For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. —Hebrews 12:17, ESV The verse quoted immediately above is one that is popularly interpreted to teach that a person can reach a point after which they are no longer able to repent. Esau is the prime example of a person who reaches this state, so the popular interpretation of this verse goes. John Piper and John MacArthur are two well-known evangelicals who interpret the text this way: Piper : For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent” — no place to repent, that is the literal translation, no occasion to repent, no repentance — “though he sought it with tears” (Hebrews 12:17). So, it is possible to backslide so long and so deeply that there is no return. Now is that what has happened with you? It doesn’t sound like it because Esau was rejected,...
As the people of God, we must hold to apostolic tradition (2 Thessalonians 2:15, 3:6) but reject human tradition (Colossians 2:8). Jesus criticized the religious leaders of His day for making void the word of God for the sake of their tradition (Matthew 15:6). And He said they did this in many ways (Mark 7:13b). We are not immune to this error today. This blog exists to test (1 Thessalonians 5:21) our modern Christian traditions against Scripture to discern where we might have done the same.