"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" (Hebrews 6:4-6).
Few sentences in Scripture pack a more powerful and pungent punch. It is a horrific portrait of apostasy. This is not a description of something imaginary or mythical. It is a single declarative of the horrors of apostasy. Included in this gruesome description are:
The horror of what an apostate loses. Falling away from Christ is the world's greatest, most catastrophic loss. The priceless blessings of spiritual enlightenment, a taste of salvation from sin—heaven's sweetest gift, being a temple of the Holy Spirit, enjoying the power and blessing of God's good and perfect word and the richness of life at its best are all lost. The heinous horror of spiritual bankruptcy is immeasurable.
The horror of impenitence. Apostasy does not have to remain as a permanent state. But, as long as the apostate feels no sense of shame, guilt, loss, or remorse, repentance is impossible. As stunning as it sounds, some Christians have gone spiritually bankrupt and never desired to regain what they lost.
The horror of re-crucifying Christ. Spiritual blindness can also afflict the spiritually bankrupt. An apostate is living a life of publicly crucifying the One who had graciously saved him from his sins and is personally repeating the open shame and humiliation He endured at Calvary. Apostasy and its horrors are to be feared.
"For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:26-29).
Few places in Scripture can be found in which there is a more graphic and horrific description of apostasy. The heinousness of this spiritual crime is demonstrated by the severity of its punishment. Clearly, apostasy is no trifling matter. What makes apostasy so horrible?
It is a deliberate/intentional act (v. 26). Some spiritual miscues happen unintentionally. Not apostasy. It is willful. It is not done out of ignorance. The word "knowledge" (epignosis) denotes a reservoir of learning which has been purposefully disregarded.
It is a foolish act (v. 26). By turning your back on Christ—the Lamb of God, you have abandoned Jehovah's only enduring solution to humanity's sin, guilt, and shame. The Old Testament's inferior sacrificial system has been replaced by Christ. Leaving Him behind is leaving behind God's only permanent solution to your sin.
It is an act which will certainly be punished severely (vv. 27-29). Apostasy and other high crimes which occurred under the Law of Moses resulted in the just execution of the death penalty. The only appropriate way to justly punish apostasy under the new and better covenant is to punish it with the second death—eternal separation from God in Gehenna (Revelation 21:8).
Apostasy is the most heinous spiritual crime you can commit.