Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:35-39, NKJV).
Two different words are translated as confidence in the two places they appear in Hebrews. As always in Scripture, the distinctives are significant.
In 3:15, (For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end), hupostasis [hoop-os'-tas-is] is used, and it speaks of a foundational substructure or of that which actually exists. Here, it is parrhesia [par-rhay-see'-ah], and literally means cheerful boldness of action. Do you see the difference? The first is a state of mind, the second is the response to the state of mind.
Put another way, the hallmark of of truly believing in something is acting upon it. This is exactly the message in James, where a great distinction is made by the Lord's half-brother between professed faith and actual, living faith. One is dead and incapable of saving. The other is living and powerful, and saves.
Both kinds of confidence are essential components of saving faith. In fact, you can't have the second without the first, which makes perfect sense. You won't walk across a building's foundation, for instance, if you have no confidence the cement will bear your weight - if you are unsure that it is actually what it appears to be.
But you can't stop at the intellectual aspects of the first either. You must go on to the cheerfully bold response to that faith - live it, speak it, jump up and down on it. And this second ingredient of saving faith, built upon the first, is the easiest to cast away. You can just stop being Christian. If you do, the writer of Hebrews warns that you forfeit a great reward - that enduring possession of previous verses.
Look, it is clear you can hold intellectual assent to the fact of God and Christ, you can believe that they exist. But even the demons believe and tremble. But that is not salvation. In fact, that serves to increase condemnation. If you do not allow the Lord to move you beyond that intellectual assent into saving faith, you are just as doomed as those who scorn even the existence of God.
This is solemn and dangerous territory which the book of Hebrews ploughs through head-on, providing dire warning after dire warning. Can you lose your salvation? I believe the answer is a resounding NO. Can you deceive yourself and others about being saved? With equal conviction, I believe the Bible answers, tragically, YES.
Now, one of the identifying characteristics of saving faith is endurance. “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 10:22, NKJV). Forms of the same Greek word are used in Matthew and above. It is not that endurance in this regard gets you into Heaven. It is that by enduring you have proven your citizenship. In truth, there are only two choices, enduring, or drawing back.
I have seen little children with a 1000 times more endurance than an adult. I have seen elderly and frail men stand their ground more firmly than Olympic athletes. Endurance is a God-given ability bequeathed through humble acknowledgement of where strength lies. Those who truly endure in the faith understand that strength is from God, not themselves.
Inevitably, those who trust in themselves, or on their circumstances, or in their bank accounts, human relationships, earthly achievements, intellect, popularity, or ANYTHING ELSE but God, do not endure to the saving of the soul. And like the irresistible force of gravitation, those who do not endure are drawn back into perdition - like matter sucked over the event horizon of an inescapable Black Hole.
Perdition is that state of eternal destruction. It is not once-and-done. It is an endless crushing obliteration in the cold, black fires of Hell.
The heavenly perspective of saving faith is summarized this way: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” Note that. In comparison to eternity, even a hundred years of earthly suffering is yet a little while. Note also that the heavenly measure of a successful life is that it be lived by faith. Not by sight.
Human accomplishments done in human strength are abominations to God. Pure and simple. It is equivalent to atheism.
But a life lived by faith, even if no visible earthly achievements result, is a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice to God. Remember that the next time you, like Nebuchadnezzar, pat yourself on the back for all you have accomplished without attributing your success in your heart to the God of Heaven.
From the Lord's viewpoint, a successful life is a life of faith leading to salvation. Everything else, EVERYTHING ELSE, is a potential distraction leading to Hell.
But take heart beloved, if you are truly His, you are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
