by Daniel Mann
Is it possible for genuine believers in Jesus Christ to fall away from Him and be eternally lost? Of course, this theological question has occupied scholars for centuries, and it is far too broad of a topic to be covered thoroughly in a brief essay. Nevertheless, the issue is vital for us to consider and deserves attention from all of God’s people. We may be tempted to view this subject as an abstract doctrine—one that may be intriguing to study for scholars but has little bearing on the average Christian. After all, it is likely that even those of us who believe in the possibility of apostasy are prone to viewing it as something that could never happen to us.[1] However, the author of Hebrews does not treat the issue of apostasy as a fascinating topic for theology students to debate but rather as a real threat for every Christian (including himself).[2]
The book of Hebrews has been noted for its magnificence, beauty, and theological profundity but also for its interpretive difficulties, doctrinal debates, and intimidating content.[3] Perhaps most challenging for readers and interpreters of Hebrews are the five warning passages.[4] These texts have been the source of extensive scholarly discussion, especially in relation to the possibility of the truly regenerated committing apostasy. However, an under-explored issue in Hebrews is the role of apathetic hearing in the warning passages about apostasy.
The Central Theme of Hebrews: God Has Spoken by His Son
The author of Hebrews prioritizes God speaking through His Son (1:1–4) as a leading theme in the book.[5] God speaking (1:1–2, 5, 13; 2:3; 3:10; 4:3, 4, 8; 5:5; 10:15, 30; 12:25; 13:5) and man hearing (2:1, 3; 3:7, 15, 16; 4:2, 7; 5:11; 12:25) emerge as twin pillars of emphasis throughout Hebrews. The author’s overarching emphasis is that God has spoken definitively in His Son and that Word deserves and demands the earnest attention of God’s people.
One of the interesting developments observed in Hebrews is the variety of ways that God’s Word is communicated. God has spoken not only in the past by the prophets (1:1) and climactically by His Son (1:2) but also by the Holy Spirit through Scripture (3:7; 10:15). Additionally, the Word of God was spoken through preachers and leaders in the church (13:7), and the implication is that believers speak the Word as they fulfill the command to exhort one another (3:13; 10:25).[6] In fact, the author views his entire letter as a word of exhortation from God (13:22), and the recipients were urged to be attentive to hear God’s voice through every instrument He utilized.[7]
An Overview of Apathetic Hearing in the Warning Passages
The first warning passage is a call to “pay much closer attention to what we have heard,” depicting the danger of apostasy beginning as a subtle and unintentional drifting away (2:1–4).[8] In the second warning passage, the author repeatedly urges his audience to “hear” God’s voice (3:7, 15–16; 4:2, 7). He draws upon the forty years of hardening that occurred among the Exodus generation in the wilderness. This passage emphasizes that drifting can develop over time into deception and hardness of heart (3:12).
In the third warning passage, the danger of apostasy is described as dullness of hearing (5:11–14), and the language of the author indicates that the audience has regressed in their attentiveness.[9] Far from being a minor threat, dullness of hearing results in spiritual immaturity (5:11–6:3) and places the apathetic audience in danger of irremediably falling away (6:4–8).
The fourth warning passage emerges from the call for the audience to stir up one another to love and good works (10:24) and to halt the habit of neglecting to meet together (10:25). By assembling regularly as a church, they are to exhort one another in the truth, which helps to prevent them from sinning deliberately and facing God’s fearful judgment (10:26–31). Finally, the last warning passage indicates that apathy towards hearing God’s Word can culminate in defiant rejection of God’s voice from heaven (12:25). The first and last warning passages seem to function as “an inclusio,” showing that the passive drifting and neglect (2:1–4) can lead to the final judgment from which no “escape” is possible (2:3; 12:25).[10]
Hearing Entails Obedience
While two of the warning passages in Hebrews (2:1–4; 12:14–29) stand out from the other three because they “place emphasis on the need to ‘hear’ or ‘listen’ to God’s message,”[11] each of the five warning passages in Hebrews represent an appeal to hear God’s Word. In four instances, this emphasis is explicit (2:1–4; 3:7–4:13; 5:11–6:12; 12:25–29). For the author of Hebrews, as well as other New Testament writers, the call to “hear” (ακούω) encompasses more than audibly hearing words but also believing and obeying the message that has been heard.[12] In fact, Herbert Bateman argues that “hearing” (ακούω) can function as a synonym for believing and obeying.[13]
These urgent and repeated warnings to hear God’s Word are also combined with numerous indications that the recipients of the book of Hebrews were apathetic. In Hebrews 2:1, the author exhorts his audience not to allow what they have heard to “drift away.” Furthermore, he warns of the inescapable punishment that would come to those who “neglect” the great salvation provided by Jesus Christ (2:3). Another allusion to apathy is found in the commands not to “harden” their hearts (3:8, 13, 15, 4:7). Finally, the author cautions his audience that dullness of hearing (5:11) had prevented them from going on to maturity (5:11–6:3) and could lead to irreversible apostasy (6:4–8).
