Lesson for February 7, 2024
The Danger of Reversionism
Reversionism is the condition of a believer that is negative toward Bible doctrine and as a result has stopped growing spiritually. It is failure to follow God’s plan of executing the Christian Way of Life. The reversionist is a believer in perpetual carnality, out of fellowship with God and controlled by his sin nature. (If you are not advancing toward spiritual maturity as a Christian, you are retreating into reversionism).
The Bible says reversionists are enemies of God, enemies of the Cross, children of the devil, double-minded, and unstable in all their ways. Reversionists do not abide in the teaching of Christ, they delude themselves, they lack faith, they are faint in their minds, they are prisoners to sin, they have come short of the grace of God, their souls are tortured, and they are subject to divine discipline. They have left their first love, they have fallen away from their spiritual life, and they have become spiritually lukewarm. (James 4:4; Philippians 3:18-19; I John 3:10; James 1:8, 4:8; II John 9; James 1:22-24; Romans 7:23; Hebrews 12:3-15; II Peter 2:7-8; Revelation 2)
Some believers start their Christian lives very well, under sound, accurate doctrinal teaching from their pastor-teacher. Others wander off immediately after salvation and remain in a state of carnality until they die. Then we have the reversionist who begins well for a while but finishes poorly. We all have equal opportunity to succeed or fail in the Christian Way of Life. Success depends on positive volition towards Bible doctrine.
Accurate teaching of God’s Word takes many hours of study and preparation by the pastor-teacher. It also requires the proper method of Biblical interpretation, which is accomplished through the principle of I.C.E. The I.C.E. principle stands for Isagogics, Categories and Exegesis. Isagogics means that the Word of God must be interpreted in the time it was written from a historical point of view. Categoriesof doctrine must be studied and taught in a logical, systematic way, letting the Bible interpret itself, so that the hearer can understand and store this information. Exegesis is the verse-by-verse study and teaching of the Word of God, in order to understand it within its context. Accuracy comes by examination of the original languages, the etymology of words, their tenses, and their grammatical use.
The stages of reversionism begin when the rate of forgetting Bible doctrine exceeds the rate of learning,and a believer is at risk of reversionism. To guard against this happening, the opposite must be practiced consistently; the rate of learning and remembering Bible doctrine must exceed the rate of forgetting. When a believer abandons Bible doctrine, it is a short step into the arrogance complex of sins. These sins are self-justification, self-deception, and self-absorption. Being no longer influenced by the doctrine in their souls, these believers become totally preoccupied with themselves. This, of course, is a huge distraction to any believer attempting to execute God’s plan. The arrogance complex leads believers into all kinds of sin, especially mental attitude sins and eventuates in reversionism. We have a clear example of reversionism in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 6:4-6, “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away (into reversionism), it is impossible to renew them again to repentance (a change of mind) since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”
Who have once been enlightened refers to the hearing of the Gospel and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in illuminating that Gospel message in the soul of an unbeliever. The Gospel is spiritual phenomena, “the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them because they are discerned by the Spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:14) One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to make the Gospel understandable.
And have tasted of the heavenly gift means believed the Gospel after it was made understandable to them by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, tasted is a synonym for faith. The Greek word for gift is “dorea,” which means a gift given without strings and refers to a gracious gift from Heaven. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
And have become partakers of the Holy Spirit means to take advantage of the ministries of the Holy Spirit to execute God’s plan for your live. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the power and guidance believers need to enable them to produce divine good works and glorify God.
And have tasted the good Word of God means studying, learning, believing, and applying accurate Bible doctrine. These believers had been taught the Word of God, and as the writer stated previously, they should have been able to teach others, but instead needed to be taught again. (Hebrews 5:12)
And the powers of the age to come. These believers had been taught the plan of God for the future and should have developed a personal sense of destiny.
However, some of them had fallen away into reversionism instead and failed to grow up spiritually as a result.
It is impossible to renew again to repentance. A believer in reversionism can make it impossible to recover from it, by ignoring their spiritual condition and refusing to do anything about it. Repentance means a change of mind. In the case of a reverionsist, it means a change of mind about their spiritual condition. At any time, a believer can use Rebound and begin the recovery process from reversionism, regardless of how far they have moved away from God. However, restoring their fellowship with God alone isn’t going to restore their spiritual condition. They need get back to the study and application of Bible doctrine under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God. By remaining in a state of reversionism, some of these believers were figuratively “crucifying Christ again.” They were continuing to offer animal sacrifices in the Temple, which was like crucifying Christ, again and again. The death of Christ on the Cross was the fulfillment of what the rituals taught, and never needed to be repeated either literally or figuratively. His payment for sin, which the animal sacrifices represented, was once for all. Believers today “crucify Christ again” by participating in any religious ritual that does not accurately teach Bible doctrine.
And put him to open shame means to hold in contempt or to publicly embarrass someone. It describes what occurred when these believers entered the Temple to offer sacrifices. Every time they did this, they exposed Christ to public shame and contempt by saying in effect that His sacrifice was not sufficient for salvation. Any form of legalism or human works for salvation carries this same message.
The danger of reversionism begins with negative volition toward God and His Word and ends with the destruction of a believer’s spiritual life!