 From the Editor |
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Salvation Begins w/the Word of GodTrue RepentanceGod’s Patience & YouBaptism, Are You Ready?Real SalvationHeaven & HellWill Non-Christians be Saved?Infused at the Feast of Tabernacles |
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Is the Bible Real?What’s Your SeedMy Memories From the Feast of TabernaclesWhat Does Baptism Mean?What’s Wrong With Counting?Q&ABy You: PoetryFinding Financial Peace and Freedom |
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Q&A
Does Matthew 5:19 say that a commandment-breaker will be in the Kingdom, though he will be least in the Kingdom? Does this conflict with scriptures that say that commandment-breakers will not be in the Kingdom at all?
Luke 12:42-48 teaches that, when Christ returns to establish His Kingdom, there will be degrees of privilege or dishonor based on how faithfully a person upheld God’s standards. The saints—those who inherit the Kingdom at Christ’s return—will be the most honored in the Kingdom. Some of the mortal subjects of the Kingdom, however, will have to answer for having neglected to uphold God’s righteous standards. Matthew 5:19 does not mean that commandment breakers will enter the immortal, Spirit-born family of God at Christ’s return; it simply means that when the Kingdom is established, those who have annulled even the least of God’s standards will receive no honor. Does Hebrew 6:4-6 teach that a Christian who falls away is lost forever? Hebrews 6:4-6 states, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” The terms used in this passage show that the writer was not speaking of the occasional slip due to momentary weakness or the temporary emergence of an old habit. To “crucify again” Jesus Christ and “put Him to an open shame” involves a deliberate and quite radical departure from the Christian faith. Yes, the passage does teach that repentance is impossible, for a certain class of people. But these two terms, repentance and impossible, provide the key to understanding how the unpardonable sin differs from other sins. If an individual, after coming to true conversion and experiencing the joy of salvation, falls into temptation and commits sin, but then “comes to his senses” and repents of his wrongdoing, he has not committed the unpardonable sin—for he has demonstrated in his own life that for him repentance was not impossible. If you think you have committed the unpardonable sin, are worried about it, and have prayed for God’s mercy, you need not fear that the door of salvation has been slammed shut for you. The very fact that you are concerned about it and have sought God’s mercy demonstrates a repentant attitude and therefore shows that you never “fell away” to the point that repentance was impossible. |