Hebrews 4:6 KJV
Unbelief means disobedience.
Let's assume for a moment you are right and that in all cases "unbelief" means "disobedience". Okay, so what, relative to point 5 of this thread (Perseverance)??? Does that somehow also mean that in all cases “unbelief/disobedience”=un-saved, Yes/No? I say no. Here’s why:
Umm, think about it and if you say yes then get back with me with some sort of Scriptural proof for you case similar to the case/evidence you made above for unbelief = disobedience in Heb 4:6, which I agree with, BTW. Do you have a verse that translators sometimes translate unbelief and/or disobedience as unsaved?
But for the case as to why there is no verse/translation such as that, let's look at the who and what Hebrews is talking about in Heb 4:6 and see if “unbelief” and/or “disobedience” = unsaved there. (there, or anywhere else in the Bible if one so desired to investigate it):
1. First and most obviously why unbelief/disobedience does not mean unsaved is the fact that Hebrews is talking about Moses being disobedient/unbelieving there too! Thus, logically speaking, you’d have to think Moses is/was unsaved in the desert for you to claim unbelief = unsaved. Which can easily be proven wrong.
2. Second, to set the context it is necessary to first understand who it is that Heb 4:6 is addressing and why the author is even making his point in 4:6:
The Superiority of Jesus to Moses
Heb 3:1 (LEB) Therefore, holy brothers, sharers in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses also was in his household. … Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony to the things that would be spoken, 6 but Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are…
My point here is that he’s talking to Holy
brothers/sharers (Jews sharing the New Covenant) and establishing a perfectly coherent (though long) argument that Jesus’s New Covenant is superior to Moses’ Old Covenant in every way (as a Priestly system, sacrificial system, Covenantal system etc. [Yes I know I stopped short of “
if we hold fast to our confidence and the hope we can be proud of.”] But that’s beside the point at the moment. My point is that He’s talking to Holy Brothers whose house we are (Christ’s house, not Moses’ house) if we hold fast to our confidence in Christ and not fall back to Moses’ house… Anyway, we both agree that Hebrews is written to brothers in Christ, is the point, right. Yet there were some there, even among them, that still had
an evil, unbelieving heart. (v12)
3. Third, the reason Chapter 3 is there and starts out with
Therefore… (just as Chapter 4 and Chapter 2 does) is to support the author’s claim that he laid out in Heb 1:1. That is that God’s full, final and better revelation is in The Son, not Moses. That is Jesus Christ is a better Priest and sustainer of salvation and purifier of sins than any of the OT prophets, priest or sacrifices ever were. Including Moses the man and all his writings, laws, covenants, scarifies, laws, etc. Which BTW, Moses wrote about Jesus anyway.
4. Forth, Chapter 4’s point is “
let us fear while there remains a promise of entering into His rest”. In other words, even though you Christian,
Holy brother who’s house we arehave an even better promise than Moses had (namely Christ’s promise to you), fear God even while you wait on that promise (an irrevocable promise, BTW). Don’t even
appear to fall short of it, since we all know
these works have been accomplished from the foundation of the world. [How anyone could believe this author isn’t OSAS is beyond me to understand, given what he just got through exampling in 4:1-3 and elsewhere such as 4:14-16 and 6:19-20.]
Anyway, prove unbelief and/or disobedience means unsaved here in Hebrews, please, if you can. If you can, you'll have made a valid anti-OSAS (Anti-P) point. But remember, Moses and David were both the very clear examples given by the author within this very context of
disobedience/unbelief while you are at it!
