122 All things possible wit Ji God. CHAP. 



the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the. 

 Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and 

 the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it 

 is impossible to renew them again unto repentance " 

 (TraAiv dvaKaivifciv et's /xeravotav). 



Westcott, in his Epistle to the Hebrews: the Greek 

 text, with Notes and JEssays, has the following note in 

 loco: "The use of the active voice limits the strict 

 application of the words to human agency. This is 

 all that comes within the range of the writer's argu- 

 ment. And further, the present (dvaKaivifciv) suggests 

 continual effort. Some divine work may then be equiv- 

 alent to this renewing, though not identical with it." 



Westcott then refers to Our Lord's words, " With 

 men this is impossible, but with God all things are 

 possible" (Matt. xix. 26). Our Lord had said to 

 the disciples, " It is easier for a camel to go through 

 a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the 

 Kingdom of God." They were naturally much 

 astonished ; for they knew that all men, as a rule, 

 are subject to the temptations of riches those who 

 are not rich desire to be rich arid they said, " Who 

 then can be saved?" Is salvation so much more 

 difficult to attain than we thought? To which the 

 Lord replied by telling them that salvation is not 

 attainable by anything that man can do, but must be 

 the work of God, with whom all things are possible. 



Respecting the "sin unto death" mentioned by 

 Saint John, of which he does not say that we should 



