Let Go of the Melon Seeds
Intro:
This is one of those verses that may seem difficult at first glance, but I really don’t think it is. (Some sort of simple solution example like a Chinese finger trap, or the monkey in the outback not letting go of the salt lick)
12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
There is much to unpack here in the this next passage, but the “juiciest” bit hits us in verse 12 with the phrase “falls away” and the subsequent question: does this suggest that someone is capable of losing their salvation?
Variant Translations:
“departing from” KJV, NKJV
“turns away” NIV
“falls away” ESV, NASB
Greek: aphistēmi (af-is’-tay-mee)
this word appears 15 times in the N.T. as:
depart (10x), draw away (1x), fall away (1x), refrain (1x), withdraw self (1x), depart from (1x).
A few uses in context for aphistēmi in the N.T.:
Acts 19:9
But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
1 Tim. 4:1
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Act 5:38
And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
The Logical Solution:
If the “heart” in question is evil and unbelieving, then they are not/were never saved. What they are falling away from is the fold of the fellowship and the pursuit of holiness
Conclusion one can be part of “The Faith” (Fellowship) without actually believing.
Want proof? My own testimony (which is not unique).
Application: So how do we “take care”? (2 Answers)
Matthew Henry’s Thought:
Take heed, blepete-look to it. “Look about you; be upon your guard against enemies both within and without; be circumspect.
You see what kept many of your forefathers out of Canaan, and made their carcasses fall in the wilderness; take heed lest you fall into the same sin and snare and dreadful sentence.
For you see Christ is head of the church, a much greater person than Moses, and your contempt of him must be a greater sin than their contempt of Moses; and so you are in danger of falling under a severer sentence than they.”
Observe, The ruin of others should be a warning to us to take heed of the rock they split upon. Israel’s fall should for ever be a warning to all who come after them; for all these things happened to them.
Take heed; all who would get safely to heaven must look about them.
PB’s Thought:
Phil 2:12-13
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.
- Examine yourself (what does that look like?)
- Examine others (in love, this gets back to last week’s message of polite vs. obedient)
- Qualify and define your beliefs as a Church! Set clear standards!!
- Don’t presume your saved state! Work IT OUT.