The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Deconversion ?

Pilgrim said:
No, one cannot "fall from grace"! Grace isn't something one "owns/possesses" nor has any control over. If that were the case, then grace wouldn't be grace, i.e., the unmerited favor of God; an action done by God which always produces the results intended. In this context, salvation, which cannot be lost. (Jh 6:37, 39, 40; 10:27-30; Rom 5:1; 8:1, 11, 29-30; Col 3:3, 4; 1Pet 1:5; Jude 1:1)

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1 John 2:19 (ASV) "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us."<br>
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In His grace,

'In verse 4-6 we have a much debated and disputed portion. Calvin, in order to maintain the eternal security of the true believer, argues that those mentioned here, are professors, and not possessors, while those who believe in the "falling away" doctrine use the passage to support their peculiar tenets. I would here say that all this confusion and difficulty is not in the passage at all, but is read into it. God does not say it is impossible to renew any one again unto repentance. What the passage does say is this, "It is impossible to renew them again unto repentance while they crucify afresh the Son of God and put Him to an open shame." (see - margin of Revised.) The emphasis is on the verb, translated seeing, which is in the present participle, and must be read, "while they are." It is a case of "Cease to do evil, and learn to do well." "The falling away" of verse 5 has no reference whatever to moral evil. The delinquent here is not a moral backslider, but is an "Apostate". The evil is spiritual. It is a renunciation of the full, clear and final revelation of God in His Son, and a going back to the beggerly elements of Judaism. It was a state into which the early Hebrew believers were liable and very prone to fall. The whole letter is written to save them from this.'

'How many of God's people have we met and known, who have judged systems of religion around to be unscriptural and contrary to the mind of God and therefore have come out, yet afterward, for reasons best known to themselves, have been allured into them again and are found building again the things they once destroyed, and thus constituting themselves transgressors. (Galatians 2 v 18)

The apostate here is a supposed case, and not an actual one, for please note verse 9, "But beloved we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though we thus speak." The "crucifying to themselves afresh the Son of God," and "putting Him to an open shame," (verse 6) ; is a condition peculiar to this apostacy. It is going back to the Jewish altars and sacrifices. Indeed, to be so guilty demands an altar and a sacrifice.'

The apostacy of this Hebrew letter was of most appalling character. It was the renunciation of Jesus as true Messiah. It was an agreement with His mock trail and ignominious death. It was a revival of the cry, "Away with Him ! Away with Him !" etc. It was truly a crucifixion of the Son of God and the putting of Him to an open shame.'