.
    Tim

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  2. Brian SmallJune 30, 2017 at 8:59 AM

    Hi Timothy,
    What is an "arosit"?
    Ben is an established biblical scholar. I am sure he could tell you how the passages relate to the larger purpose of Hebrews. However, I would tend to agree with Ben that the warnings are real warnings intended to ward off a real possibility for apostasy.

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