TRANSITORY CHRISTIANITY

Concerning the subject of apostasy, we read a poignant verse of scripture ...

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

S. Lewis Johnson - As we address this difficult passage, we must ask ... "from what have they fallen away?" and then, "to what have they fallen?" The position that I am setting forth is that these people are indeed falling away into a lost state, yet their fall is not from a state of salvation but from a state of a profession of faith. In other words, those that "fall away" were never saved.

These transitory devotees enter into a shallow commitment to Christianity. They may join a church and go through the denominational requirements that cause them to think they are genuine believers. But at some point, they fall away, willfully rejecting the truth of God's Word so they can continue to live as they see fit.  

The 'self' nature was never crucified. 

And it is by this revelation that we know salvation is secure ... for I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Biblical apostasy is the falling away from a mere 'profession' of faith ... a pseudo-state of spirituality not entered into by the truly saved.