Partakers of Christ
When the Lord introduced the Law to Moses, He instituted a covenant centered on the Tabernacle/Temple and the Torah. Religious life would be centered on these two elements. This covenant, also known as the old covenant, would be superseded by the new covenant through Jesus, the Messiah, who would become the Temple (John 2:21) and the fulfillment of the Torah (Matthew 5:17), the Logos, the Word of God (John 1:1). What Jesus accomplished on Calvary when He said, It is finished, was much more than the completion of His work on earth. He was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), the one spoken of to Adam as the seed of the woman who would defeat the works of the enemy (Genesis 3:15).
The Judaism of Jesus' day, as it is today, holds that God gave Jewish leaders the authority to interpret the specifics of the Torah (the Oral Torah) and apply them to the people as they saw fit. Jesus addressed this matter with the Pharisees in Matthew 15, referring to these laws as the tradition of the elders. He was confronting these laws when they contradicted the 613 Laws of Moses. Leadership recognized authority the Lord never gave them. This same issue is present in the Roman Catholic Church. When Jesus told Peter, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matthew 16:18), He was not giving the church, through a Pope, authority to make laws and impose them on the people, but instead the Holy Spirit would make those determinations. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak (John 16:13).
A Time of Reformation
The heavy-handed church controlled
believers’ lives with full authority for more than a millennium throughout the Middle
Ages, but their authority began to be questioned in the 15th century
and then more completely in the 16th century with Martin Luther and
other Reformers publishing works that questioned many of the church and papal
practices of the day. With the Renaissance came a new freedom for the people,
thanks to the advent of the printing press and a humanist movement that
emphasized individual rights. It was the perfect breeding ground for major
changes to come to the stoic and bureaucratic church, and the Reformers took
every advantage of those opportunities with passion, even unto death. The
Protestant Reformation would forever change the world. They were introducing
personal freedoms to believers through a deeper commitment to the Scriptures
and their individual priesthoods. Believers would be reintroduced to their
first-century relationship with God.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. John 1:17
For by grace, you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Jesus came to the Jews to introduce a new relationship with God, a new covenant. Unlike the old covenant, this new covenant is unconditional, dependent solely on God and not on man's ability to keep numerous rules and regulations. The religious system introduced through Moses was superseded by a covenant based on grace, a free gift, and faith, man’s willingness to place his trust in Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Since this new covenant is based on a free gift from God, it cannot fail it is eternal. The one who believes in Jesus and His accomplishments that Jesus met the requirements of a holy God, the believer’s security is eternal; he cannot lose his salvation. The church's struggle is in how man’s failure is addressed within a religious system.
Partakers
For we have become partakers [metochos – spiritually united to] of Christ if we hold fast the beginning [first confidence] of our assurance [hupostasis – confidence, assurance, guarantee, or proof] firm until the end. Hebrews 3:14
When addressing the challenges associated with human failure, the church is left with three major doctrinal positions that govern the church's responsibility in spiritually addressing human failure. One is Arminianism, which holds that the believer can forfeit his salvation. In this system, the loss of salvation becomes the lever that keeps the believer in a state of fellowship with God. The second is Reformed theology, rooted in Calvinism, which interprets predestination as God choosing those who would be saved, regardless of their free will. Since man is totally depraved, he is not capable of making a choice for God. At salvation, the believer is immediately saved and sanctified. The third is defined as being a Partaker of Christ. This position recognizes salvation as eternal (it cannot be lost), and the state of the believer before God is perfect. However, the process of sanctification, which involves becoming spiritually united with Christ, is ongoing and dependent on the believer’s free will to maintain fellowship with Christ in his daily walk.
