Johann
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ON BACKSLIDING
Related resources:
Interesting book by Octavius Winslow (Click)
Hosea 4:16 The Evil and Danger of Backsliding - Sermon by Charles Simeon
Hosea 2:5-7 The Backslider's Way Hedged Up - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Hosea 2:15 The Backslider's Door of Hope - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Hosea 14:4 Backsliding Healed - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Jeremiah 3:22-23 Hope for the Worst of Backsliders - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Samson was like the Frog in the Kettle
Wikipedia says "The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of sinister threats that arise gradually rather than suddenly. While some 19th-century experiments suggested that the underlying premise is true if the heating is sufficiently gradual,[1][2] according to contemporary biologists the premise is false: a frog that is gradually heated will jump out.[3][4] (ED: PERHAPS THERE IS A LESSON HERE - GENUINE BELIEVERS WILL EVENTUALLY JUMP OUT! A THOUGHT TO PONDER.) Indeed, thermoregulation by changing location is a fundamentally necessary survival strategy for frogs and other ectotherms.
Webster says backslide means to lapse morally. To fall off; to apostatize; to turn gradually from the faith and practice of Christianity. To lapse into bad habits or vices from a state of virtue, religious faith, etc
Easton's says to backslide means "To draw back or apostatize in matters of religion (Acts 21:21; 2Thes 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1). This may be either partial (Proverbs 14:14) or complete (Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:38,39). The apostasy may be both doctrinal and moral.
ISBE has this entry on backslide- bak'-slid' (meshubhah; Hosea 11:7; 14:4 and often in Hosea and Jeremiah, shobhabh; shobhebh, in Jer, 4 times: all meaning "turning back or away," "apostate," "rebellious." carar, in Hosea 4:16 = "stubborn," "rebellious"; the Revised Version (British and American) "stubborn"): In all places the word is used of Israel forsaking Yahweh, and with a reference to the covenant relation between Yahweh and the nation, conceived as a marriage tie which Israel had violated. Yahweh was Israel's husband, and by her idolatries with other gods she had proved unfaithful (Jeremiah 3:8,14; 14:7; Hosea 14:4). It may be questioned whether Israel was guilty so much of apostasy and defection, as of failure to grow with the growing revelation of God. The prophets saw that their contemporaries fell far short of their own ideal, but they did not realize how far their predecessors also had fallen short of the rising prophetic standard in ideal and action.
As someone has well said "Backsliding begins when knee-bending stops!" (Ed comment: Woe!)
The Christian writer Paul E. Little also alluded to the subtle slippage inherent in backsliding noting that "Collapse in the Christian life is seldom a blowout. It is usually a slow leak."
The KJV uses the term backsliding more often than any other translation and is found mainly in the Book of Jeremiah where it refers to the lapse of the nation of Israel into paganism and idolatry. - Jer 3:6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 22; 8:5; 31:22; 49:4; Hos 4:16; 11:7; 14:4
What is the Biblical definition of "Backsliding?"…
In popular theology the term “backsliding” is often given a prominent place. Depending on one’s theological tradition, it may be used to describe a person’s return to questionable habits, to a loss of the sense of God’s presence, or even to the “down” times that seem to be part of so many believers’ emotional experiences. But popular theology does not always reflect biblical meanings. In the Bible’s use of “backsliding” there is an important, but different, message.
1. The Hebrew words. “Backsliding” seldom occurs in modern English translations (6 times, NIV; 2 times, NASB), and only in the OT. Yet the root terms express an important biblical idea.
Three forms from the same root communicate the idea of backsliding. Two of them, šôbāb (4 times in the OT—Isa 57:17; Jer 3:14, 22; 50:6) and šôbēb (2 times in the OT—Jer 31:22; 49:4), mean “backsliding” or “apostasy.” The most commonly used word, mešûbâh, occurs twelve times in the OT (Pr 1:32; Jer 2:19; 3:6, 8, 11, 12, 22; 5:6; 8:5; 14:7; Hos 11:7; 14:4). It means “backsliding,” “disloyalty,” or “faithlessness.”
