This teaching is by Charles Welch from his book titled Perfection or Perdition
Turning from Perfection, we face the dread alternative, Perdition. In view of the many statements of Scripture that the redeemed shall ‘never perish’, ‘shall not come into condemnation’ and the like assurances, the idea of any child of God drawing back unto perdition sounds untrue. If we mean by ‘perdition’ the orthodox theological view given by the Oxford Dictionary, for example ‘the condition of final damnation; the fate of those in hell, eternal death’, then our objections are valid, but if we are resting our arguments upon the usage of the English term, we are unwise.
We must be guided by the usage of the original word. Apoleia and apollumi are both compounds of luo ‘to loose’ and in the majority of cases the meaning of the word apollumi is expressed by the words ‘perish’ or ‘be destroyed’. In some places, this ‘perishing’ is modified as in the expression ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’, and a further suggestive aspect of the term is seen in the translation ‘lose his ward’ or ‘lose his life for My sake’ (Matt. 10:39,42). In Luke 15 apollumi is used of the ‘lost’ piece of money, the ‘lost sheep’ and the ‘lost’ son, who himself said ‘I perish with hunger’.
Coming to Hebrews, we find the word in chapter 1:11 ‘they shall perish’ used of creation. Apoleia ‘perdition’ occurs twenty times in the New Testament and is used of the broad way that leadeth to ‘destruction’, of ‘damnable’ heresies, of ‘pernicious ways’ and eight times of ‘perdition’. John 17:12 uses this term of Judas, who is called the son of perdition, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3 uses the same title for ‘the man of sin’. We must not omit to consider the bearing of context when attempting to interpret any word in Scripture, and we find that the word ‘perdition’ in Hebrews is set in a context of persecution, long endurance, with the prospect of a ‘great recompense of reward’, but that owing to the wearing down of patience and the frailty of the strongest under trial, there was a need to urge these tempted souls to cast not away their confidence, to remember that a little while and He that shall come will come and will not tarry and that during this hour of testing ‘the just shall live by faith’; the alternative being the drawing back unto perdition. In Philippians 3 we find the apostle using the same words ‘perfect’ and ‘perdition’ in close connection with the attaining to the prize of the high calling: ‘Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after…I press…for the prize’ (Phil. 3:12-14). Then follows the warning concerning those whose example is evil, who by their attitude make themselves enemies of the cross, ‘whose end is destruction (perdition)’ (Phil. 3:17-19). It is not conceivable that believers who had reached so high a standard as these Philippians should need to be exhorted not to follow the ungodly pagans among whom their lot was cast. The warning is uttered about the example of Christians, whose God is their belly, who glory in their shame, who mind earthly things, who by their self-indulgence antagonize all that the ‘cross’ stands for, in contrast with those whose conversation is in heaven. We observe that in Hebrews 10, the loss of a ‘reward’ is in view; in Philippians 3, the loss of the ‘prize’ is in view. Further light upon the intention of the apostle in Hebrews 10, may be gathered from the use of apoleia in Matthew 26:8, where it is used in a non-doctrinal sense: ‘But when His disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this WASTE?’. In 1 Corinthians we have those who are ‘perfect’ (1 Cor. 2:6) placed over against those who were ‘babes’, who were fed with ‘milk’ and not with ‘meat’, just as we have in Hebrews 5. In Hebrews 6, the apostle introduces the figure of husbandry, even as he does in 1 Corinthians 3:9 and says: ‘That which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is NIGH UNTO cursing; whose end is to be burned’. (Heb. 6:8), and these thus figured lacked those things that ‘accompany salvation’ not salvation itself. So in 1 Corinthians 3: ‘If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire’ (1 Cor. 3:15).
Again observe, the alternative to suffering loss, is receiving a REWARD (1 Cor. 3:14). The alternatives in Hebrews are ‘going on unto perfection’ or ‘drawing back unto perdition’ and we must not so interpret ‘perdition’ as to leave in the mind that the alternatives are ‘going on unto salvation’ or ‘drawing back to eternal punishment’. The former word ‘perfection’, with its associated meanings, influences the application of the latter word ‘perdition’ with its associated warnings.