Approaching the close of the first century A.D., a grave and treacherous, deceptive danger threatened early Christianity. Was it persecution from those outside Christianity? (Emperor Nero 64 AD., Domitian in A.D. 81, Trajan in A.D. 108) No, the greatest danger came from within the Church. The lurking enemy was apostasy.

Hebrews 6:4-6 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

Those Falling Away Crucify the Son Again

⁴For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶and then have fallen away,* it is impossible to renew** them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put him to public shame. ⁷For ground that drinks the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth vegetation usable to those people for whose sake it is also cultivated, receives a blessing from God; ⁸but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

* Fall Away, Forsake, or Turn Away: (Gr. parapiptō) The sense of parapiptō is to fall away or forsake the truth. – Heb. 6:6.

** Renew, Restore, or Bring Back: (Gr. anakainizō) The sense of anakainizō is to cause change to a previous state, to start anew. – Heb. 6:6

The Greek παραπίπτω parapiptō means to ‘fall away,’ ‘to commit apostasy.’ The Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains defines it as, “forsake, fall away, commit apostasy (Heb 6:6+).”^[1] On this Paul Ellingworth writes, “The meaning of παραπίπτω here, and the significance of the participle (BD §417), have to be largely inferred from the context. Outside the Bible, παραπίπτω may mean no more than ‘go astray, become lost’ or figuratively ‘make a mistake’ (examples in Bauer and MM); in the LXX the verb is sometimes associated with the cognate παράπτωμα (Ezk. 14:13; 15:8; 18:24; 20:27), and sometimes used absolutely (Wis. 6:9; 12:2). However, παραπίπτω and cognates are also used of serious sins: παραπίπτω is used in Ezk. 22:4 of bloodshed, and παράπτωμα is used in Wis. 10:1; Rom. 5:15, 17f. of Adam’s sin, and in Rom. 5:20 of Israel’s unbelief. Michel notes that the Hebrew mā‘al is rendered in the LXX both by παραπίπτω and by ἀφίστημι (2 Ch. 26:18 etc.), which was used of apostasy in Heb. 3:12. The context virtually requires a reference to apostasy here. The language and thought of → 10:26 (ἁμαρτανόντων ἡμῶν) are rather different because they are based on the intervening teaching about the one sacrifice of Christ. Both passages, however, indicate that the author is not concerned to specify the sins which make a second repentance impossible. Once the grace of God in Christ has been received, continued sin is a fatal reversal of faith which puts a person on the side of those responsible for Christ’s humiliation and death.”^[2]

6:6. The severe warnings of this verse apply only to those who commit apostasy from Christ after having experienced an understanding of the gospel and some influences from Christ. The impossibility of restoration comes because those who turn away from Christ are guilty of crucifying the Son of God all over again. They also hold Jesus up for public contempt. The rejection of Christ after confessing him is an act of relentless hostility. The author of Hebrews condemned it as a condition from which a participant could not return to fellowship with God.

CHRISTIANS: How Serious is Apostasy?

God will pardon all who truly repent. It is possible for human beings so to resist the grace of God that they arrive at a state of heart in which repentance is an impossibility. It is not impossible because God would not be willing to bring them to repentance, but it is impossible because the person is so hardened he will not repent. This condition is described in Romans 1:28. People become so completely sinful that God gives them up to a reprobate heart.

The Bible promises that God will keep those who truly know him (John 10:28–29). It also reminds us that “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). Those who claim to have known God but who finally turn away from him demonstrate that they never knew him. Hebrews 6:6 presents a strong warning to willful sinners that they cannot expect restoration to God after their adamant rejection of his mercy. No person with an attitude as contemptuous as the descriptions of these verses (vv. 4–6) need expect repentance. The self-hardening has produced “an impenetrable casing which removes all sensitivity to the pleadings of the Spirit” (Donald Guthrie).^[3]

Hebrews 10:26-31 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

Warning against Willful Sin

²⁶For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the accurate knowledge* of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ²⁸Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” ³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

* Epignosis is a strengthened or intensified form of gnosis (epi, meaning “additional”), meaning, “true,” “real,” “full,” “complete” or “accurate,” depending upon the context. Paul and Peter alone use epignosis.

A Warning to Avoid God’s Judgment (vv. 26–31)

10:26–27. These verses contain a warning which resembles the words of Hebrews 6:4–6: Neglecting to fellowship with believers can lead to a rejection of Christ’s sacrifice for sin. The act of sinning deliberately involved a willful sin for which the Law of Moses did not provide clear forgiveness (see Num. 15:30). The Law promised forgiveness for sins of ignorance, but willful sins had no remedy.

As believers, we have assurance that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9a). The New Testament is quick to offer forgiveness for all types of sins for people who confess and repent. Willful sins can receive divine forgiveness, but people involved in these sins often fail to seek God’s forgiveness by repentance.

CHRISTIANS What Is Apostasy? What Is an Apostate?

