But in this passage the author makes it crystal clear that he is referring to the saved person (Hebrews 10:10,14).
Those who
believe to the saving of the soul--YES. Those who
draw back to perdition and DO NOT believe to the saving of the soul--NO. (verse 39). Hebrews 10:10 - By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all. Hebrews 10:14 - For by one offering he hath
perfected forever/for all time them that are
sanctified. Does "draw back to perdition" sound like sanctified once for all/perfected forever/for all time to you? I didn't think so. You can't have your cake and eat it too Ralph.
You're not being a very good Berean. You, like so many others, are not reading the Bible for yourself. You are reading what people have written about the Bible and have not tested it for yourself against what the Bible says. I guess the reasoning is these 'learned' mean who are held in high esteem and seem to be educated and spiritual about these things and have been followed and published for decades and centuries then they must know what they are talking about. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It's just interesting that you choose to use a usage of the word 'sanctified' that conveniently makes the passage once saved always saved while the author himself plainly tells us what he means by the person sanctified by the blood of Christ. It's hard to have respect for someone who does that.
Actually, I have read the Bible for myself, numerous times and have tested what it says against what others have said. Making false accusations against others and painting OSAS believers with a broad brush of teaching hyper grace is not being honest, so it's hard for me to have respect for someone who does that.
*To "willfully sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth" (verse 26) and "draw back to perdition" does not describe someone who has truly been
born of God (1 John 3:9) and such a person is NOT sanctified
once for all or perfected forever/for all time but the genuine believer who has
believed to the saving of the soul has truly been
washed, sanctified and justified (1 Corinthians 6:11).
No, it does not mean you would have to say that.
'Sanctified' has several uses and meanings in the Bible. The point is, the author of Hebrews tells us himself which one he is referring to, yet it is soundly rejected and ignored in popular teaching in the church in favor of another application and usage of 'sanctified' to suit a predetermined doctrine of 'once saved always saved'.
Sanctified does not mean saved for those who
"draw back to perdition and do not believe to the saving of the soul" and you just admitted that "sanctified" has several uses and meanings in the Bible, so you are half way there. It's you who is out to accommodate your biased doctrine of eternal IN-security at all costs. It's interesting how false religions and cults, such as Roman Catholicism and Mormonism strongly share your same views about OSAS.
Look at this:
"23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;"-Hebrews 10:23
"do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward."-Hebrews 10:35
Those who draw back to perdition and DO NOT believe to the saving of the soul, obviously did not heed these words because their confession of hope and confidence was obviously not firmly rooted and established from the start or else they would have believed to the saving of the soul.
These exhortations make it IMPOSSIBLE that vs.39 means they are incapable of going back to unbelief.
Not at all.
DID NOT BELIEVE TO THE SAVING OF THE SOUL is not saving belief, so how can they go back to unbelief when they did not truly believe? Obviously, genuine belief was never firmly rooted and established in the first place. Those who
believe to the saving of the soul do not draw back to perdition and those who
draw back to perdition do not believe to the saving of the soul.
No. You did not consider the context. The context tells us in plain words that 'sanctified' means the born again person:
"By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."-Hebrews 10:10
"For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."-Hebrews 10:14
I did consider the context and for the born again believer, sanctified means saved, and the saved believer is sanctified
once for all/perfected for all time, but for the "nominal" Christian who
draws back to perdition and does not believe to the saving of the soul, such a person may have been
"set apart" or identified as an active participant in the Hebrew Christian community of believers, yet has renounced their identification with other believers, by "rejecting the knowledge of the truth" they had received, and trampling under foot the work and the person of Christ himself, which gives evidence that their identification with the Hebrew Christian community of believers was merely superficial and that they themselves were NOT genuine believers who were born again.
You are rejecting the plain words of the passage that defines 'sanctified' as someone who has been perfected in Christ (that is, saved) to defend a predetermined doctrine of once saved always saved.
You are rejecting the context and ignoring the fact that
only genuine believers are sanctified/once for all/perfected forever/for all time (and not unbelievers who draw back to perdition and do not believe to the saving of the soul) in order to defend your predetermined doctrine of losing salvation. Nice try Ralph, but no cigar.
Throughout the book of Hebrews, we see a CONTRAST between genuine believers and unbelievers:
Hebrews 3:8 - Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said,
'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.' Not descriptive of believers. There is no loss of salvation here. Only a failure to receive it. Verses 18-19 - And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that
they could not enter in because of unbelief. That explains the hardened heart. It took them in the opposite direction of God. Heard the truth for a time, but then hardened heart and departing from God became their final answer. Jude 1:5 - The Lord delivered His people (the Israelites) out of Egypt,
but later destroyed those who did not believe.
Hebrews 4:1 - Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have
come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to
US as well as to
THEM; but the word which
THEY heard
did not profit THEM, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For
we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest," although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Obviously, not all of these Hebrews were believers. *Notice that verses 2-3 makes a distinction between
US who have BELIEVED and do enter that rest and THEM who heard the word but did not mix faith with what they heard and will not enter that rest because of UNBELIEF.
*In Hebrews 12:5, we read - See to it that no one
comes short/falls short/fails to obtain the grace of God.