2. The nature of backsliding. A study of the use of these words makes it clear that this is one of the many OT words intimately linked with the belief that God has established a covenantal relationship between himself and Israel. Backsliding is disloyalty by the OT community to the covenant relationship and involves a refusal to live by the terms of the covenant.
The focus in references to backsliding is on the central element of the covenant: the commitment of God’s people to him personally. Texts that refer to backsliding repeatedly describe a faithless community that has rebelled against the Lord and has “scattered [its] favors to foreign gods” (Jer 3:13).
Backsliding also involved rejection of the social and moral requirements of the covenant. Jeremiah shows this as he condemned the leaders who had consciously rejected “the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God” (Jer 5:5).
It is important to note that each OT cry against backsliding portrays the state of the OT community, not of individuals (except Pr 1:32). Each description of the backslidden people implies their willful choice to turn away from the God of the covenant to other gods and therefore to other moralities.
3. Summary. In the Bible “backsliding” is a word used to describe the corporate condition of God’s OT people during periods of apostasy. The backslidden community had sinned by choosing to worship other gods, and a moral decay marked the backslidden society. This particular concept is never carried into the NT: “backsliding” is not found there as a description of the experience either of an individual Christian or of a particular congregation.
However, any who feel a sense of alienation from the Lord can find release in the prescription Jeremiah shares with God’s OT people: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, `I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD, `I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt’ ” (Jer 3:12-13). In confession and trust in the mercy of God we, like Israel, can find restoration and peace. (Richards, L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
Warren Wiersbe writes that "Most Christians do not jump into sin and get away from God’s will. They gradually decline spiritually, then find themselves in trouble and wonder how it happened. They leave their first love (Rev. 2:4) and start living for the flesh and not the Spirit (Gal. 3:1–3). That is why our Lord admonished us to watch and pray (both in the present imperative and both need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey - Mt 26:41+). When we least expect it, the germ of sin can enter the system. (Borrow With the Word or read context in With the Word: The Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Handbook)
Unger writes that "In the NT backsliding is set forth as involving a change of the believer’s state before God but not of his standing. The former is variable and depends upon daily contact with Christ, “if we walk in the light” (1 John 1:7) and many other factors of the spiritual life. Standing, by contrast, refers to the believer’s position “in Christ,” which is grounded in the unchangeable and perfect work of Christ for the believer, whereas state describes the changing and imperfect condition of his soul from moment to moment as affected by backsliding on the one hand or spiritual progress on the other. Faith in Christ secures standing (John 1:12; Rom. 5:1–2; 8:17; Eph. 1:3, 6; Col. 2:10; Heb. 10:19; etc.), but observance of all the laws of the spiritual life alone assures protection against backsliding. Compare 1 Cor. 1:2–9 (standing) with 1 Cor. 1:11; 3:1–4; 4:18; 5:2 (state). Backsliding not only results in a changed state or experience but involves corrective chastening (Heb. 12:6; 1 Cor. 11:31), loss of rewards and fellowship (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 John 3:10), curtailment of usefulness, and in extreme cases physical death (1 Cor. 5:5; 1 John 5:16) that the “spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (Online version or borrow The new Unger's Bible dictionary)
David Guzik (Judges 16 Commentary) gives us a powerful metaphor for the subtle nature of backsliding, even invisible to the backslider himself or herself! (By the way, that's also a descriptive definition of "deceived"! The deceived person by definition does not know it! So don't be deceived! Look at your face in the mirror of God's Word -- if it's "dirty" wash it with the water of the Word and the soul cleansing soap of repentance!)…
Are you backsliding? The signs may not be so obvious to others. When you see a tree broken over in a windstorm, it’s easy to think that it was the wind. If you look closer, you will often see that insects have been at work a long time on the tree, making it weaker and weaker. It really wasn’t the wind that did it - other trees around it withstood the wind. It was the slow decline of strength, as insects nibbled away month after month. (From Comments on Hoses 14:4).
