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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
6. παραπεσόντας. The rendering “if they shall fall away” is one of the most erroneous translations in the A. V. The words can only mean “and have fallen away” (comp. Heb 2:1, Heb 3:12, Heb 10:26; Heb 10:29), and the position of the participle gives it tremendous force. It was once thought that our translators had here been influenced by theological bias to give such a rendering as should least conflict with their Calvinistic belief in the “indefectibility of grace” or in “Final Perseverance”—i.e. that no converted person, no one who has ever become regenerate, and belonged to the number of “the elect,” can ever fall away. It was thought that, for this reason, they had put this clause in the form of a mere hypothesis. It is now known however that the mistake of our translators was derived from older sources (e.g. Tyndale and the Genevan) and was not due to bias. Calvin was himself far too good a scholar to defend this hypothetical view of the clause. He attempted to get rid of it by denying that the strong expressions in Heb 6:4-5 describe the regenerate. He applies them to false converts or half converts who become reprobate—a view which, as we have seen, is entirely untenable. The falling away means apostasy, the worst kind of παράπτωμα, the complete and wilful renunciation of Christianity. Thus it is used by the LXX. to represent the Hebrew מַעַל which in 2Ch 29:19 they render by “apostasy.”
πάλιν ἀνακαινίζειν εἰς μετάνοιαν. Denuo renovare. The verb ἀνακαινίζειν came to mean “to rebaptize.” If the earlier clauses seemed to clash with the Calvinistic dogma of the “indefectibility of grace,” this expression seemed too severe for the milder theology of the Arminians. Holding—and rightly—that Scripture never closes the door of forgiveness to any repentant sinner, they argued, wrongly, that the “impossible” of Heb 6:4 could only mean “very difficult,” a translation which is actually given to the word in some Latin Versions (perdifficile). The solution of the difficulty is not to be arrived at by tampering with plain words. What the author says is that “when those who have tasted the heavenly gift … have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them to repentance.” He does not say that the Hebrews have so fallen away; nor does he directly assert that any true convert can thus fall away; but he does say that when such apostasy occurs and—a point of extreme importance which is constantly overlooked—so long as it lasts (see the next clause), a vital renewal is impossible. There can, he implies, be no second “Second Birth.” The sternness of the passage is in exact accordance with Heb 10:26-29 (comp. 2Pe 2:20-21); but “the impossibility lies merely within the limits of the hypothesis itself.” See our Article 16.
ἀνασταυροῦντας. “While crucifying,” “crucifying as they are doing.” The right understanding of the whole passage depends on the meaning of these present participles in their contrast with the preceding aorist participles. Even the rigid Novatians did not refuse Divine forgiveness, but only Church absolution, to post-baptismal sins. At the Council of Nice the Novatian Bishop Acesius said that those who “sinned a sin unto death” could not indeed be admitted to the sacraments ἐλπίδα δὲ τῆς ἀφέσεως … παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκδέχεσθαι. Socr. H. E. I. 10. Thus the words imply not only an absolute, but a continuous apostasy, for the participle is changed from the past into the present tense. While men continue in wilful and willing sin they preclude all possibility of the action of grace. So long as they cling deliberately to their sins, they shut against themselves the open door of grace. A drop of water will, as the Rabbis said, suffice to purify a man who has accidentally touched a creeping thing, but an ocean will not suffice for his cleansing so long as he purposely keeps it held in his hand. There is such a thing as “doing despite unto the Spirit of grace” (Heb 10:29).
ἑαυτοῖς. This is “the dative of disadvantage”—“to their own destruction.”
We see then that this passage has been perverted in a multitude of ways from its plain meaning, which is, that so long as wilful apostasy continues there is no visible hope for it. On the other hand the passage does not lend itself to the violent oppositions of old controversies. In the recognition that, to our human point of view, there does not appear to be such a thing as final dereliction, this passage and Heb 10:26-29, Heb 12:15-17 must be compared with the passages which touch on the unpardonable sin, and the sin against the Holy Ghost (1Jn 5:16; Mat 12:31-32; comp. Isa 8:21). On the other hand it is as little meant to be “a rock of despair” as “a pillow of security.” He is pointing out to Hebrew Christians with awful faithfulness the fatal end of deliberate and insolent apostasy. But we have no right to suppose that he has anything in view beyond the horizon of revealed possibilities. He is thinking of the teaching and ministry of the Church, not of the Omnipotence of God. Even the stern Montanists and even the hard Novatians—though they denied all Church-absolution to deadly sins committed after baptism, did not pretend to deny the possibility of their receiving Divine forgiveness. With men it is impossible that a camel should go through the eye of a needle, but “with God all things are possible” (Mat 19:26; Mar 10:23-27; Luk 18:27). In the face of sin—above all of deliberate wretchlessness—we must remember that “God is not mocked” (Gal 6:7), and that our human remedies are then exhausted. On the other hand to close the gate of repentance against any contrite sinner is to contradict all the Gospels and all the Epistles alike, as well as the Law and the Prophets.
παραδειγματίζοντας. Exposing Christ to scorn (comp. Mat 1:19 where the simple verb is used).