A friend of mine on Facebook put out the question: What is your interpretation of Hebrews 6:4?
Here is Hebrews 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once aenlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have atasted the good word of God, and the powers of the bworld to come,
There are multiple ways to interpret this scripture because there is a lot of ambiguity. What does “enlightened” mean? What does it mean to taste of the heavenly gift and be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost? What does it mean to taste the good word of God, or the powers of the world to come? What does it mean that those who fall away cannot be renewed? What does it mean to fall away? What does it mean to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame?
Each of these parts of this relatively brief scripture could be interpreted in a number of ways, but which interpretation is true?
Let us begin by making an assumption, which you are free to disagree with if you choose, and it is that there is only one correct interpretation of this scripture. If you accept this as fact, then how can one know the true interpretation? I would put forth the argument that there are only two ways to know what the true interpretation is:
1. God tells you.
2. An authorized servant of God tells you, and the Holy Ghost confirms it to you.
The problem with #1 is this–it only works for you. That is, you can’t go around telling others what the scripture means, at least not with any authority. If everyone had authority to tell everyone else whatever “God told them” then we’d have chaos. In fact, we do have chaos. As the joke goes, ask three Methodists [insert any other Christian religion here] what a scripture means and you’ll get at least four opinions. In order for there to be a widely accepted interpretation of scripture, it must come from an authorized servant of God. Who are authorized servants of God? Prophets and apostles, such as Moses or Peter. If you accept this as being logical, then the only questions are which churches claim to have the same authority that was given to Moses and Peter, and how do you figure out which of them is true church, with authority to speak in the name of God?
But that last question is for another post, not this one. My question to you is can you logically deny anything I’ve stated here? Other than I described, how else could you know for sure what the words in Hebrews 6:4-6 mean?
Sup josh, i know its hard trying to find out what true interpretations is, even as for me, but through God Special revaltion he reveals it through us in his timing, and through our understanding of Jesus.
Lets Go back to the beggining, in what the real issue is, with the Jehovas, the Mormans, Muslems, all have a problem with the diety of Jesus Christ.
The issue is this and to understand Scripute, is which true Jesus do we follow? Jehovas dont beleive that Jesus is God incarnated in the Flesh, Muslems dont believe that Jesus is God in the Flesh, You beleive that Jesus is the Son of God, and that Satan is his brother, and elohim is the father.
What Me and Simon Beleive that Jesus is God incarnated in the Flesh, we beleive in the Holy Trinity. Which the Bible teaches, and there’s many evidence’s in the Bible that Teaches that Jesus Christ wasnt just a man, not just the Son of God, but Also He is God. Question is what Authority is the Bible trying to communicate with us? Gods word is a revalation and communication to speak to us of Who Jesus is, Sin, judgemnt, etc. and that the Bible teaches, and Jesus teaches, that God gave all Authority to Jesus Christ. The issue with the human race is SIN!! and Separation From God, because we are not holy in the eye’s of God, and the ONLY way to Get right with God, is through Jesus Christ, and the shedding of His Blood, Jesus taking our place at the Cross, if you think about it, if Jesus wasnt God in the Flesh, there is no way that sin can be forgiven for the whole world, past present and future in just a regular man, Only Gods Holy Power his diety, Can do that. He died for us and rose from the dead because He Loves us. We must have Faith in Jesus, and Jesus alone.
If you read all through new testoment, it all talks about Jesus, Peter talked about Jesus, Paul the apostle talked about Jesus, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John talks about Jesus, Revaltion talks about Jesus. So what does that tell you and i, and the world? Im not doing this to Debate with you Josh, or to prove im right and your wrong, i’m doing this cause i care, and im concern were you spend eternity. If i didnt care Josh, i wouldnt be reaching out to you. I’ve prayed for you 3 times already in the past 4 hours. its because of the Love of Jesus, Its the Goodness of Gods Grace that Leads us to repentance.
so how can we understand the interpretations of Schripture if dont have our faith and tRust, in the True Jesus Christ, in which the Bible teaches. but i can write, and write, if the heart isnt humble, and fraustration kicks in, How can God speak to you or me? I pray for Gods Grace to be upon you Josh, and that you’ll have a true personal relationship with the true and Living God, the Author and finisher’s of our Soul Jesus Christ. God bless you
Thanks Chester, I appreciate your concern for me and want you to know I don’t mean to be contentious or argumentative. For me, discussing religious issues is fun, and my intent is not so much to convince anyone of what I believe so much as to understand what others believe and why, as well as better understand my own beliefs. With those as my objectives I can come away from just about any religious discussion feeling that it was productive and rewarding, regardless of whether anyone’s mind was changed.
But to get back to our discussion, I believe in a logical God. I know that man doesn’t always understand God’s logic and sometimes to our limited understanding God’s logic may appear completely illogical, but I believe that if we could see what God sees that we would see that everything is perfectly rational and logical. I believe it’s our duty to not blindly accept anything as truth, and I believe God has given us tools such that we can find out for ourselves whether something is true or not. I believe God expects us to put some effort into figuring things out on our own before He’ll step in and give us answers, and so I believe logical debate and exploration is healthy and part of how we learn more about God.
That said, I don’t see the logic in what you’re saying, and I’m not sure you’re actually trying to answer the main question of this post. In fact, your response just goes to prove my point, which is that people have different interpretations of the Bible, and that you can’t turn to the Bible to tell you what the Bible mean. Sorry, let me explain that, because it’s only partially true. There are parts of the Bible that are so simple to understand that we can all agree on the meaning, and the Bible sometimes does confirm its own story with regards to historical facts. There are also parts of the Bible where one part clarifies or sheds light on what another part means. However, my point is that there is no shortage of interpretations for a large part of the Bible, and of course there are plenty of people who deny the Bible as being anything but fantasy, but we don’t need to discuss that since you and I both agree that the Bible is true.
And so from the Bible you have a certain idea of who Jesus is. To you, it’s perfectly clear that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are one being (correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s my understanding of your belief). Mormons believe they are three distinct beings who are united in purpose, and that’s why the scriptures say they are one, and that Jesus is God and vice versa. You can show me scriptures that seem to prove your perspective, but I might interpret those scriptures differently than you do. So how do we know who is correct?