Think Wink.

Michael Bird at Euangelion blogs about the warning passages in Hebrews 5:11-6:12, warning Christians that they can fall away from Christ and never be restored to repentance again. I like what he has to say about it, it isn’t too different from what my pastor had said when he preached on those passages late last year and earlier this year. Here is the paragraph that really gets to Bird’s main point and I couldn’t agree more,

In the end, I don’t like the bumper sticker theological slogan: “Once Saved, Always Saved” precisely because it can give a false sense of assurance to people who should not have it. A better stock standard phrase might be once saved, always saved, if saved! Overall, addressed to the community, the warning passages in Hebrews 5.11-6.12 teach: (1) That God’s grace should be recieved but not presumed upon, (2) Genuine assurance is available to those who genuinely profess faith in Christ, (3) Those who fall away cannot be brought back, (4) the future element of salvation in Hebrews (see David deSilva on this) means that we should speak of eschatological security, rooted in God’s faithfulness, rather than eternal security.

He then cites a powerful illustration from John Piper. This blog post is a good read and I highly recommend you do so.

Evangelical Training

Unpublished Commentaries

Adam/Christ and Pauline Theology