Please log in below or if you don't have an account, creating one is easy and only takes a few moments. After you log in your content will be available in your library. New Testament Boxed Set of 19 Retail: Print Twitter Facebook Email. Click the button below to continue. Step 1 - Create an account or log in to start your free trial. Three easy steps to start your free trial subscription to Bible Gateway Plus. Life will be counted to be martyrdom as much as idolatry to be death.
Thus martyrdoms also rage furiously, but for salvation. God also will be at liberty to heal for everlasting life by means of fires and swords, and all that is painful. Tertullian has a long discussion on the certainty of persecutions and the reality of death for followers of Christ. Quoting extensively from the teachings of Jesus, Tertullian urges Christians towards faithful endurance in order to obtain final salvation with God. When setting forth His chief commands, "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Rejoice and be exceeding glad, since very great is your reward in heaven; for so used their fathers to do even to the prophets. The rule about enduring persecution also would have had respect to us too, as to disciples by inheritance, and, as it were, bushes from the apostolic seed.
For even thus again does He address words of guidance to the apostles: For none of them had experience of a father or a brother as a betrayer, which very many of us have. Then He returns to the apostles: Thus, by allotting this very betrayal, now to the apostles, now to all, He pours out the same destruction upon all the possessors of the name, on whom the name, along with the condition that it be an object of hatred, will rest.
But he who will endure on to the end—this man will be saved. By enduring what but persecution—betrayal—death? For to endure to the end is naught else than to suffer the end. And therefore there immediately follows, "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his own lord;" [Matthew Who, pray, are these slayers of the body only, but the governors and kings aforesaid—men, I suppose?
Who is the ruler of the soul also, but God only? Who is this but the threatener of fires hereafter, He without whose will not even one of two sparrows falls to the ground; that is, not even one of the two substances of man, flesh or spirit, because the number of our hairs also has been recorded before Him? When He adds, "You are of more value than many sparrows," He makes promise that we shall not in vain—that is, not without profit—fall to the ground if we choose to be killed by men rather than by God.
He who will endure these assaults to the end, the same shall be saved. For what does He add after finishing with confession and denial? And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And he who endures to the end let that man be saved. In the same manner, therefore, we maintain that the other announcements too refer to the condition of martyrdom. On the other hand, he who, through confessing, is killed, will lose it for the present, but is also about to find it unto everlasting life. Who, now, should know better the marrow of the Scriptures than the school of Christ itself?
To whom would He have rather made known the veiled import of His own language, than to him to whom He disclosed the likeness of His own glory—to Peter, John, and James, and afterwards to Paul, to whom He granted participation in the joys of paradise too, prior to his martyrdom? Or do they also write differently from what they think—teachers using deceit, not truth?
Addressing the Christians of Pontus, Peter, at all events, says, "How great indeed is the glory, if you suffer patiently, without being punished as evildoers!
- The Apostasy Definition and Meaning - Bible Dictionary.
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- Apostasy in Christianity.
For this is a lovely feature, and even hereunto were you called, since Christ also suffered for us, leaving you Himself as an example, that you should follow His own steps. For, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, do you rejoice; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; because glory and the Spirit of God rest upon you: What love does he assert to be perfect, but that which puts fear to flight, and gives courage to confess? What penalty will he appoint as the punishment of fear, but that which he who denies is about to pay, who has to be slain, body and soul, in hell?
And if he teaches that we must die for the brethren, how much more for the Lord,—he being sufficiently prepared, by his own Revelation too, for giving such advice!
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For indeed the Spirit had sent the injunction to the angel of the church in Smyrna: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. Also to the angel of the church in Philadelphia [Revelation 3: Then to every conqueror the Spirit promises now the tree of life, and exemption from the second death; now the hidden manna with the stone of glistening whiteness, and the name unknown to every man save him that receives it ; now power to rule with a rod of iron, and the brightness of the morning star; now the being clothed in white raiment, and not having the name blotted out of the book of life, and being made in the temple of God a pillar with the inscription on it of the name of God and of the Lord, and of the heavenly Jerusalem; now a sitting with the Lord on His throne.
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Who, pray, are these so blessed conquerors, but martyrs in the strict sense of the word? For indeed theirs are the victories whose also are the fights; theirs, however, are the fights whose also is the blood. But the souls of the martyrs both peacefully rest in the meantime under the altar, [Revelation 6: For yet again a countless throng are revealed, clothed in white and distinguished by palms of victory, celebrating their triumph doubtless over Antichrist, since one of the elders says, "These are they who come out of that great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
The uncleanness, indeed, is washed away by baptism, but the stains are changed into dazzling whiteness by martyrdom. When great Babylon likewise is represented as drunk with the blood of the saints, [Revelation For among all the castaways, nay, taking precedence of them all, are the fearful. Readings from the early church fathers such as these led patristic scholar David Bercot to conclude: There appears to be three primary perspectives on apostasy in Protestantism: According to John Calvin — , once the Holy Spirit brings a person to regeneration i.
