Post 11 of Study: Hebrews 2:1-4

 I think it might be good to post the actual passage I'm contemplating. 

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. ² For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, ³ how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. ⁴ God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (NIV, in this case)

Hebrews 2 starts to get more complicated, at least for people of certain traditions (and I would be in that one, which is making me rethink my tradition to align with Scripture rather than the typical "let's explain this away to make it fit my traditional theology"). 

We first get stuck on "so that we do drift away" or in other version "lest we drift away." What an odd phrase, we might think. This is the first of the four detours of warning in Hebrews, which get increasingly intense and consequential. You can drift away if you don't continue to heed and pay attention to the things you've learned. 

In our hearts, we know this is true. This "I walked the aisle at ten and after a year or so forgot about God's hold on my life for thirty years" stuff has the smell of smoke on it and just doesn't cut it theologically or Scripturally (or in terms of the history of the church). Whoever invented that teaching is no better than those who defend "cradle Catholics" as being ok with God. Justification by faith does not let a person drift away. 

So, we're back to the age-old question about who the audience for Hebrews is: 1. believers, 2. non-believers, 3. believers in progress, half-way believers, and whether 4. apostasy is possible. The answer is all of the above, and they are all of Jewish background (which is far more complex than we think; there was not just one type of Jew at this time). 

We hold on to John 10 -- "no one can snatch them out of my hand" as a promise that any kind of profession of faith makes the person all right for righteousness with God and for eternity. That teaching is just not found in the Bible. The gospel changes everything and (not "but") those who choose not to let the gospel change everything can drift away. We are not pawns in God's hands without any say in the matter. I'm not the Calvinist I used to be, but Calvin was not the Calvinist we think him. This does not negate grace or election or security, at least in my thinking. It simply changes the focus to the human element. To say we have no part in our status before God is kind of perplexing, when you think about it.

The writer's point: if you walk away in light of what has transpired int he gospels and early church, things the readers at that time knew had happened because the witnesses were still alive, there's no escape. Don't reject after you've been part of this. There may be no coming back.