What is the difference between backsliding and apostasy

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True; just a little jumpy I suppose with that term; happy thanksgiving. I hear you, Brother. Also, Happy Thanksgiving to you to.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:. Email required Address never made public. Name required. Confession statement 1 Two spiritual blessings-regeneration and preservation. Such mighty evidences of the powers of the world to come must have greatly impressed many, leading them to consort with the Christians. They tasted the word of God, and of the powers of the world to come.

They moved in a circle where the power of the Holy Ghost was felt. Such might well be characterized by the features described in Heb. Take the record as to Simon Magus. When he witnessed the signs and miracles that Philip wrought in the name of the Lord in the city of Samaria he was impressed.

Indeed he made so fair a profession of Christianity that he was baptized. When he saw how the Spirit of God came upon believers through the laying on of the apostles' hands he offered money, seeking this gift for himself, not for spiritual blessing, but that he should thereby make himself great and influential with supernatural power, no doubt for merely carnal gain.

The Apostle Peter unmasked his false profession by telling him plainly that he was " in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity " Acts 23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

He asked Peter to pray for him. But if Simon Magus had gone to the length of denouncing Christianity root and branch, that would have been apostasy, for which there would be no forgiveness. We do not read that he went as far as that. He was a very evil man. For one thing , an unbeliever cannot stray concerning the truth. Only a believer can stray from the truth. If these two men did not, then why would he use them as examples? While that could refer to moral failure, the language James uses certainly suggests doctrinal defection.

Wandering from the truth is another way of speaking of apostasy. So, Ironside is not correct that born again people cannot apostatize. Ironside does not mention any verses which say that a believer cannot commit apostasy. I would find it very difficult to defend the idea that born again people cannot apostatize. At least from Scripture.

I could quote people in church history who say that apostasy is not possible for the believer. I might suggest that God will not allow believers to fall that much. Though that would be hard to prove since God even allowed King Solomon, an author of multiple books of the Bible, to become an idolater at the end of his life cf.