The sin against which these believers were warned involved a deliberate rejection of the truth of the gospel. Some were apparently considering leaving Christ to return to Judaism to avoid persecution. Anyone who rejected the sacrifice of Christ for sins would not find any other means of handling sin. Some of the readers of Hebrews were in danger of spurning the only way God had provided to remove sin. Thus the warning that they would find no other path to God open.

If they abandoned Christ, they would face only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire. This describes eternal judgment on those who were not believers. No sinners should expect deliverance when they are guilty of trifling with the living God.

The author of Hebrews did not say that any of the readers had committed the sin he had described. He warned that if such a thing occurred, those who had sinned could anticipate judgment and divine wrath. Anyone who rejected the sacrifice of Christ would find no other answer to the problem of sin.

Should We Expect that Apostates Will Arise Within the Church?

The issue addressed in Hebrews 10 resembles that in chapter 6. The present writer feels that the author of Hebrews addressed a message to those who professed to be Christians and urged them to show their genuine profession by their refusal to apostatize (see the discussion in ch. 6). Hebrews calls the readers, brothers. That means the author related to the readers as fellow Christians. He could not evaluate clearly their inward commitment. If the readers left Christ for Judaism, they would show that they had never responded in faith to Christ. The author of Hebrews spoke to them as Christians and urged them to show their real faith by endurance in their commitment. He probably suspected that all his readers would not respond in the same way. He assumed their continuance in commitment to Christ would demonstrate authentic Christianity. Any other response would show they had never become believers in Christ. He wrote those thinking of returning to Judaism, making sure they understood the serious nature of such action.

10:28–29. These verses cite an example of the kind of deliberate sinning which received divine wrath. Under the old covenant, anyone who rejected the Mosaic Law could not expect mercy. The outlook was for death (Deut. 17:6). Sinners of this type could not expect mercy.

More serious still was the judgment of someone who has trampled the Son of God under foot. This was a condition much worse than violating the Mosaic Law. The words used picture a strong antagonism toward Jesus. To treat as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant involved despising Christ’s work. To insult the Spirit of grace involved an arrogant rejection of the truth which the Holy Spirit tried to communicate about Jesus. These phrases contain a warning to professing believers who were threatening to turn against Christ. Any who turned from Christ could expect divine judgment and eternal rejection.

What Does the Bible Really Say About Apostasy? What Are Some Identifying Characteristics of Apostates?

10:30–31. When we come to God, we do not want to receive his judgment but his mercy. The result of falling into God’s hands is fearful. The apostate who experiences God’s hand in judgment should know that it would be a frightening experience. The anticipation of judgment by the living God should fill sinners with dread (see Heb. 12:29).^[4]

The Greek ἀποστασία apostasia (he apostasia, “a standing away from”): I.e. a falling away, a withdrawal, a defection. Not found in the English Versions of the Bible, but used twice in the New Testament, in the Greek original, to express abandonment of the faith. Paul was falsely accused of teaching the Jews apostasy from Moses (Ac 21:21); he predicted the great apostasy from Christianity, foretold by Jesus (Mt 24:10-12) which would precede “the day of the Lord” (2Th 2:2). Apostasy, not in name but in fact, meets scathing rebuke in the Epistle of Jude, e.g. the apostasy of angels (Jude 1:6). Foretold, with warnings, as sure to abound in the latter days (1Ti 4:1-3; 2Th 2:3; 2Pe 3:17). Causes of: persecution (Mt 24:9-10); false teachers (Mt 24:11); temptation (Lu 8:13); worldliness (2Ti 4:4); defective knowledge of Christ (1Jo 2:19); moral lapse (Heb 6:4-6); forsaking worship and spiritual living (Heb 10:25-31); unbelief (Heb 3:12). Biblical examples: Saul (1Sa 15:11); Amaziah (2Ch 25:14,27); many disciples (Joh 6:66); Hymeneus and Alexander (1Ti 1:19-20); Demas (2Ti 4:10). For further illustration see De 13:13; Zep 1:4-6; Ga 5:4; 2Pe 2:20-21.

“Forsaking Jehovah” was the characteristic and oft-recurring sin of the chosen people, especially in their contact with idolatrous nations. It constituted their supreme national peril. The tendency appeared in their earliest history, as abundantly seen in the warnings and prohibitions of the laws of Moses (Ex 20:3-4,23; De 6:14; 11:16). The fearful consequences of religious and moral apostasy appear in the curses pronounced against this sin, on Mount Ebal, by the representatives of six of the tribes of Israel, elected by Moses (De 27:13-26; 28:15-68). So wayward was the heart of Israel, even in the years immediately following the national emancipation, in the wilderness, that Joshua found it necessary to re-pledge the entire nation to a new fidelity to Jehovah and to their original covenant before they were permitted to enter the Promised Land (Jos 24:1-28). Infidelity to this covenant blighted the nation’s prospects and growth during the time of the Judges (Jg 2:11-15; 10:6,10,13; 1Sa 12:10). It was the cause of prolific and ever-increasing evil, civic and moral, from Solomon’s day to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Many of the kings of the divided kingdom apostatized, leading the people, as in the case of Rehoboam, into the grossest forms of idolatry and immorality (1Ki 14:22-24; 2Ch 12:1). Conspicuous examples of such royal apostasy are Jeroboam (1Ki 12:28-32); Ahab (1Ki 16:30-33); Ahaziah (1Ki 22:51-53); Jehoram (2Ch 21:6,10,12-15); Ahaz (2Ch 28:1-4); Manasseh (2Ch 33:1-9); Amen (2Ch 33:22). Prophecy originated as a Divine and imperative protest against this historic tendency to defection from the religion of Jehovah.

