The Anatomy of Apostasy

"Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." (Jeremiah 3:22)

I have been praying and thinking really hard about doing a series on what apostasy looks like and using the book of Jeremiah as the basis. The series would look at the different things that make up the sin of apostasy, or backsliding as the Old Testament sometimes calls it. Apostasy isn't a one time sin, it isn't a single unforgiveable sin, and it isn't even battling the one of many certain weaknesses we have daily. Apostasy is a condition, a state of heart, that, by the process spelled out in scripture, gets harder and bolder in sin. With all this in mind there are certain aspects of apostasy that show up in Scripture. The book of Jeremiah is especially illustrative of alot of these concepts, which is why I've chosen it as a basis for this series.

Before I move on there is one thing we must point out. Is apostasy forgiveable? The answer is without a doubt a resounding YES! The verse listed above is God's grace reaching out to His people who have slid into this fearful hard hearted state, yet His covenant love and grace still reaches out to His covenant people. Apostasy isn't just a one time act, for Jesus declared all acts of sin forgiveable in his New Testament ministry (except blasphemy of the HS, but that's a subject for another day). Every time we sin against God we are in some small way committing a small act of apostasy in our hearts. Apostasy is nothing more than going backwards in our spiritual journey, whether its a small going back or a big one.

The second reason we know that apostasy is forgiveable is because Jesus died the death of an apostate. Hebrews 13:13 tells us that Jesus suffered and died "outside the gate", which was the death that only those who had flagrantly broken God's covenant suffered. Jesus died the death of a blasphemer, and adulterer, as one who took God's name in vain, as a murderer, and every other sin we can commit. His death was complete, covering sin all the way back to the first great sin in the Garden.

We must have one word of caution though. There is an advanced state of apostasy which we will look at that is very dangerous, even deadly (i.e. Judas & Cain, and warning passages in Hebrews). Examples like these are to make us fear ever getting that far into sin and instead to flee to God's mercy and grace in Christ which He freely gives to all who long for it. This isn't a condition easily reached because of God's abundant mercy, but because it is a very real possibility we will try to look at it through the lenses of Scripture.