Hebrews 6:4–6 speaks of people who had experienced a remarkable range of spiritual blessings but subsequently “fallen away” from Christian faith, for whom it is “impossible to renew to repentance”. As it does today, this passage provoked a range of practical questions and criticisms in the days of English Puritan pastor and theologian John Owen (1616–1683). Owen addressed pastoral issues in relation to Hebrews 6:4–6 in several places in his writings. In this article I share Owen’s approach for the interest and encouragement of pastors today.
The Possibility of Repentance
Some Christians feel that they are being addressed in the passage, that it is “impossible to restore” them. Believers who have sinned when they knew they should not, or who had renounced Christian faith but then had a change of heart and wanted to return. Because of passages like Hebrews 6:4–6 they think themselves permanently rejected by God—a frightening and despairing prospect. Have they committed the “unforgiveable sin” that Jesus spoke of (Matt 12:31–32)? There are numerous records from the late-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of terrified Calvinists who supposed themselves to have sinned against the Holy Spirit and thereby put themselves outside the possibility of forgiveness.[1]
In response to such uncertainty and dread, John Owen clarifies the nature of this unforgiveable falling away.[2] Carefully examining the passage, Owen points out that it does not refer to any moral or doctrinal error caused by pressure or temptation or deception. Rather, it is a deliberate renouncement of the whole of Christian teaching. Such an act “cannot be without casting the highest reproach and contumely imaginable upon the person of Christ himself”—as the ending of Hebrews 6:6 metaphorically points out. Only a renouncement as forceful as this would leave someone unable to be restored to repentance.
For those who are fearful that they may have committed an unforgiveable sin, Owen asserts that no sinner who wishes to return to God and be accepted by him should be “discouraged or disheartened”.[3] Indeed, the very fact of their feelings of conviction is evidence that God has not left them blind to their own sin.[4] They are welcome and encouraged to return to following and worshipping Jesus!
A Stern Warning
While Owen was writing his Exposition on Hebrews, he was so concerned about the state of Christianity in England that he paused at Hebrews 6:6 so that he could write something with a more urgent tone. The Nature of Apostasy from the Profession of the Gospel and the Punishment of Apostates Declared (1676) was a copy-and-paste of his exposition of Hebrews 6:4–6, followed by a book-length discussion on religious apostasy and the nature of true Christian faith.
Apostasy, Owen writes, could be by a rejection of core truths of the gospel, or by giving in to immoral living, or by adhering to false forms of worship. He finishes by advising readers on how they might avoid slipping into one form or another of apostasy, and by directing them towards the kind of holy living that true Christian faith requires.
The sheer volume of practical content that Owen provides is much more than would ever be used in one sermon, or even a series of sermons. But it shows the kind of well-developed and practical thinking that teachers and preachers of the Bible should draw from as they see fit for the particular needs and pressures of their own churches.
A Rebuttal to the Charge of Complacency
Opponents of Reformed theology assert that a strong emphasis on predestination and divine grace undermines motivation to actively persevere in the faith and in Christian character.[5] Owen’s The Nature of Apostasy offers a rebuttal to this charge.
For Owen, it is theologically unrealistic that a regenerate believer cheerfully engages in a life of sin. A true believer’s heart is moved to obedience. Such obedience is indeed demanded by the gospel:
These are the terms of the gospel; no one duty is to be neglected; no one sin is to be indulged … If we like not to be holy on these terms, we must let it alone, for on any other we shall never be so.[6]
As New Zealand Puritan historian Tim Cooper summarises, “Free grace did not mean a free and easy ride.”[7]
This exploration of John Owen’s pastoral writing shows how one passage might speak to several different circumstances or issues. A Bible teacher needs to be ready to both wield the passage in the manner that aligns with its original intentions, and respond to ideas or accusations outside of a text’s original purpose. Owen leaves us both with a model to follow and much rich material to draw from.
This article was adapted from the leftovers of my PhD research. The summary of that research can be read on my blog.
[1] Baird Tipson, “A Dark Side of Seventeenth-Century English Protestantism: The Sin against the Holy Spirit,” Harvard Theological Review 77.3–4 (1984): 301–30.
[2] Owen, Exposition of Hebrews 5.86–87, in addition to earlier comments on pages 68–71. Among the many writings on Puritan treatments of the doctrine of assurance, Joel Beeke covers John Owen’s thought on assurance in his The Quest for Full Assurance, 165–213.
[3] Owen, Exposition 5.71.
[4] Owen, Exposition, 5.90–91.
[5] For the context and history of antinomianism in seventeenth century England, see Tim Cooper, Fear and Polemic in Seventeenth-Century England: Richard Baxter and Antinomianism (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001).
[6] Owen, Works, 7:176. Later in the same work (7:217), Owen accuses so-called Christians who live unholy lives of putting God “to open shame”, alluding to Heb 6:6.
[7] Tim Cooper, “The Nature of Apostasie (1676),” in T&T Clark Handbook of John Owen, ed. Crawford Gribben and John Tweeddale (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022), 433.