The Habit of Neglecting to Meet Together
Although Hebrews 10:19–39 does not contain the same explicit appeals to hearing that the other four passages possess, this theme is still implicit, especially in Hebrews 10:23–25. Some among the Hebrew audience had developed the dangerous “habit” of “neglecting” to gather with the church (10:25). The Hebrew audience was in need of holding fast to their confession of faith without wavering and stirring up one another to love and good works (10:23–25). For the author of Hebrews, this end could be accomplished in their regular gathering as they exhorted one another in the truth (10:25). Consequently, he urges them not to neglect (10:25) to meet together, and the implication is that forsaking their gatherings would leave them without the instruction and encouragement of God’s Word.
An Autopsy of Apostasy
It is difficult to imagine how one could go from a sincere, growing, and devoted faith in Jesus to defiantly turning away from Him (3:12; 6:6; 10:26) and trampling underfoot the Son of God (10:29). However, the author of Hebrews helps us to understand how this prospect could occur. It does not happen in an instance or overnight. It takes place gradually, like a ship drifting off course (2:1).[14] It can happen as the heart slowly hardens by failing to hear God’s voice (3:7–12) and the exhortation of God’s people (3:13).
Apostasy is downstream of ears that are dull of hearing (5:11). This dangerous consequence can eventually result from what began as boredom with hard-to-understand truths of Scripture and a failure to go on to spiritual maturity (5:11–6:3). Furthermore, the path to apostasy is marked by the habit of neglecting to gather with the saints and cutting off the encouragement from the church that perseverance requires (10:25). For these reasons, the author of Hebrews portrays the habit of missing church as a dangerous trend.
In the end, the book of Hebrews offers some of the greatest encouragements found in Scripture (4:14–16; 6:13–20; 10:19–23; 13:20–21) yet also provides some of the most sober warnings. Hebrews stands as a timeless reminder that God’s people must be ever “looking to Jesus” (12:2) and ever hearing His Word to avoid falling away from the living God.
About the Author: Daniel D. Mann has been married to his wife, Melissa, for seventeen years, and they have four children: Carlie, Colby, Charlotte, and Thomas. He is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has spent the past twelve years serving as the lead planter and pastor of Living Hope Free Will Baptist Church in Skokie, Illinois. Beginning in August of 2025, Daniel will assume the role of chairman of the Bible Department at Southeastern Free Will Baptist College in Wendell, North Carolina, where he earned a B.A., Bible in 2007. Daniel also holds an M.A., Biblical Studies from Maranatha Baptist Seminary in Watertown, Wisconsin, and he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biblical Exposition from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. In his spare time, Daniel enjoys spending time with his family, coaching basketball, and watching his favorite sports teams: the Chicago Cubs and the Oklahoma Sooners.
[1] The view of this writer is that apostasy refers to “a willful defection from the saving knowledge of Christ, a final retraction of faith from Him in whom alone is provision for forgiveness of sins” (Robert Picirilli, Grace, Faith, and Free Will [Nashville: Randall House, 2002], 228).
[2] Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 72.
[3] Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter To The Hebrews, The Pillar New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 33; Luke Timothy Johnson, Hebrews: A Commentary, The New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 1; George Guthrie, Hebrews, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 13–14.
[4] Scot McKnight, “The Warning Passages Of Hebrews: A Formal Analysis And Theological Conclusions.” Trinity Journal 13:1 (1992): 21–22; O’Brien, Hebrews, 33. Although scholars may differ slightly on where the warning passages begin and end, they generally agree that the heart of the warning passages encompasses Hebrews 2:1–4; 3:7–4:13; 5:11–6:8; 10:19–39; and 12:25–29.
[5] Thomas R. Schreiner, Commentary on Hebrews, Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2015), 438–39, 479; Nicholas J. Moore, Repetition in Hebrews: Plurality and Singularity in the Letter to the Hebrews, Its Ancient Context, and the Early Church (Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2015), 102.
[6] Jonathan I. Griffiths, Hebrews and Divine Speech, The Library of New Testament Studies (New York: Bloomsbury, 2014), 166.
[7] Ibid., 165–69.
[8] Donald Guthrie, Hebrews: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1983), 85.
[9] It is also intriguing that their dullness (νωθροι) of hearing seems to put them in danger of becoming sluggish (νωθροι) in their behavior and service. See David L. Allen, Hebrews, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2010), 396.
[10] Schreiner, Hebrews, 405.
[11] Herbert W. Bateman IV, “Introducing the Warning Passages in Hebrews: A Contextual Orientation,” in Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews, ed. Herbert W. Bateman IV (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2007), 28.
[12] Bateman, “Introducing the Warning Passages in Hebrews,” 28–29. See also Craig R. Koester, Hebrews: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, The Anchor Bible Commentary (New Haven and London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 2001), 255.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Douglas J. Moo, Hebrews, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2024), 66–67.
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