Can You Lose Your Salvation? Hebrews 6:4
One of the most sobering warnings in Scripture is found in Hebrews 6:4-6:
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”
At first glance, this passage can be troubling. It speaks of individuals who have experienced something of the goodness of the Gospel yet have fallen away in such a way that renewal to repentance is described as “impossible.” Does this mean a true believer can lose their salvation? Does it mean that those who have once repented can never do so again?
Tasting vs. Receiving
The key to understanding this passage lies in the language of “tasting.” These individuals have “tasted of the heavenly gift” but have not truly received it. They have experienced something of the goodness of the Gospel and the work of the Spirit, but their experience was not one of true, saving faith.
Imagine someone walking into an ice cream shop. The shopkeeper offers them a sample they taste it, consider it, and even acknowledge its quality, but then set the spoon down and walk away. So it is with those described in Hebrews 6:4-6. They have sampled the blessings of the Gospel but have ultimately rejected them.
This “tasting” is not the full reception of salvation. It is an intellectual or even emotional experience of the truth, but not the kind of true, Spirit-wrought faith that leads to eternal life. The Gospel is indeed delightful, but these individuals never fully embraced it in their hearts.
Falling Away from a Profession, Not a Possession
The text speaks not of those who were truly regenerated and then lost their salvation, but of those who outwardly professed faith and later abandoned it. This is a “total falling away,” a complete renunciation of the Christian faith, not merely struggling with sin or backsliding. Those who belong to Christ are kept by His hand (John 10:28-29), and nothing can separate them from His love (Romans 8:38-39). But those who only superficially engage with Christianity and later reject it demonstrate that they were never truly part of Christ’s flock.
The apostates in Hebrews 6 have not fallen from true salvation but from their former profession. They participated in the visible church, heard the Gospel, and perhaps even experienced its power in some way, but they never truly believed.
Why, then, does the author of Hebrews say that it is “impossible” to renew such people to repentance? Because they have rejected the only means of salvation—Christ Himself. To turn away from Him after having tasted of His goodness is to put Him to open shame as if they were among those who crucified Him.
This does not mean they can never be saved, but rather that they cannot be restored to something they never truly possessed.
This passage should serve as both a warning and an encouragement. True believers—those whom Christ has redeemed—will not fall away. Though we may struggle, stumble, and even experience seasons of doubt, the Lord is faithful. He preserves His own, and He will bring to completion the good work He has begun (Philippians 1:6).