"Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, 'TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED ME BY TESTING ME, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, "THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART; AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS"; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, 'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.' Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end; while it is said, 'TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.' For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief."Three major views exist with regard to the meaning of this passage (and other related passages found in the book of Hebrews—6:4-14; 10:26-31; 12:14-29). The first view says that these passages are warnings to Christians not to live carnally. The second view, being Arminianist, says that these passages are a warning to Christians not to apostatize and thus forfeit their salvation. The correct view is that these passages are warnings to individuals within the church with regard to the danger of failing to take possession of salvation, thus falling beyond hope into apostasy. When we come to Hebrews 6:4-8, we will note an additional view with respect to that passage.
Our major concern with this passage is identifying who is being addressed. In verse 1, the address is clearly to "holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling," and in verse 6, to the house of God. Again in verse 12 they are referred to as "brethren." There can be no doubt that these are all references to a group of saved people. That is the obvious point. Now, let us examine the not-so-obvious point: Each time the readers are addressed as "brethren," or some other term indicative of genuine faith (cf. vv. 1-6a & 12), the address is qualified. The identification as saved people established in verses 1-6a is qualified in verse 6b (where "if" is the third class conditional—"ean" εαν [the subjunctive mood—implying that the condition is uncertain]; in other words, they may or may not actually be of God's house). What the writer of Hebrews is saying is this: "You are what I have called you (in verses 1-6a), assuming (i.e. "if") you hold fast (v. 6b)." What is the opposite of holding fast? Verse 12 defines it as "falling away" (apistia, απιστια). Likewise, the identification of the saved people established in verse 12 is qualified in verse 14 (again, "if" is the third class conditional—subjunctive mood, as before). In other words, the author addresses his audience according to their profession of faith, since he does not know their hearts. But he does so with clear qualification. His form of address contains the cordial assumption that they are what they claim to be (true believers in Christ), though he clearly has concerns that some within the church may eventually be manifested as apostates. This is a wise assumption to make about any church—past, present or future.
There is a parallel to this form of address in Paul's letter to the Corinthian church. Thrice in 2 Corinthians, Paul refers to his readers as "brethren," twice as "beloved," and in the first verse he addresses the letter to "saints;" but in 13:5 he warns that some of them might not be saved! Clearly his designations were conditioned upon true faith in Christ. Even though Paul addressed the readers as "saints" and "brethren," he knew the likelihood that in any church there are some who, though they fully understand the gospel, have yet to act on it. The author of Hebrews does the same thing; he writes to a local congregation warning them about the possibility of apostasy among some within the congregation, even though he is convinced that most of them are saved (cf. 6:9). After all, how else could such a letter have been addressed? We could hardly expect him to have said, "To the saints and potential apostates." Such would have been highly offensive and does not fit with the tone of the letter. While the passage is addressed to those professing faith in Christ, it is a warning of the danger of failing to take possession of salvation through faith in Christ.
The presence of these conditions is clear evidence that the author was concerned about the salvation of some in the local church. His assertion is that those who are truly saved are those who "hold fast the beginning . . . firm until the end." This agrees with the message of 1 John 2:18-19. Therefore, we should understand the "rest" referred to in 3:14-4:13 as illustrating (analogically) salvation through faith. Those who have placed their faith in Christ have entered that rest—all who have not are strongly exhorted to do so. Again, we have seen that there is no indication from this passage that a saved person can be lost. The message here is this: It is those who hold fast to the end that are truly saved. It is simply the nature of true faith to be "faithful." "Faith" that proves unfaithful was never true faith to begin with.
Borrowed and revised from Sam A. Smith's The Biblical Doctrine of Apostasy.