Apostasy in Christianity

"[7] Other factors potentially leading to apostasy include: "persecution," "general suffering and hardship," "false teachings and factions,"[8] "malaise,"[9] "indifference and negligence towards the things of God",[10] and engaging in sinful acts ("vice-doing") or assimilating to the ungodly attitudes and actions reflected in a non-Christian culture.

Matt 13:18–23) those identified with the seeds sown on rocky ground, i.e., those "with no root in themselves," the inconstant ones, go astray to their own ruin when persecuted on account of the word, i.e., they fall away from faith (Mark 4:17 par.

… According to 1 Cor 8:9 a Christian's freedom regarding eating food offered to idols reaches its limit when it becomes a stumbling block to one's brother (πρόσκομμα [proskomma]).

"[36] B. J. Oropeza concludes that apostasy threatens the community in Hebrews on two fronts: mistreatment by outsiders (persecution) and malaise involving reluctance to listen to godly exhortation.

"[38] A variety of colorful images are used to describe Israel's apostasy: "a rebellious ox, a prostitute, a wild vine, a stain that will not wash off, a camel in heat and a thief caught in thievery (Jeremiah 2:19–28).

[40] "The New Testament contains a host of images of apostasy, including a plant taking root among the rocks but withering under the hot sun of testing (Mark 4:5–6, 17 par.

He then warns, "For we shall incur no slight injury, but rather great danger, if we rashly yield ourselves to the inclinations of men who aim at exciting strife and tumults, so as to draw us away from what is good" (1 Clement 14; cf.

It involves abstaining from vices mentioned in the Ten Commandments or related to bodily lusts, sorcery, and idolatry (including meat sacrificed to idols).

Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, not effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

[Ephesians 5:6–7] (Against Heresies, Book 4:27.4) The "early Christians frequently believed that apostasy came by way of deceivers at the instigation of the devil, and terrible consequences awaited such people.

He mentions that there are false teachers who "are in the habit of carrying about the name [of Jesus Christ] in wicked guile, while yet they practice things unworthy of God, whom you must flee as you would wild beasts.

For those [that are given to this] mix up Jesus Christ with their own poison, speaking things which are unworthy of credit, like those who administer a deadly drug in sweet wine, which he who is ignorant of does greedily take, with a fatal pleasure leading to his own death.

(Didache 16)[63] Tertullian argues that believers ought not to be surprised or alarmed at the existence of heresies since Christ and his apostles[64] told us beforehand that they would arise and gave, "in anticipation, warnings to avoid them" (Prescription Against Heretics 4, cf.

According to Tertullian, heresy is whatever contradicts the "rule of faith" which he defends as the belief that there is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word, first of all sent forth; that this Word is called His Son, and, under the name of God, was seen in diverse manners by the patriarchs, heard at all times in the prophets, at last brought down by the Spirit and Power of the Father into the Virgin Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and, being born of her, went forth as Jesus Christ; thenceforth He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom of heaven, worked miracles; having been crucified, He rose again the third day; (then) having ascended into the heavens, He sat at the right hand of the Father; sent instead of Himself the Power of the Holy Ghost to lead such as believe; will come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment of everlasting life and of the heavenly promises, and to condemn the wicked to everlasting fire, after the resurrection of both these classes shall have happened, together with the restoration of their flesh.

(Dialogue with Trypho 35) Clement of Alexandria (c. 195) advises against giving into heretical men and their heresies in writing: He who hopes for everlasting rest knows also that the entrance to it is toilsome "and strait."

By following the example of the Lord in recognizing and resisting the temptations of the devil, Christians will not be "incautiously turned back into the nets of death," but go on to "possess the immortality that we have received" (The Treatises of Cyprian 1:2).

Let not the godly man, therefore, grieve; if for the present he suffer affliction, blessed is the time that awaits him there; rising up to life again with the fathers he will rejoice for ever without a grief" (2 Clement 19).

Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.

To whom would He have rather made known the veiled import of His own language, than to him to whom He disclosed the likeness of His own glory – to Peter, John, and James, and afterwards to Paul, to whom He granted participation in (the joys of) paradise too, prior to his martyrdom?

But the souls of the martyrs both peacefully rest in the meantime under the altar, [Revelation 6:9] and support their patience by the assured hope of revenge; and, clothed in their robes, wear the dazzling halo of brightness, until others also may fully share in their glory.

According to John Calvin (1509–1564), once the Holy Spirit brings a person to regeneration (i.e., gives them spiritual life) this experience cannot be lost and leads to final salvation with God.

[87] After the death of Arminius, the Remonstrants maintained their leader's view that the believer has power through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to be victorious over sin, Satan, and the world, and his uncertainty regarding the possibility of apostasy.

Where does this end but with the abolition of the promise and a return to the law?…This faith is no idle knowledge, nor can it exist with mortal sin; but it is a work of the Holy Spirit that frees us from death, comforting and quickening terrified minds.

A little after: "But that they fall from grace, and shed faith and the Holy Spirit, and become guilty of the wrath of God and of eternal punishment, who commit sin against conscience, many sayings" in the Scriptures "clearly testify;" to which purpose he cites Galatians 5:19; 1 Corinthians 6:9, etc.

"[140] In the Confession the Remonstrants were "persuaded that none is to be easily condemned, or blotted out of the register of Christians who holds fast to faith in Christ, and in hope of the good things promised by him, [and who] seek from the heart to obey his commands … .

And having abandoned the way of righteousness, they revert to their worldly impurity which they had truly left, returning like pigs to wallowing in the mud and dogs to their vomit, and are again entangled in lusts of the flesh which they had formerly, truly fled.

[146] John Jefferson Davis writes, In the treatise "Predestination Calmly Considered" Wesley observed that believers might infer from their own experience of grace that it is impossible to finally fall away.

Based on his reading of Hebrews 6:4, 6; 10:26–29; 2 Peter 2:20–21 and other NT texts, Wesley is persuaded that a true believer can make shipwreck of his faith and perish everlastingly.

As a warning, apostasy can function as a moral injunction that strengthens commitment to holiness as well as the need to turn in complete trust to God in Christ through his Spirit.

"[161] In old times canon law, apostasy a fide, defined as total repudiation of the Christian faith, was considered as different from a theological standpoint from heresy, but subject to the same penalty of death by fire by decretist jurists.