From: Rod Decker (rdecker@accunet.com)
Date: Sat Oct 14 1995 - 20:39:57 EDT
Hebrews 6:4, 'PhWTIZW'
Note re. long (3 pg.) post following:
This past August there was a fairly active thread regarding Hebrews 6. At
the time I argued that the reference to "falling away" should not be taken
in a soteric sense. I suggested that it was better understood in light of
the context of the original recipients: Jewish Christians facing the
Neronian persecutions in the mid-60s, the warning being directed toward
those who attempted to hide their faith and deny Christ to save their life.
I do not intend to renew that particular thread, but I do want to fulfill a
promise I made at the time.
In arguing that the participles in 6:4-6 must refer to those who were
genuine believers (i.e., "regenerate"), I proposed that PhWTIZW should be
taken as a soteriological reference to regeneration. In defense I appealed
to a paper presented by Steve Spencer at an ETS conference several years
ago. I was asked for details of and from the paper, but at the time did not
have time to retrieve the paper (it was the week before my doctoral comps
at the time). I'm late getting back to do so, but I'm finally far enough
into the semester to start catching up. So the following post is a brief
summary of that paper. Direct quotes are "marked"; other comments are my
summary of his argument.
Rod
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| Rodney J. Decker Calvary Theological Seminary |
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| rdecker@accunet.com Kansas City, Missouri 64147 |
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