It is
impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the
heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness
of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who
have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss
they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public
disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a
crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But
land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being
cursed. In the end it will be burned. (Hebrews 6:4-8)
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26)
Ready for a major theological slugfest? Eternal salvation versus Loss of salvation. First, we need to define terms. What does it mean to fall away? If you are saved, and you lie, does that mean to give it up and prepare for hell? Or, if you are saved, can you sin without qualms because “once saved, always saved”?
In Romans 11, Paul writes about unfruitful branches being pruned from an olive tree, and branches from a wild olive being grafted in. The unfruitful branches were the Jews who did not obey and did not accept Jesus. The branches from a wild olive were the gentiles who believed. So, when one grafts in a branch, it involves cutting the original tree and the branch so that the surfaces touch in such a way that sap from the original can flow into the graft.
We all assume that grafts work, but such is not the case either in plants or people. There are at least three reasons why grafts fail: graft incompatibility, improper technique, or environmental conditions. What happens when a graft fails? “The most pronounced symptom of graft failure is a smooth, clean breaking off of a tree at the graft union. This may occur one, two, or many years after the graft is made.” (https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/graft-failure.)
So you could buy a tree, and it could seem to be doing OK for many years, and suddenly break off near the ground. You could graft in a branch, and after a number of years, it falls away to the ground. What that means is that for some reason, the two trees never actually became one. The grafted in part may have received nutrition, it may have “tasted” of the tree into which it was grafted, but it never became truly a part of the tree, in spite of the fact that it looked like one for a long time.
In Matthew 7:22, Jesus warns that when He judges, people will say to Him, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?”
And Jesus said that He will respond, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
He doesn’t say, “You were doing well, but you fell away.” He says, “I never knew you.” It doesn’t matter how impressive a person was or how much a part of the Church that person was. What matters is whether or not Jesus knew them. The graft failed. It does no good to try to replace the scion on the rootstock. This is even more true when it comes to grafting tissue onto or into a human. If the graft does not take within forty-two days, they don’t reuse the same tissue. The tissue, whether plant, animal, or person – once removed from a living entity, is dead. If it is grafted into a living thing, it can be given life, but if it does not become part of the new living thing, it continues to be dead even if it looks alive for a while.
So, the branch that is grafted in cannot provide life for itself. If it falls away because the graft failed, there is nothing it can do to gain life. And those who think themselves Christians, but who never become one with the Body of Christ, they don’t produce true fruit. They may do great works but fail to draw their life from the tree. There is nothing they can do to fix the situation.
It’s said that there is no stronger an advocate for giving up smoking than an ex-smoker. The person who has given up Christ, like Professor Bart Ehrman, is not likely to return easily. Too much of the ego is bound up in the rejection. But with God, all things are possible, and that is our hope and our prayer for those who fall away – not that they will return, but that they will be truly grafted in for the first time.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26)
Ready for a major theological slugfest? Eternal salvation versus Loss of salvation. First, we need to define terms. What does it mean to fall away? If you are saved, and you lie, does that mean to give it up and prepare for hell? Or, if you are saved, can you sin without qualms because “once saved, always saved”?
In Romans 11, Paul writes about unfruitful branches being pruned from an olive tree, and branches from a wild olive being grafted in. The unfruitful branches were the Jews who did not obey and did not accept Jesus. The branches from a wild olive were the gentiles who believed. So, when one grafts in a branch, it involves cutting the original tree and the branch so that the surfaces touch in such a way that sap from the original can flow into the graft.
We all assume that grafts work, but such is not the case either in plants or people. There are at least three reasons why grafts fail: graft incompatibility, improper technique, or environmental conditions. What happens when a graft fails? “The most pronounced symptom of graft failure is a smooth, clean breaking off of a tree at the graft union. This may occur one, two, or many years after the graft is made.” (https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/graft-failure.)
So you could buy a tree, and it could seem to be doing OK for many years, and suddenly break off near the ground. You could graft in a branch, and after a number of years, it falls away to the ground. What that means is that for some reason, the two trees never actually became one. The grafted in part may have received nutrition, it may have “tasted” of the tree into which it was grafted, but it never became truly a part of the tree, in spite of the fact that it looked like one for a long time.
In Matthew 7:22, Jesus warns that when He judges, people will say to Him, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?”
And Jesus said that He will respond, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
He doesn’t say, “You were doing well, but you fell away.” He says, “I never knew you.” It doesn’t matter how impressive a person was or how much a part of the Church that person was. What matters is whether or not Jesus knew them. The graft failed. It does no good to try to replace the scion on the rootstock. This is even more true when it comes to grafting tissue onto or into a human. If the graft does not take within forty-two days, they don’t reuse the same tissue. The tissue, whether plant, animal, or person – once removed from a living entity, is dead. If it is grafted into a living thing, it can be given life, but if it does not become part of the new living thing, it continues to be dead even if it looks alive for a while.
So, the branch that is grafted in cannot provide life for itself. If it falls away because the graft failed, there is nothing it can do to gain life. And those who think themselves Christians, but who never become one with the Body of Christ, they don’t produce true fruit. They may do great works but fail to draw their life from the tree. There is nothing they can do to fix the situation.
It’s said that there is no stronger an advocate for giving up smoking than an ex-smoker. The person who has given up Christ, like Professor Bart Ehrman, is not likely to return easily. Too much of the ego is bound up in the rejection. But with God, all things are possible, and that is our hope and our prayer for those who fall away – not that they will return, but that they will be truly grafted in for the first time.
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