According to Hebrews 3:14, the spiritual unity that comes from a consistent, intimate connection to Christ provides evidence, proof, and assurance of salvation. The ongoing pursuit of God’s righteousness in life provides fulfillment and satisfaction. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Unity is driven supernaturally by the Father’s love for His Son and Jesus for each follower. Some of His last words to His Father, uttered the night before His crucifixion, are found in John 17:25-26, "O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
Partakers of the Holy Spirit
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers [metochos – spiritually united to] of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away [parapipto – wander astray], it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. Hebrews 6:4-6
Some partake of Him as to be united to Him, in whom He becomes the principle of spiritual life and motion: these have the fruit of the Spirit and communion with Him; they enjoy His personal presence and ongoing fellowship; they have received Him as a spirit of illumination and conviction, of regeneration and sanctification, as the spirit of faith, and as a comforter; and as a spirit of adoption, and the earnest and seal of future glory; but they can never fall away so as to perish.
According to Arminianism, everyone is born with a sin nature and is, therefore, on their way to hell. God enables everyone, at some time in their life, to understand God’s gift of salvation. He gives each person the free will to accept or reject the gift. Since its inception, the Catholic Church has employed this principle to maintain discipline among its followers by threatening the loss of salvation, which they teach is achieved through the reception of the sacraments. Arminianism holds that one can lose his salvation when he fails to some degree. There are several troubling verses, including Hebrews 6:4-6, that suggest the loss of salvation occurs when one has fallen away. The context of the passages from Hebrews 5:11 through Hebrews 6 refer to believers in Christ who are not maturing in their faith, wandering astray from the path to maturity and away from sound doctrine and faithfulness to the true faith. They've tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, but they’ve abandoned the right path —the narrow way that leads to life (Matthew 7:14).
Lordship Salvation
Reformed theology prioritizes predestination, that God chooses believers before the foundation of the world for salvation apart from their free will and empowers them with the ability to persevere, to endure until the end. One contemporary proponent of this position is John MacArthur, and according to his book, “The Gospel According to Jesus,” he proposes that a true believer has accepted Jesus as both Savior and Lord. This position is commonly known as “Lordship Salvation”; the believer will not continue to sin after salvation. This position also embraces the idea that man’s total depravity disqualifies him from being able to choose faith in Jesus freely, so God does it for him. This belief system is becoming increasingly prevalent today.
Abide in Me
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He removes [airo – take away]; and every branch that bears fruit, He cleans and prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me [dynamic fellowship, not organic union], and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, they are thrown away like a branch and wither; and they gather them and cast them into the Fire, where they are burned [divine discipline, loss of rewards]. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be [ginomai – become] My disciples. John 15:1-8
The above passage, the words of Jesus Himself, provide a framework for a relationship with Christ. As discussed, three possibilities include: 1. The relationship any Christian sustains with Christ (Arminian); 2. The relationship a professing Christian sustains to Christ (Reformed Theology); and 3. A relation that only mature and growing Christians sustain with Christ (Partakers). When viewed closely, it becomes clear that the analogy best describes the Partaker, and a branch “in Me” is not one that is organically connected to the vine but rather a branch that derives its sustenance from Christ and lives in fellowship with Him.
Divine Discipline
The question is raised regarding those who are thrown away like a branch and wither (Verse 6). Does this signify a loss of salvation? Those who fall out of fellowship with Christ will lose touch with the life source and experience divine discipline or the loss of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:15). In Hebrews 12:8-11:
But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good so that we may share [metalambano – partake, share] His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
The Lord disciplines all of His sons
because He loves them. This discipline is intended to reunite us in fellowship
with Him and His righteousness. As such, believers are brought into closer
fellowship with His holiness through suffering or loss (Philippians 3:10). Fire
is typically a reference to judgment, but it rarely refers to hell. The John 15
passage is all about fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. Those who remain in dynamic
fellowship with Christ, the vine, will be fruitful to that degree and prove
their discipleship. A key to dynamic fellowship is staying in the fight: For
a righteous man falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in
time of calamity (Proverbs 24:16).