Dr. Payson warns that…
“The symptoms of spiritual decline are like those which attend the decay of bodily health. It generally commences with loss of appetite and a disrelish for wholesome food, prayer, reading the Scriptures and devotional books. Whenever you perceive these symptoms, be alarmed, for your spiritual health is in danger: apply immediately to the great Physician for a cure.”
J. Oswald Sanders writes that…
We must not just take it for granted that we are in touch with God. Joseph and Mary lost a whole day of fellowship with Jesus because they “supposed him to be in the company.” They took for granted something of which they should have made sure. “He [Samson] wist not that the Lord had departed from him” (Judges 16:20). He was out of touch with God and did not know it. (Sanders, J O: The Best That I Can Be. Overseas Missionary Fellowship Books. 1984)
Warren Wiersbe commenting on Jer 2:19 that…
A basic principle is enunciated in verse 19: God punishes us by allowing our own sins to bring pain and discipline to our lives. “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is!” (Jer 4:18NIV) “Your wrongdoings have kept these [rains] away; your sins have deprived you of good” (Jer 5:25NIV).
The greatest judgment God can send to disobedient people is to let them have their own way and reap the sad, painful consequences of their sins. (Ed comment: This certainly applies to Samson. Is there some pet sin you are holding onto, even "cultivating"? You can be sure that the harvest will be bitter fruit even as it was in Samson's life! Gal 6:7-note, Gal 6:8-note)
The word “backsliding” literally means “to turn away” and describes the nation’s repeated apostasy. The Book of Judges records at least seven occasions when Israel turned from the Lord and had to be chastened, and there were numerous other times during the period of the monarchy when the Israelites deliberately turned from the Lord. The word “backslide” is not used in the New Testament, but the experience is described in other ways: falling from grace (Gal 5:4), leaving your first love (Rev 2:4-note), loving the world (1Jn 2:15-note, 1Jn 2:16-note, 1Jn 2:17-note; 2Ti 4:10-note), and walking in darkness (1Jn 1:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). (See context The Bible Exposition Commentary- Jeremiah)
Theodore H. Epp a well known Bible expositor warns that "Backsliding starts in such a subtle way that most of us are not aware of it, and many of us may be backslidden and may not realize it."
C E Macartney once explained the danger of backsliding noting that "Between an airplane and every other form of locomotion and transportation there is one great contrast. The horse and wagon, the automobile, the bicycle, the locomotive, the speedboat, and the great battleship—all can come to a standstill without danger, and they can all reverse their engines, or their power, and go back. But there is no reverse about the engine of an airplane. It cannot back up. It dare not stand still. If it loses its momentum and forward-drives, then it crashes. The only safety for the airplane is in its forward and upward motion. The only safe direction for the Christian to take is forward and upward. If he stops, or if he begins to slip and go backward, that moment he is in danger."
Mike Yaconelli wrote the following illustration on backsliding in the Wittenberg Door "“I live in a small, rural community. There are lots of cattle ranches around here, and, every once in a while, a cow wanders off and gets lost. Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, ‘Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of grass right next to a hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.’ ” Most people don’t deliberately set out to backslide, but following their appetites or desires from one tuft to the next, they nibble themselves through the fence and off the straight and narrow path." (A dramatic illustration of Samson's wanderlust)
Jerry White observes a truth many believers have experienced at one time or another "No one is so empty as the man who has stopped walking with God and doesn’t know it."
F W Boreham alludes to the Christian's journey through the tempestuous, tempting seas of life noting that "The captain gives earnest heed to the charts lest he drift unconsciously shoreward!"
The peril of the drifting life - For most of us the threat of life is not so much that we should plunge into disaster, but that we should drift into sin. There are few people who deliberately and in a moment turn their backs on God; there are many who day by day drift farther and farther away from him. There are not many who in one moment of time commit some disastrous sin; there are many who almost imperceptibly involve themselves in some situation and suddenly awake to find that they have ruined life for themselves and broken someone else's heart. We must be continually on the alert against the peril of the drifting life. The Word will never drift from us. The danger is our drifting from it. The harbor of salvation is absolutely secure. It is Jesus Christ, who never moves, never changes, and is always available to anyone who wants the protection and security of His righteousness.
