cov·e·nant (n): a binding agreement; a compact; a promise.
We are covenant creatures by nature. That is the way God made us; partners not in deity but in the drama about to unfold throughout history. The reason why apostasy warnings are in Scripture is because there are individuals who are part of the covenants but who are not redeemed. You would think that with all of Christ's parables that it would become clear. The church—the kingdom of God—is filled with both genuine converts and false converts. It does not attract everyone, but of those who are attracted, there will be genuine and false converts. The fact that these false converts are in the church, claiming to be Christians, is a clear reason why the warnings of apostasy are necessary.
As we have seen throughout this entire study, there are two groups of apostates. There are the ones who outright turn back on the faith and deny it, rejecting it completely, and there are the ones who remain hidden in the church still going through the motions but completely empty inside of any real transformation. Both these groups have most likely received baptism, which inducts them into a covenant with God—the New Covenant. Just because they are in covenant with God does not mean that they are genuinely saved. That is the first thing that we must recognize. This is why there is so much confusion and error in the church today. The church erroneously misunderstands covenants in general and the New Covenant in specific. Certain individuals teach that the New Covenant is for genuine, born again converts only. However, if this were true, then the statements against apostasy would make absolutely no sense whatsoever. When this is the understanding one has, one inevitably errs by understanding these passages to refer to the loss of salvation. We have seen it in our own churches; individuals who have confessed to the faith and received baptism only to turn their backs on it entirely. These individuals entered into covenant with God and then broke that covenant. By their rejecting the faith or never having come to the faith, they have revealed themselves as covenant breakers.
We can look to the Old Testament for evidence of this fact. In the Old Testament, when a male child was eight days old, he was to be circumcised, which brought him into covenant with God. Being in this covenant in no way meant that he was saved or that they would eventually be saved. Take a good hard look at Ishmael and Esau. They had entered into this covenant with God and yet turned out to be covenant breakers. The Old Testament frequently warned that if you kept the covenant you would receive blessings, but if you broke the covenant you would receive curses.
In the New Testament, infant baptism brings the child into covenant with God, but does not mean that they are saved or that they will eventually be saved. When parents baptize their infants, as is the correct, biblical action, their children become partakers of that covenant. Again, this does not mean that they are now saved or that they will be saved in the future. It simply means that they are in covenant with God. Let me give you an illustration: When you were born into your country, were you born as a citizen with all the full rights and responsibilities of being a citizen? Yes, you were. However, you could not appropriate those rights and responsibilities to yourself. First, you had to be taught them by your parents. Second, as you grew, you had to embrace them or reject them. To embrace them means that those rights and responsibilities were fully and completely yours. To reject them means you are a traitor to your country and should leave. The same concept goes for infant baptism (or any baptism). Baptism does not save. It merely enters you into covenant with God. When you grow, if you accept what you have been taught by faith, you appropriate the covenant blessings unto yourself; if you reject what you have been taught, you are a covenant breaker and you appropriate the covenant curses unto yourself. That is the reason for all the warnings against apostasy in the New Testament! Whether from individuals who make a false profession of the faith, or from children who were baptized into covenant with God but rejected His Son, the warnings against apostasy serve to them to know what the consequences of their actions shall be.
There is a time in the life of every individual when they are at the closest point they will ever be to coming to Christ—maximum light, conviction, persuasion, etc. If they refuse at that point (and they will never be closer), how will they ever be saved? The sad truth of these passages is that they will not, and since a person never knows if he/she is at his/her closest spiritual point, refusing to say “Yes” at any opportunity could potentially render him/her beyond hope. Now you understand why the warnings against apostasy are in the Bible. We will either be covenant keepers or covenant breakers. Apostates are covenant breakers, and the curses of having broken covenant with God shall be theirs.
We are covenant creatures by nature. That is the way God made us; partners not in deity but in the drama about to unfold throughout history. The reason why apostasy warnings are in Scripture is because there are individuals who are part of the covenants but who are not redeemed. You would think that with all of Christ's parables that it would become clear. The church—the kingdom of God—is filled with both genuine converts and false converts. It does not attract everyone, but of those who are attracted, there will be genuine and false converts. The fact that these false converts are in the church, claiming to be Christians, is a clear reason why the warnings of apostasy are necessary.
As we have seen throughout this entire study, there are two groups of apostates. There are the ones who outright turn back on the faith and deny it, rejecting it completely, and there are the ones who remain hidden in the church still going through the motions but completely empty inside of any real transformation. Both these groups have most likely received baptism, which inducts them into a covenant with God—the New Covenant. Just because they are in covenant with God does not mean that they are genuinely saved. That is the first thing that we must recognize. This is why there is so much confusion and error in the church today. The church erroneously misunderstands covenants in general and the New Covenant in specific. Certain individuals teach that the New Covenant is for genuine, born again converts only. However, if this were true, then the statements against apostasy would make absolutely no sense whatsoever. When this is the understanding one has, one inevitably errs by understanding these passages to refer to the loss of salvation. We have seen it in our own churches; individuals who have confessed to the faith and received baptism only to turn their backs on it entirely. These individuals entered into covenant with God and then broke that covenant. By their rejecting the faith or never having come to the faith, they have revealed themselves as covenant breakers.
We can look to the Old Testament for evidence of this fact. In the Old Testament, when a male child was eight days old, he was to be circumcised, which brought him into covenant with God. Being in this covenant in no way meant that he was saved or that they would eventually be saved. Take a good hard look at Ishmael and Esau. They had entered into this covenant with God and yet turned out to be covenant breakers. The Old Testament frequently warned that if you kept the covenant you would receive blessings, but if you broke the covenant you would receive curses.
In the New Testament, infant baptism brings the child into covenant with God, but does not mean that they are saved or that they will eventually be saved. When parents baptize their infants, as is the correct, biblical action, their children become partakers of that covenant. Again, this does not mean that they are now saved or that they will be saved in the future. It simply means that they are in covenant with God. Let me give you an illustration: When you were born into your country, were you born as a citizen with all the full rights and responsibilities of being a citizen? Yes, you were. However, you could not appropriate those rights and responsibilities to yourself. First, you had to be taught them by your parents. Second, as you grew, you had to embrace them or reject them. To embrace them means that those rights and responsibilities were fully and completely yours. To reject them means you are a traitor to your country and should leave. The same concept goes for infant baptism (or any baptism). Baptism does not save. It merely enters you into covenant with God. When you grow, if you accept what you have been taught by faith, you appropriate the covenant blessings unto yourself; if you reject what you have been taught, you are a covenant breaker and you appropriate the covenant curses unto yourself. That is the reason for all the warnings against apostasy in the New Testament! Whether from individuals who make a false profession of the faith, or from children who were baptized into covenant with God but rejected His Son, the warnings against apostasy serve to them to know what the consequences of their actions shall be.
There is a time in the life of every individual when they are at the closest point they will ever be to coming to Christ—maximum light, conviction, persuasion, etc. If they refuse at that point (and they will never be closer), how will they ever be saved? The sad truth of these passages is that they will not, and since a person never knows if he/she is at his/her closest spiritual point, refusing to say “Yes” at any opportunity could potentially render him/her beyond hope. Now you understand why the warnings against apostasy are in the Bible. We will either be covenant keepers or covenant breakers. Apostates are covenant breakers, and the curses of having broken covenant with God shall be theirs.