Faith & Assurance
Now faith is the assurance [hupostasis - guarantee] of things hoped for, the conviction [elegchos – certain persuasion] of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Benjamin (B.B.) Warfield, a professor of Reformed theology at Princeton Theological Seminary during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a highly regarded theologian, made the following statement about faith and assurance:
That is to say, with respect to belief, it is a mental recognition of what is before the mind as objectively true and real, and, therefore, depends upon the evidence that a thing is true and real and is determined by this evidence; it is the response of the mind to this evidence and cannot arise apart from it. It is, therefore, impossible that belief should be the product of a volition; volitions look to the future and represent our desires; beliefs look to the present and represent our findings.
He was saying that faith is not the creation of one’s will and desire to act. Faith happens when future promises become present realities. Warfield further states:
Evidence cannot produce belief, faith, except in a mind open to this evidence and capable of responding to it. A mathematical demonstration is demonstrative proof of the proposition demonstrated. But even such a demonstration cannot produce conviction in a mind incapable of following the demonstration.
Faith is not a mechanical result of the presentation of evidence. Good evidence can be refused because of the subjective nature or condition of the mind to which it is addressed. This is the ground of responsibility for belief or faith: “It is not merely a question of evidence but of subjectivity, and subjectivity is the other name for personality.”
Spiritually Appraised
The biblical solution is acknowledging that the natural man is incapable of this faith because it is spiritually discerned, a gift from God. This gift comes to the man whose heart is open to be illuminated and, therefore, capacity created. Man chooses to accept or reject the evidence provided by creation and found in the truth of Scripture and the gospel. Saving faith, instead of mere mental assent, depends on trust, a reliance upon the evidence. It also perceives a personal God and His love for mankind, as demonstrated at Calvary by Jesus Christ when mankind was His enemy. The nature of this love (agape) is both unconditional and self-sacrificing.
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Romans 8:16
Assurance is a byproduct of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing fellowship and communion with the child of God, which produces confidence in the believer’s salvation. The Partaker looks outward to Christ and the Holy Spirit, knowing that inwardly, there is no evidence of the perfect position that God provides, based on faith and as a free gift. The Partaker's works represent a co-laboring with Christ in His work. The Arminian will always struggle since his failure could mean forfeiture of security. The warning passages of Scripture address his position, so he works to regain his salvation. The Reformed theology believer must rely on his works to remind him of his salvation.
Rewards
So, He said,
"A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and
then return. And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said
to them, 'Do business with this until I come back.' But his citizens hated him
and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over
us.' When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these
slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know
what business they had done. The first appeared, saying, 'Master, your mina has
made ten minas more.' And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because
you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over
ten cities.' The second came, saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five
minas.' And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.'
Another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a
handkerchief, for I was afraid of you because you are an exacting man; you take
up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, 'By
your own words, I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am
an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not
sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I
would have collected it with interest?' Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take
the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.' And they
said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas already.' I tell you that to everyone
who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he
does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want
me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."
Luke 19:12-27
The above parable was given by Jesus to address the principle of rewards in the kingdom of heaven. It helps each believer understand what the Lord requires of them in this life. The nobleman represents Jesus Himself, who leaves the earth after His First Coming for heaven, later to return in His Second Coming. He would leave ten slaves, representing ten disciples, with ten minas (about three months' wages) to manage. Ten is the number for natural order; there were ten commandments that man must recognize as laws that define natural life. Their rejection by the citizens speaks of the reception of Christianity by the world during the Church Age. During His absence, the disciples should carry on the business of life with the provision given. Unlike the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, each disciple is given the same amount to begin with.
Each believer is given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3), and Jesus will reward each believer at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11-15) according to the quality of each man’s work. At this judgment, the quality of these works will be tested by fire, and those works that survive the fire, represented by gold, silver, or precious stones, will receive a reward. The others, represented by wood, hay, and straw, speak of human effort and will not be rewarded. The first servant was faithful in a very little thing and was rewarded by reigning with Christ over ten cities (2 Timothy 2:12). The second is rewarded with five cities, while the third receives no reward, saved, yet so as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:15). Each is rewarded based on faithfulness to the will of God. How each believer spends the time God has given him on this earth determines his reward.
But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Hebrews 6:9-12
References
Dillow, Joseph C. “The
Reign of the Servant Kings.” Schoettle Publishing Co.
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