Hebrews 3:12

Here is an exhortation to apply this lesson from the past. Note again that those to whom the writer addressed this epistle were believers: "brethren." Their danger was apostasy, departure from God, not failure to come to God in saving faith. [Note: See Hodges, p. 787.]

"The rebellion he warns against consists of departing from a living, dynamic person, not from some dead doctrine. Jews might retort that they served the same God as the Christians so that they would not be departing from God if they went back to Judaism. But to reject God’s highest revelation is to depart from God, no matter how many preliminary revelations are retained." [Note: Morris, p. 36.]

The Greek words translated "to apostatize" (lit. to stand away, aphistemi) and "apostasy" (defection, apostasia) do not by themselves indicate whether believers or unbelievers are in view. The reader must determine this from the context. Here believers seem to be in view (as in Luke 8:13; Acts 15:38; 1 Timothy 4:1; cf. Luke 2:38; 2 Timothy 2:12 b; Hebrews 4:4) since the writer called them "brethren." Some people refer to Christian apostates as backsliders. However the apostates in view here were very serious backsliders. In other contexts, unsaved apostates are in view (e.g., Luke 13:27; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:11). In still other passages there is not sufficient information to pass judgment on their salvation (e.g., 2 Thessalonians 2:3; cf. Titus 1:14).

Other Scripture seems to reveal quite clearly that genuine Christians can renounce their faith (Matthew 10:33; Mark 8:32; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 3:8). Experience confirms this conclusion. False teachers have deceived many Christians into believing that the truth that they formerly believed is not true, even truth about Jesus Christ. For example, many young people abandon their Christian faith because a respected university professor convinces them that what they formerly believed is not true. The cults are full of people who formerly professed belief in the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith but who no longer do so. However this does not mean that genuine Christians who become deceived will lose their salvation (John 10:28; 2 Timothy 2:13). [Note: See Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. "aphistemi, apostasia, dichostasia," by Heinrich Schlier, 1:512-13.] They will not. We are not saved by our good works, and we do not lose our salvation by our bad works (i.e., failing to persevere faithfully in the faith). Justification is a legal verdict that God renders in which He declares the believing sinner forgiven, and He never rescinds that verdict.

"No believer today, Jew or Gentile, could go back into the Mosaic legal system since the temple is gone and there is no priesthood. But every believer is tempted to give up his confession of Christ and go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:288.]

As often in Hebrews, references to God as "living" imply that He is the giver of life. [Note: Ellingworth, p. 654.]