Only the ones who ignore the threat are in real danger of falling away. Even though Calvin believes that regeneration is irreversible. Persevering in God's grace requires, on the human side, "severe and arduous effort. The believer needs to continually feed his soul on the preaching of the Word and to grow in faith throughout the whole course of life.
Apostasy; Apostate
Since it is easy for the believer to fall away for a time from the grace of God, there is constant need for "striving and vigilance, if we would persevere in the grace of God. The believer must continually exercise faith and obedience to make "his calling and election sure. Others in the Reformed tradition followed Calvin's theology on election, regeneration, perseverance, and apostasy: In his book, Reign of the Servant Kings: Kendall; [81] Zane C. Hodges; [82] Charles C.
Ryrie; [83] Charles Stanley; [84] Norman L. Geisler; [85] and Tony Evans. Reformed Arminianism derives its name from pastor and theologian James Arminius — Right up until his death, Arminius was undecided as to whether a believer could commit apostasy. This is evidenced in the fifth article drafted by its leaders in They formalized their views in "The Opinion of the Remonstrants" Points three and four in the fifth article read:.
True believers can fall from true faith and can fall into such sins as cannot be consistent with true and justifying faith; not only is it possible for this to happen, but it even happens frequently. True believers are able to fall through their own fault into shameful and atrocious deeds, to persevere and to die in them; and therefore finally to fall and to perish. Reformed Arminian scholar Robert Picirilli remarks: The following Christian denominations affirm their belief in the possibility of apostasy in either their articles or statements of faith, or by way of a position paper.
Augustine believed "that God's elect will certainly persevere to the end and attain eternal salvation. Augustine does not believe that the Christian can in this life know with infallible certitude that he is in fact among the elect and that he will finally persevere.
According to Augustine "it is uncertain whether anyone has received this gift [of perseverance] so long as he is still alive. In fact one's justification and baptismal regeneration could be rejected and lost through sin and unbelief. Augustine's views "set the parameters for Aquinas, for the Council of Trent, and for the Roman Catholic tradition generally down to the present day. Like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas holds "that one who has been justified by grace stands continually in need of the grace of God, since the justified can turn away and be finally lost.
Like Augustine, Martin Luther believed that salvation or "regeneration occurred through the waters of baptism. Many fall away from Christ and become false Christians. Now they fall away into unbelief and their own works, and they soil themselves again in filth. Luther held that even if one has experienced the justifying grace of God through faith in Christ, they still "can lose that justification through unbelief or false confidence in works. To lose the grace of God means to gain the wrath and judgment of God, death, the bondage of the devil, and everlasting condemnation.
Martin Luther shared with Augustine, Aquinas, and "the Roman Catholic Church of his day the belief that the grace of baptismal regeneration and justification could be lost. Philip Melancthon wrote a commentary on Romans in On this particular passage: For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" Rom. Such persons lose faith and the Holy Spirit and are condemned to eternal death unless they return to repentance.
Thus when David had become an adulterer, he was without faith and the Holy Spirit, and would have been lost if he had not afterward been restored through repentance. Here belongs what is said in this passage: Puritan John Goodwin demonstrated that Melanchthon fully supported the possibility of Christians committing apostasy:. Saul and David pleased God, were righteous, had the Holy Spirit given unto them, yet afterward fell, so that one of them perished utterly; the other returned again to God.
There are many sayings" to the same point. And having cited, upon the said account, Matthew Writing upon the those words of the apostle [Paul], 1 Corinthians Thomas Helwys was one of the joint founders of the Baptist denomination along with John Smyth. Men may fall away from the grace of GOD Hebrews And after they have escaped from the filthiness of the World, may be tangled again therein and overcome 2 Peter 2: A righteous man may forsake his righteousness and perish Ezekiel Therefore let no man presume to think that because he has, or once had grace, therefore he shall always have grace.
But let all men have assurance, that if they continue to the end, they will be saved. Let no man then presume; but let all work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Simon Episcopius was the leader of the Remonstrants and primary author of "The Opinions of the Remonstrants " and "The Arminian Confession of Even if it is true that those who are adept in the habit of faith and holiness can only with difficulty fall back to their former profaneness and dissoluteness of life Hebrews 6 , yet we believe that it is entirely possible, if not rarely done Hebrews 6: And having abandoned the way of righteousness, they revert to their worldly impurity which they had truly left, returning like pigs to wallowing in the mud and dogs to their vomit, and are again entangled in lusts of the flesh which they had formerly, truly fled.
And thus totally and at length also they are finally torn from the grace of God unless they seriously repent in time. John Goodwin was a Puritan who "presented the Arminian position of falling away in Redemption Redeemed Apostasy receives allegorical treatment in John Bunyan 's Pilgrim's Progress. Christian and his companion Hopeful, soon after their first encounter with Ignorance, "entered into a very dark lane, where they met a man whom seven devils had bound with seven strong cords, and were carrying him back to the door that they saw on the side of the Hill.
