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When is Renewed Repentance Impossible?
Hebrews 6:4, 5
Four phrases describe those for whom it is impossible "to renew. . . again to repentance" :
- They were once enlightened (6:4). Hebrews contains the word enlightened only in one other place, where it describes true believers coming to a knowledge of the truth (10:32). To be enlightened is to be converted or saved (2 Cor. 4:3, 4, 6; Eph. 1:18). The word once means "not to be repeated" and refers to something complete rather than partial or inadequate.
- They have tasted the heavenly gift (6:4). Those who think that these phrases do not describe believers use the word taste as proof that the experience of those described was not genuine. In other words, they "tasted" of the heavenly gift . . . they did not eat of it. Earlier in Hebrews (2:9), however, the word taste describes the death of Christ, who fully experienced death. Therefore, to taste the heavenly gift is to fully experience the gift of salvation.
- They have become partakers of the Holy Spirit (6:4). Elsewhere in Hebrews, the word partakers describes those possessing something rather than merely sampling it (3:1, 14). Here it refers to someone who actually participates or shares in the Holy Spirit.
- They have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come (6:5). Powers is the normal NT word for miracles. The people had witnessed the miracles of God in the present that would be manifest in the age to come. Powers probably refers to the "signs and wonders" that accompanied the preaching of the gospel in Hebrews 2:2.
