Falling Away
I am now studying my way through Ezekiel and have found myself at chapter 3. Basically, in this chapter, Ezekiel is receiving his commission from God to go and prophecy to the Israelite captives in Babylon. In chapter 2 and again in this chapter, God has warned Ezekiel that most of the people would not listen and that he would not see the results he may hope for. However, God still commanded that he go and preach anyway. This fact, in and of itself, is a wonderful message on its own.
The focus of this post, however, will be on verses 20-21. These verses are one of those passages in the Bible often skimmed over and forgotten. It is a small passage, but packs a big punch. It shoots a hole at a major ideology held by Christians today.
Growing up I basically subscribed to the “once saved, always saved” viewpoint. This view of Christianity is very popular which makes sense – I mean it is easier that way right? It is easier to think that once you pray your prayer and acknowledge Christ, then you are good to go for the rest of your life. Your sins are covered and you don’t need to fear hell. But the truth is that the Bible doesn’t teach that. This passage here doesn’t teach that.
Here is the passage in question along with the few verses before it for context purposes.
Ezekiel 3:17-21 (KJV)
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
As we can see, Ezekiel is commanded to preach and warn both the wicked AND the righteous. He is called a “Watchman”. The command is simple: warn the wicked and the righteous in hopes that they repent and do not die in sin. The command is not contingent on results. Obedience is required regardless of whether or not the person chooses to listen.
The point I am interested in, though, is that the righteous person in this passage can “turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity” and as a result “die in his sin” just like the wicked person. This passage is clearly telling us that it is possible to believe in Christ and still fall away and go to hell. These verses essentially debunk the “once saved, always saved” notion. Notice, however, that what is described here is a deliberate “turn” from belief to unbelief. To me, this passage is not describing a repentant stumble or mistake but rather an active choice to indulge in sin over belief in God.
Ezekiel addresses this same situation in 18:24 and essentially says the same thing. In chapter 18, Ezekiel is addressing a proverb that was commonly used at the time which was “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” Basically this proverb is saying that God is punishing this current generation of Jews for the sins of their fathers. They are likely referring to the fact that the prophets had said that Judah would be punished for the sins of Manasseh (a former evil king of Judah, who actually did repent of his evil ways at the end of his life time). In his answer, God says that each individual is responsible for their wickedness and righteousness and their eternal death and life. It doesn’t matter if your father was righteous or wicked. God continues by adding that a man could be wicked but repent of his sin and have eternal life. He continues with the flip side of this point: that a righteous man can turn away from righteousness and follow iniquity, but he will receive eternal death and his righteousness will be forgotten.
Why are we so eager to accept repentance of the wicked but not falling away of the righteous? If one is true, wouldn’t the other be equally true? Is it because we prefer to have the safety net of being able to live how we want and feel like we are saved because of that prayer we prayed when we were 8 years old?
Note that the righteousness of the man who turns away to sin is never remembered! The Christian life is all or nothing. You can’t straddle the fence. If you chose sin, you chose sin and your righteousness from before will not help you. I believe it is this truth that Jesus is referring to in Matthew 7:21-23.
Matthew 7:21-23
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart form me, ye that work iniquity.
I feel as though churches today do not focus on this teaching, and by not doing so, they are raising apathetic and unknowledgeable so-called “Christians”. These “Christians” feel comfortable going to church on Sunday but leaving and indulging in sin for the rest of the week. They are not reading their Bibles on their own or praying. Why should they? They are taught that they are covered by the prayer they made when they were 8 years old.
If we want to encourage Christians to be active warriors for Christ then we need to tell them the truth! Their salvation must be an active commitment. When we accept Christ, we enter into a covenant with Him. Yes, He saves us from our sin and yes that gift is free. However, we commit our lives to Him as well. He owns all of our being. He becomes our master. We are free from sin, but we are still slaves just now to Christ. Your prayer for salvation is just the beginning of your relationship with God!
We need to make sure every Christian understands that they must restrain from sin and follow God’s Word. To not do so will put them in danger of falling away from Christ and dying and going to hell.
God takes this so seriously that He tells us that when we do not warn Christians of the possibility of falling away and they do fall away, their blood is on our hands. Verse 20 tell us that! I fear that many of us have blood on our hands because we have ignored the truth. We don’t want to scare people – but sometimes people need to be scared!
We need to eliminate the “once saved, always saved” ideology from our pulpits and churches. We shouldn’t only focus on transforming those who don’t know Christ into Christians (which is a great thing!) but also focus on keeping those who already are Christians on track.
This passage isn’t the only passage that addresses this issue. Check out Galatians 5:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 4:12 as well as the passage below in Hebrews.
Hebrews 6:4-6 (KJV)
4 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,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 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.