Q. The author of Hebrews speaks in the 1st person plural when giving the warning, “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” So, is it possible that the author was addressing all the members of the local church? Within this gathering there would be believers, non-believers, those “sitting on the fence,” and so forth. So, is the “therefore” not for believers who have assurance, but a warning for those who would “drift away” from the truth they’re receiving? Similarly, is the controversial passage in Heb 6:4-6 not for the believer who needs to hear the warning against apostasy, but for those non-believers, those “on the fence” who could “drift” into apostasy and never be restored again?
I think you are suggesting a very good possibility. I think the warning is against presumption: just because you’ve heard about Jesus and know about Jesus, don’t assume that you have received the salvation that Jesus brought—not if you haven’t done anything in response to what you’ve heard and learned. In other words, the recipients of this letter must not “ignore” (or “neglect,” as some versions translate it) this salvation, that is, they must not fail to take action in response to it.
So the author of Hebrews is basically saying to the whole church, “I’m not going to assume that any of you are genuine believers—and neither should you either. You can’t complacently assume this; you need to know that you have made a definite commitment in response to Jesus.” This would be similar to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (And here in Hebrews, since this is in the 1st person plural, as you note, the author is actually saying, “I’m not going to assume that any of us are genuine believers.” The author models self-examination by taking part in it personally.)
I think the case is similar for the other passage from Hebrews that you mentioned: “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance.” I find it interesting that the author says, right after providing an analogy to illustrate this point, “Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.” In other words, while the ones who cannot be brought back if they fall away have “tasted” and “shared in” some things, those are not the things that have to do with salvation. Those are necessary but not sufficient conditions. What is needed is a definite commitment.
The analogy itself supports this understanding. The author speaks of the same rain falling on two different types of land. One type produces “a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed” and is blessed, while the other type produces only “thorns and thistles” and is cursed. The warning, in effect, is to both types of land: Don’t think that you’re going to be blessed just because you’re receiving all this rain; what kind of crop are you producing as a result of it?” So the “tasting” and the “sharing” that all the people in the church have experienced are like the rain. They are not the crop.
So I think in the end I would agree with you that these warnings are not addressed so much to people who are genuine followers of Jesus as to people who are part of the believing community but who have not made a definite commitment. The danger of “falling away” (from participation in the life of the community, not from salvation itself) was very real for those who were not committed, since, as the author warns, there had already been persecution of Christians in this place and time and there was going to be more. So the warnings are to count the cost up front and realize that the glories of the salvation that Jesus brought, which the author describes throughout the letter, are worth far more than the suffering that followers of Jesus may experience in this life.
Good Question 