The writer of Hebrews adds that in light of the truth of the superiority of our Captain Christ Jesus "We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." (Hebrews 2:1)
Predisposition to "drifting" backward -
(1). Time: A slow drift, given enough time, will carry you to another continent and its dark uncharted waters.
(2). Familiarity with the truth. It is natural for us to come to regard the familiar as commonplace. The initial venture into the mysteries of Christ will leave us exhilarated. But with the repeated journeys, some become bored tourists.
(3) Danger of busyness: We who live at the end of the twentieth century are busy people, and the multiplicity of our cares and duties can overwhelm us. A snowflake is a tiny thing, but when the air is full of them, they can bury us. Even so, the thousand cares of each day can insulate us from the stupendous excellencies of Christ, causing us to begin a deadly drift. The drifting that comes through the combination of years, familiarity, and busyness often bares its existence when the storm of opposition comes. The anchor has long been loosed, and when the winds come, an eternal soul is suddenly on the rocks and shipwrecked.
Here is a fascinating illustration of drifting the wrong direction ("backsliding") - The danger and deceitfulness of drifting is illustrated by the story of the English explorer, William Edward Parry, who took a crew to the Arctic Ocean. They wanted to go farther north to continue their chartings, so they calculated their location by the stars and started a very difficult and treacherous march north. They walked hour upon hour, and finally, totally exhausted, they stopped. Taking their bearings again from the stars, they discovered that they were farther south than they had been when they started. They had been walking on an ice floe that was moving south faster than they were walking north. How many people are out with step to God, thinking that they are walking with Him, when in fact they are moving away from Him faster than they are supposedly walking toward Him. That is the tragedy of drifting from the truth. Will you awaken one day ("come to your senses") to find, like Parry’s crew, that all the time you have been moving imperceptibly in the wrong direction.
In his poem “Let Me Get Home Before Dark” Dr. Robertson McQuilkin offers a prayer that alludes to subtle drifting…
I fear the Dark Spectre may come too soon—or do I mean, too late?
That I should end before I finish or finish, but not well.
That I should stain your honor, shame your name, grieve your loving heart.
Few, they tell me, finish well…
Lord, let me get home before dark. (Read the entire poem - it is powerful)
The venerable preacher Charles Simeon (see John Piper's summation of this man's amazing ministry - Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering) once warned that "However advanced a man may be in piety or age, he is still in danger of falling." (AMEN - I AM 76 IN 2022 AND BELIEVE THIS IMPLICITLY!)
F. W. Norwood wrote that "Life’s greatest tragedy is to lose God and not to miss Him."
Thomas à Kempis - Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience withdraws from grace
C H Spurgeon (read his miraculous testimony) spoke a great deal about backsliding warning that "You, who have the most familiarity with Christ, and enjoy the most holy fellowship with him, may soon become the very leaders of the hosts of Satan if your Lord withdraws His grace. David’s eyes go astray, and the sweet psalmist of Israel becomes the shameless adulterer, who robs Uriah of his wife. Samson one day slays a thousand of his enemies with the might of his arm and the valor of his heart; another day his honor is betrayed, his locks are shorn, and his eyes are put out by a strumpet’s treacherous wiles. How soon are the mighty fallen!…
Here are several pithy quotes from unknown sources…
Never look back unless you want to go that way
However deep you fall, you are never out of God's reach
Life's greatest tragedy is to lose God and not miss Him
If you are not as close to God as you used to be, you do not have to guess who moved
(From Complete Gathered Gold - Recommended)
John Chrysostom wrote that "If repentance is neglected for an instant, one can lose the power of the Resurrection as he lives with the weakness of tepidity and the potential of his fall.
www.preceptaustin.org
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Mat 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
The Final Judgment
Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Can a genuine believer in Christ backslide and embrace certain sins he/she has been delivered from?
