Backsliding, The Dangers of Reverse Repentance

In Galatians 4:9 Paul was concerned about the presence of idolatry among the church and the danger of backsliding that accompanied this idolatry. A significant part of joining God’s family is repenting of idolatry to “serve the living and true God” (1 Thess 1:9), and yet the Galatians were actually returning to new forms of their old idols:

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Galatians 4:9)

The key to understanding Paul’s concern in this verse is the phrase “turn back.” This is ordinarily a Greek word (ἐπιστρέφετε) used to describe repentance, but here it describes the exact opposite of biblical repentance—it is a reverse repentance. Like Israel in the wilderness, the Galatians churches wanted to turn back to their old taskmasters. This is a classic example of what has often been described as “backsliding.” If you are not familiar with the term backsliding, it is an old word that represents a present problem.

The word “backsliding” is frequently found in the OT to describe the spiritual adultery committed by Israel. In Proverbs 14:14 it warns that “The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways… .” Thus, the backslider is another way of referring to the unbelieving fool that the book of Proverbs so frequently warns about. All this to say, the word is consistently found in the OT to refer to unbelieving apostates who abandon the truth that has been delivered to them about YHWH.

In historical theology, the term backsliding has taken on a slightly different nuance. Beeke and Barrett provide a helpful explanation of how the term has been used in the history of the church:

Backsliding is a season of increasing sin and decreasing obedience in those who profess to be Christians. In backsliding, the cycle of repentance that characterizes the Christian life is broken and spiritual ground is lost. [Joel Beeke, and Matthew Barrett, A Radical, Comprehensive Call to Holiness, 344.]

Spiritual reversion of this nature can have serious spiritual consequences:

Backsliding is an act of disloyalty and a form of rebellion. It can happen to an individual, a family, a church, even a whole denomination. Backsliding can leave people in a weakened spiritual condition for years before they recover. It can even lead to the final apostasy of giving up and walking away from the Lord forever. [Joel Beeke, and Matthew Barrett, A Radical, Comprehensive Call to Holiness, 344.]

In both the OT and in historical theology backsliding is reverse repentance. It “turns back” (Gal 4:9) to unbelieving practices and commitments while turning its back on the God who saves sinners. For the true believer, backsliding, if you want to use the term with reference to believers, will be accompanied by God’s discipline (Her 12:7) and it will be temporary (Rom 8:38ff). By God’s grace there will be repentance. However, for the false convert, backsliding will end up in the same kind of spiritual apostasy that we read about in OT Israel.

In the case of the Galatians, they were turning back toward their old life, which meant they were turning away from their new life in God’s family. This is despite the fact that God had chosen to “know them” through salvation and bring them into the love of his family. As a result of God’s sovereign grace, they were no longer outside the family and detached from life in his family. And yet, they were turning their backs on the very Father who had welcomed them into his home. They were running away from a mutual, gracious, and loving relationship with God the Father. This kind of backsliding is the inevitable result of unchecked idolatry.

The Galatians were turning to the ceremonies of the Old Testament and the culture of first century Jews to inform their worship. They found the ceremonial laws compelling because they stimulated the old patterns and sensations of idolatry in their heart. Back in their pagan days, they had enjoyed all the rites, relics, and rituals that go along with the “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world.” Whether they recognized it or not, they wanted to go back to practicing a religion they could see, touch, and experience through ceremonies rather than living out a relationship with God based on faith.

This kind of reverse repentance, or backsliding, still happens all the time. In fact, some churches actually focus on creating an experience that stimulates something in you from your unbelieving days to get you to come to their events. However, what is compelling about life in the church is not how similar it is to our pre-conversion idolatry, but the reality that we are now a part of God’s family and living under the influence of the family life he has established. Life in God’s family is marked by a repentance from idolatry so we can worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Backsliding is the opposite; its runs away from life in God’s family just like the prodigal son ran away from from his father.