In classical Greek, apostasy signified revolt from a military commander. In the roman Catholic Church it denotes abandonment of religious orders; renunciation of ecclesiastical authority; defection from the faith. The persecutions of the early Christian centuries forced many to deny Christian discipleship and to signify their apostasy by offering incense to a heathen deity or blaspheming the name of Christ. The emperor Julian, who probably never vitally embraced the Christian faith, is known in history as “the Apostate,” having renounced Christianity for paganism soon after his accession to the throne.

What Does the Bible Really Teach About the Great Apostasy?

Apostasia: This is rejecting, defecting, revolting, abandoning or deserting the worship and service of God, and actually rebelling against the faith and God they formerly worshiped and served.

Apostates Will Arise Within the Church

1 Timothy 4:1-2 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
4 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, ²by means of the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, whose conscience is seared as with a branding iron,

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
³Let no one deceive[5] you in any way, for it will not come unless the apostasy[6] comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

Paul prophesied that an apostasy would develop and before that apostasy would be brought to an end the man of lawlessness would come. In fact, in verse 7 Paul stated, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work …” Notice that, just like the antichrist, in the first century, this man of lawlessness was already making himself known.

Don’t apostates seek to have their own followers, causing division, and stumbling genuine Christians?

Acts 20:28-30 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

²⁸Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the congregation of God, which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. ²⁹I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; ³⁰and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

2 Peter 2:1, 3 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

2But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ³and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

Is it not true that apostates abandon the faith but then they also speak abusively of the faith, “upsetting the faith of some.”

2 Timothy 2:16-18 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

¹⁶But avoid empty speeches that violate what is holy, for they will lead to more and more ungodliness, ¹⁷and their word will spread like gangrene; Hymenaeus and Philetus are among them. ¹⁸men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.

Do apostates oppose the faithful followers of Christ?

John 15:20-21 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

²⁰Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave [65] is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. ²¹But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.

How does the Bible say that faithful Christians are to treat apostates?

2 John 9-10 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

⁹Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting;

Romans 16:7-8 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are outstanding among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. ⁸Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. ⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.

Faithful Christians Reject Apostates

2 John 9-10 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
⁹Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who remains in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting;

Romans 16:17-18 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
¹⁷Now I urge you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause divisions and occasions of stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and turn away from them. ¹⁸For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

Now, if you will tell me please what does the Greek word antichristos mean? How is it used in the New Testament? How many antichrists are there according to the apostle John?

How Serious is Apostasy?

2 Peter 2:1 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

Hebrews 6:4-6 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
⁴For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶and then have fallen away,[33] [“if they then commit apostasy,” RSV] it is impossible to renew[34]them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put him to public shame.

Antichristos: this means to be against or instead of Christ. The term applies to all who reject and oppose what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. These ones also mistreat his followers. Trying to mislead, misrepresent, and misinform about the Word is also the work of the antichrist.

1 John 2:18 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

¹⁸Little children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist [4] is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; whereby we know that it is the last hour.

Do the antichrists not abandon the faith that they once loved?

1 John 2:19 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

¹⁹They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, so that they would be revealed that they all are not of us.

Do the antichrists deny Jesus Christ?

1 John 2:22 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

²²Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, even the one who denies the Father and the Son.

SO, how are faithful Christians to treat the apostates and the antichrists?

Many so-called faith Bible scholars have co-authored books with Bart D. Ehrman, who has now spent decades penning books and articles that misleadingly try to undermine the Word of God. This has given Ehrman a platform to spew his misinformation. If Satan could come down as s human and he was the best damn textual scholar you ever saw, would anyone write a book with him, praise his books, give him a platform to spew his lies. It has taken a truckload of textual scholars to deal with the deception of Ehrman.

An apostate’s defection from the faith may be intellectual, as in the case of Ernst Haeckel, who, because of his materialistic philosophy, publicly and formally renounced Christianity and the church. Then, there is Dr. Bart D. Ehrman who has rejected Christ because of his doubt in the trustworthiness of the Bible and the problem of evil, and so he has actively worked in opposition to Christ for 20+ years. It may also be moral and spiritual, as with Judas, who for filthy silver pieces basely betrayed his Lord.