Shalom
Johann
ON BACKSLIDING
Related resources:
Interesting book by Octavius Winslow (Click)
Hosea 4:16 The Evil and Danger of Backsliding - Sermon by Charles Simeon
Hosea 2:5-7 The Backslider's Way Hedged Up - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Hosea 2:15 The Backslider's Door of Hope - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Hosea 14:4 Backsliding Healed - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Jeremiah 3:22-23 Hope for the Worst of Backsliders - Sermon by C H Spurgeon
Samson was like the Frog in the Kettle
Wikipedia says "The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of sinister threats that arise gradually rather than suddenly. While some 19th-century experiments suggested that the underlying premise is true if the heating is sufficiently gradual,[1][2] according to contemporary biologists the premise is false: a frog that is gradually heated will jump out.[3][4] (ED: PERHAPS THERE IS A LESSON HERE - GENUINE BELIEVERS WILL EVENTUALLY JUMP OUT! A THOUGHT TO PONDER.) Indeed, thermoregulation by changing location is a fundamentally necessary survival strategy for frogs and other ectotherms.
Webster says backslide means to lapse morally. To fall off; to apostatize; to turn gradually from the faith and practice of Christianity. To lapse into bad habits or vices from a state of virtue, religious faith, etc
Easton's says to backslide means "To draw back or apostatize in matters of religion (Acts 21:21; 2Thes 2:3; 1 Timothy 4:1). This may be either partial (Proverbs 14:14) or complete (Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:38,39). The apostasy may be both doctrinal and moral.
ISBE has this entry on backslide- bak'-slid' (meshubhah; Hosea 11:7; 14:4 and often in Hosea and Jeremiah, shobhabh; shobhebh, in Jer, 4 times: all meaning "turning back or away," "apostate," "rebellious." carar, in Hosea 4:16 = "stubborn," "rebellious"; the Revised Version (British and American) "stubborn"): In all places the word is used of Israel forsaking Yahweh, and with a reference to the covenant relation between Yahweh and the nation, conceived as a marriage tie which Israel had violated. Yahweh was Israel's husband, and by her idolatries with other gods she had proved unfaithful (Jeremiah 3:8,14; 14:7; Hosea 14:4). It may be questioned whether Israel was guilty so much of apostasy and defection, as of failure to grow with the growing revelation of God. The prophets saw that their contemporaries fell far short of their own ideal, but they did not realize how far their predecessors also had fallen short of the rising prophetic standard in ideal and action.
As someone has well said "Backsliding begins when knee-bending stops!" (Ed comment: Woe!)
The Christian writer Paul E. Little also alluded to the subtle slippage inherent in backsliding noting that "Collapse in the Christian life is seldom a blowout. It is usually a slow leak."
The KJV uses the term backsliding more often than any other translation and is found mainly in the Book of Jeremiah where it refers to the lapse of the nation of Israel into paganism and idolatry. - Jer 3:6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 22; 8:5; 31:22; 49:4; Hos 4:16; 11:7; 14:4
What is the Biblical definition of "Backsliding?"…
In popular theology the term “backsliding” is often given a prominent place. Depending on one’s theological tradition, it may be used to describe a person’s return to questionable habits, to a loss of the sense of God’s presence, or even to the “down” times that seem to be part of so many believers’ emotional experiences. But popular theology does not always reflect biblical meanings. In the Bible’s use of “backsliding” there is an important, but different, message.
1. The Hebrew words. “Backsliding” seldom occurs in modern English translations (6 times, NIV; 2 times, NASB), and only in the OT. Yet the root terms express an important biblical idea.
Three forms from the same root communicate the idea of backsliding. Two of them, šôbāb (4 times in the OT—Isa 57:17; Jer 3:14, 22; 50:6) and šôbēb (2 times in the OT—Jer 31:22; 49:4), mean “backsliding” or “apostasy.” The most commonly used word, mešûbâh, occurs twelve times in the OT (Pr 1:32; Jer 2:19; 3:6, 8, 11, 12, 22; 5:6; 8:5; 14:7; Hos 11:7; 14:4). It means “backsliding,” “disloyalty,” or “faithlessness.”
