Genuine, Enduring Faith

October 23rd, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.

The author of Hebrews was not one to sit around and amongst professed Christians who doubted the superiority of Jesus Christ while assuming that since they once made a profession of faith in Christ that they were once saved, always saved. To the author, a true believer in Christ was not just one who believed in Christ but who also endured in their faith and grew in their love for Christ. This is called sanctification—being set apart by God through faith in Christ and growing in faith. Some in the Hebrews audience were not only not growing in their sanctification, they were falling away, becoming hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. The author was not one who believed that the behavior of others Christians was none of his business. He cared too much for his audience as “brethren” to let them doubt Christ, believing that if they continued to doubt, they would fall away from the living God—apostatize.

Previously, the author spoke of Jesus Christ as having built the “house” of believers, the Church, saying, “whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end” (3:6). Now, just a few verses later, he again warns in v. 14 that “we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” We see in v. 6 and in v. 14 that there is a caveat to properly understanding our Christian faith. Our faith is not something we know is true by simply believing in Jesus on one occasion; rather, we as genuine believers “hold fast” (Gr. katechō) our faith throughout the course of our lives. The Greek term means “to restrain; hold back.” In this case, the meaning is to maintain one’s faith, to restrain it, to prevent it from being diluted by sin.

The writer of Hebrews has in mind God’s “rest” for faithful believers—a rest that only God knows but has promised to all His faithful ones. Quoting from Psalm 95:11, he quotes God’s own words to unfaithful Israel: “As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest’ ” (v. 11). This will again be quoted in Hebrews 4:3, 5 because the author is so concerned about believers remaining faithful to the end and thus entering God’s eternal “rest.” One must keep in mind that the Israel God spoke to in Psalm 95 is the nation that was once enslaved by the Egyptians but who came out of Egypt through the miraculous powers of God—powers that they witnessed first-hand. In other words, they saw God’s power, experienced His presence, and enjoyed His provisions. Yet they later rejected God through grumbling and unbelief (cf. Num. 13-14).

A “partaker” (Gr. metochos) is one who possesses something in common with another; one who gives or receives a share of something. In this context, the “partaker” is “of Christ,” one who shares in Christ; one who participates, or partners, with Jesus Christ. But one can only partake of Christ through faith, or trust, in Christ. Moreover, per v. 14, a partaker of Christ is not one who once believed; rather, it is one who once trusted Christ and who continues to trust Christ. In short, a true partaker of Christ cannot and will not ultimately fall away from Christ.

Food For Thought
When the gospel was corrupted by the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, it was reintroduced to the world by the Protestant Reformers in the 1500’s through men like Martin Luther and John Calvin who went back to the Scriptures to discover the true gospel. They revealed that the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple: believe in Christ, and you shall be saved. No works, just faith. We thus believe that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Just believe! And when we do, we are eternally secure—once saved, always saved. But if our faith is real, it endures—it holds fast; it works (James 2;14-26). If not, it won’t.