Thomas Grantham "was for many years the principal minister among the General Baptists," and he wrote "chiefly in explanation or defense of Baptist sentiments. The largest was a folio volume, entitled Christianismus Primitivus. That such who are true believers, even branches of Christ the vine, and that in the account of Christ whom he exhorts to abide in him, or such who have Charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned, 1 Timothy 1: John Jefferson Davis writes,. In the treatise "Predestination Calmly Considered" Wesley observed that believers might infer from their own experience of grace that it is impossible to finally fall away.
Nevertheless, whatever assurance God might give to particular souls "I find no general promise in holy writ, that none who once believes shall finally fall. In his treatise "Serious Thoughts on the Perseverance of the Saints" Wesley allows that the apostle Paul—and many believers today—were fully persuaded of their final perseverance. Nevertheless such an assurance does not prove that every believer will persevere or that every believer enjoys such assurance.
Based on his reading of Hebrews 6: Apostasy is certainly a biblical concept, but the implications of the teaching have been hotly debated. Based on the concept of God's sovereign grace, some hold that, though true believers may stray, they will never totally fall away. Others affirm that any who fall away were never really saved. Though they may have "believed" for a while, they never experienced regeneration.
Still others argue that the biblical warnings against apostasy are real and that believers maintain the freedom, at least potentially, to reject God's salvation. McKnight says that "apostasy ought not to be used as a continual threat so much as an occasional warning of the disaster that Christians may bring upon themselves if they do not examine themselves.
As a warning, apostasy can function as a moral injunction that strengthens commitment to holiness as well as the need to turn in complete trust to God in Christ through his Spirit. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources. August Learn how and when to remove this template message. Conditional preservation of the saints. Drawn Principally from Protestant Scholastic Theology , Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary: Thomas Nelson Publishers, ], The Tyndale Bible Dictionary defines apostasy as a "Turning against God, as evidenced by abandonment and repudiation of former beliefs.
The term generally refers to a deliberate renouncing of the faith by a once sincere believer. Elwell and Philip W. Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: Apostasy is a complete and final rejection of God" "Apostasy," Eugene E. The Dictionary of Christian Theology edited by Alan Richardson says apostasy "means the deliberate disavowal of belief in Christ made by a formerly believing Christian" "Apostasy," R. Hanson; The Westminster Press, , Baker's Dictionary of Theology editor in chief Everett F. Harrison "Cremer states that apostasia is used in the absolute sense of 'passing over to unbelief,' thus a dissolution of the 'union with God subsisting through faith in Christ'" "Apostasy," Robert Winston Ross [Baker Book House, ], The passages of Scripture on which the treatment of this form of apostasy is based on are Heb.
Funk and Wagnalls Company, ], 1: Mohr-Siebeck, , 2. Other signs of apostasy include loss of belief, personal suffering and hardships, malaise, and negligence towards the things of God such as found in certain of the churches in Revelation , according to Oropeza's conclusion in Apostasy in the New Testament Communities 3 vols. Cascade, , 3. Paul Barnett provides four reasons for apostasy: Greek English Dictionary , apostasia , Here it is to lose faith in the Christian message, to quit believing" Robert G.
Nigel Turner says, "A look at the New Testament and patristic phenomena reveals that the meaning is two-fold, 'either to put someone off from becoming a believer or to cause a believer to fall away.
The scandal of the Cross is an instance of the first meaning, to cause to apostatize an instance of the second' [quoting from G. Nelson Publishers, ], Offence: Howard Marshall, Kept by the Power of God: A Study of Perseverance and Falling Away , The Old Testament ring of the second member transgressor of the Law suggests that [ skandalon ] are those who seduce into breaking the Law.
In the New Testament interpretation they are those who lead into sin and apostasy. As the [weeds] are sown by the devil v. Their end will come with that of the devil and his hosts on v. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament , 7: The angels will gather the offenders [i. Both woes [in Matt. At issue are the loss of eternal salvation and eternal perdition.
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This is again an eschatological saying, for the one thing more terrible than being drowned with a mill-stone about one's neck is damnation at the Last Judgment. The punishment fits the offence. A similar eschatological light falls on Mark 9: No price is too high to avoid this; hence the relentless demand of Jesus. The freedom of those who have fully cast off the past causes offense to those who have not, but it also creates the danger that these will act against their consciences or with wavering faith.
In this case the danger is the serious one of an ultimate eschatological fall Rom. The strong with their freedom may destroy the weak [v. Paul, then, sides with the weak even though he shares the faith of the strong Rom. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament: False teachers [in Rom. Oropeza, Churches under Siege of Persecution and Assimilation: Cascade, , Paul Barnett says, "Jesus foresaw the fact of apostasy and warned both those who would fall into sin as well as those who would cause others to fall see, e.
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