2. The nature of backsliding. A study of the use of these words makes it clear that this is one of the many OT words intimately linked with the belief that God has established a covenantal relationship between himself and Israel. Backsliding is disloyalty by the OT community to the covenant relationship and involves a refusal to live by the terms of the covenant.
The focus in references to backsliding is on the central element of the covenant: the commitment of God’s people to him personally. Texts that refer to backsliding repeatedly describe a faithless community that has rebelled against the Lord and has “scattered [its] favors to foreign gods” (Jer 3:13).
Backsliding also involved rejection of the social and moral requirements of the covenant. Jeremiah shows this as he condemned the leaders who had consciously rejected “the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God” (Jer 5:5).
It is important to note that each OT cry against backsliding portrays the state of the OT community, not of individuals (except Pr 1:32). Each description of the backslidden people implies their willful choice to turn away from the God of the covenant to other gods and therefore to other moralities.
3. Summary. In the Bible “backsliding” is a word used to describe the corporate condition of God’s OT people during periods of apostasy. The backslidden community had sinned by choosing to worship other gods, and a moral decay marked the backslidden society. This particular concept is never carried into the NT: “backsliding” is not found there as a description of the experience either of an individual Christian or of a particular congregation.
However, any who feel a sense of alienation from the Lord can find release in the prescription Jeremiah shares with God’s OT people: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, `I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD, `I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt’ ” (Jer 3:12-13). In confession and trust in the mercy of God we, like Israel, can find restoration and peace. (Richards, L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
Warren Wiersbe writes that "Most Christians do not jump into sin and get away from God’s will. They gradually decline spiritually, then find themselves in trouble and wonder how it happened. They leave their first love (Rev. 2:4) and start living for the flesh and not the Spirit (Gal. 3:1–3). That is why our Lord admonished us to watch and pray (both in the present imperative and both need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey - Mt 26:41+). When we least expect it, the germ of sin can enter the system. (Borrow With the Word or read context in With the Word: The Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Handbook)
Unger writes that "In the NT backsliding is set forth as involving a change of the believer’s state before God but not of his standing. The former is variable and depends upon daily contact with Christ, “if we walk in the light” (1 John 1:7) and many other factors of the spiritual life. Standing, by contrast, refers to the believer’s position “in Christ,” which is grounded in the unchangeable and perfect work of Christ for the believer, whereas state describes the changing and imperfect condition of his soul from moment to moment as affected by backsliding on the one hand or spiritual progress on the other. Faith in Christ secures standing (John 1:12; Rom. 5:1–2; 8:17; Eph. 1:3, 6; Col. 2:10; Heb. 10:19; etc.), but observance of all the laws of the spiritual life alone assures protection against backsliding. Compare 1 Cor. 1:2–9 (standing) with 1 Cor. 1:11; 3:1–4; 4:18; 5:2 (state). Backsliding not only results in a changed state or experience but involves corrective chastening (Heb. 12:6; 1 Cor. 11:31), loss of rewards and fellowship (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 John 3:10), curtailment of usefulness, and in extreme cases physical death (1 Cor. 5:5; 1 John 5:16) that the “spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (Online version or borrow The new Unger's Bible dictionary)
David Guzik (Judges 16 Commentary) gives us a powerful metaphor for the subtle nature of backsliding, even invisible to the backslider himself or herself! (By the way, that's also a descriptive definition of "deceived"! The deceived person by definition does not know it! So don't be deceived! Look at your face in the mirror of God's Word -- if it's "dirty" wash it with the water of the Word and the soul cleansing soap of repentance!)…
Are you backsliding? The signs may not be so obvious to others. When you see a tree broken over in a windstorm, it’s easy to think that it was the wind. If you look closer, you will often see that insects have been at work a long time on the tree, making it weaker and weaker. It really wasn’t the wind that did it - other trees around it withstood the wind. It was the slow decline of strength, as insects nibbled away month after month. (From Comments on Hoses 14:4).
Dr. Payson warns that…
“The symptoms of spiritual decline are like those which attend the decay of bodily health. It generally commences with loss of appetite and a disrelish for wholesome food, prayer, reading the Scriptures and devotional books. Whenever you perceive these symptoms, be alarmed, for your spiritual health is in danger: apply immediately to the great Physician for a cure.”
J. Oswald Sanders writes that…
We must not just take it for granted that we are in touch with God. Joseph and Mary lost a whole day of fellowship with Jesus because they “supposed him to be in the company.” They took for granted something of which they should have made sure. “He [Samson] wist not that the Lord had departed from him” (Judges 16:20). He was out of touch with God and did not know it. (Sanders, J O: The Best That I Can Be. Overseas Missionary Fellowship Books. 1984)
Warren Wiersbe commenting on Jer 2:19 that…
A basic principle is enunciated in verse 19: God punishes us by allowing our own sins to bring pain and discipline to our lives. “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is!” (Jer 4:18NIV) “Your wrongdoings have kept these [rains] away; your sins have deprived you of good” (Jer 5:25NIV).
The greatest judgment God can send to disobedient people is to let them have their own way and reap the sad, painful consequences of their sins. (Ed comment: This certainly applies to Samson. Is there some pet sin you are holding onto, even "cultivating"? You can be sure that the harvest will be bitter fruit even as it was in Samson's life! Gal 6:7-note, Gal 6:8-note)
The word “backsliding” literally means “to turn away” and describes the nation’s repeated apostasy. The Book of Judges records at least seven occasions when Israel turned from the Lord and had to be chastened, and there were numerous other times during the period of the monarchy when the Israelites deliberately turned from the Lord. The word “backslide” is not used in the New Testament, but the experience is described in other ways: falling from grace (Gal 5:4), leaving your first love (Rev 2:4-note), loving the world (1Jn 2:15-note, 1Jn 2:16-note, 1Jn 2:17-note; 2Ti 4:10-note), and walking in darkness (1Jn 1:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). (See context The Bible Exposition Commentary- Jeremiah)
Theodore H. Epp a well known Bible expositor warns that "Backsliding starts in such a subtle way that most of us are not aware of it, and many of us may be backslidden and may not realize it."
C E Macartney once explained the danger of backsliding noting that "Between an airplane and every other form of locomotion and transportation there is one great contrast. The horse and wagon, the automobile, the bicycle, the locomotive, the speedboat, and the great battleship—all can come to a standstill without danger, and they can all reverse their engines, or their power, and go back. But there is no reverse about the engine of an airplane. It cannot back up. It dare not stand still. If it loses its momentum and forward-drives, then it crashes. The only safety for the airplane is in its forward and upward motion. The only safe direction for the Christian to take is forward and upward. If he stops, or if he begins to slip and go backward, that moment he is in danger."
Mike Yaconelli wrote the following illustration on backsliding in the Wittenberg Door "“I live in a small, rural community. There are lots of cattle ranches around here, and, every once in a while, a cow wanders off and gets lost. Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, ‘Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of grass right next to a hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.’ ” Most people don’t deliberately set out to backslide, but following their appetites or desires from one tuft to the next, they nibble themselves through the fence and off the straight and narrow path." (A dramatic illustration of Samson's wanderlust)
Jerry White observes a truth many believers have experienced at one time or another "No one is so empty as the man who has stopped walking with God and doesn’t know it."
F W Boreham alludes to the Christian's journey through the tempestuous, tempting seas of life noting that "The captain gives earnest heed to the charts lest he drift unconsciously shoreward!"
The peril of the drifting life - For most of us the threat of life is not so much that we should plunge into disaster, but that we should drift into sin. There are few people who deliberately and in a moment turn their backs on God; there are many who day by day drift farther and farther away from him. There are not many who in one moment of time commit some disastrous sin; there are many who almost imperceptibly involve themselves in some situation and suddenly awake to find that they have ruined life for themselves and broken someone else's heart. We must be continually on the alert against the peril of the drifting life. The Word will never drift from us. The danger is our drifting from it. The harbor of salvation is absolutely secure. It is Jesus Christ, who never moves, never changes, and is always available to anyone who wants the protection and security of His righteousness.
The writer of Hebrews adds that in light of the truth of the superiority of our Captain Christ Jesus "We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." (Hebrews 2:1)
Predisposition to "drifting" backward -
(1). Time: A slow drift, given enough time, will carry you to another continent and its dark uncharted waters.
(2). Familiarity with the truth. It is natural for us to come to regard the familiar as commonplace. The initial venture into the mysteries of Christ will leave us exhilarated. But with the repeated journeys, some become bored tourists.
(3) Danger of busyness: We who live at the end of the twentieth century are busy people, and the multiplicity of our cares and duties can overwhelm us. A snowflake is a tiny thing, but when the air is full of them, they can bury us. Even so, the thousand cares of each day can insulate us from the stupendous excellencies of Christ, causing us to begin a deadly drift. The drifting that comes through the combination of years, familiarity, and busyness often bares its existence when the storm of opposition comes. The anchor has long been loosed, and when the winds come, an eternal soul is suddenly on the rocks and shipwrecked.
Here is a fascinating illustration of drifting the wrong direction ("backsliding") - The danger and deceitfulness of drifting is illustrated by the story of the English explorer, William Edward Parry, who took a crew to the Arctic Ocean. They wanted to go farther north to continue their chartings, so they calculated their location by the stars and started a very difficult and treacherous march north. They walked hour upon hour, and finally, totally exhausted, they stopped. Taking their bearings again from the stars, they discovered that they were farther south than they had been when they started. They had been walking on an ice floe that was moving south faster than they were walking north. How many people are out with step to God, thinking that they are walking with Him, when in fact they are moving away from Him faster than they are supposedly walking toward Him. That is the tragedy of drifting from the truth. Will you awaken one day ("come to your senses") to find, like Parry’s crew, that all the time you have been moving imperceptibly in the wrong direction.
In his poem “Let Me Get Home Before Dark” Dr. Robertson McQuilkin offers a prayer that alludes to subtle drifting…
I fear the Dark Spectre may come too soon—or do I mean, too late?
That I should end before I finish or finish, but not well.
That I should stain your honor, shame your name, grieve your loving heart.
Few, they tell me, finish well…
Lord, let me get home before dark. (Read the entire poem - it is powerful)
The venerable preacher Charles Simeon (see John Piper's summation of this man's amazing ministry - Brothers, We Must Not Mind a Little Suffering) once warned that "However advanced a man may be in piety or age, he is still in danger of falling." (AMEN - I AM 76 IN 2022 AND BELIEVE THIS IMPLICITLY!)
F. W. Norwood wrote that "Life’s greatest tragedy is to lose God and not to miss Him."
Thomas à Kempis - Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience withdraws from grace
C H Spurgeon (read his miraculous testimony) spoke a great deal about backsliding warning that "You, who have the most familiarity with Christ, and enjoy the most holy fellowship with him, may soon become the very leaders of the hosts of Satan if your Lord withdraws His grace. David’s eyes go astray, and the sweet psalmist of Israel becomes the shameless adulterer, who robs Uriah of his wife. Samson one day slays a thousand of his enemies with the might of his arm and the valor of his heart; another day his honor is betrayed, his locks are shorn, and his eyes are put out by a strumpet’s treacherous wiles. How soon are the mighty fallen!…
Here are several pithy quotes from unknown sources…
Never look back unless you want to go that way
However deep you fall, you are never out of God's reach
Life's greatest tragedy is to lose God and not miss Him
If you are not as close to God as you used to be, you do not have to guess who moved
(From Complete Gathered Gold - Recommended)
John Chrysostom wrote that "If repentance is neglected for an instant, one can lose the power of the Resurrection as he lives with the weakness of tepidity and the potential of his fall.
Judges 16 Commentary | Precept Austin
Mat 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Mat 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Mat 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Mat 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Mat 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Mat 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Mat 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Mat 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Mat 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Mat 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Mat 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Mat 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
The Final Judgment
Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mat 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mat 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Mat 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Can a genuine believer in Christ backslide and embrace certain sins he/she has been delivered from?
Shalom
Johann
