It can be problematic going from a specific Bible passage to a generality. One obvious example is:
Exo 4:20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
Taking this passage as a generality, everyone would be setting their wife and sons on a donkey and going to Egypt.
Clearly this passage is descriptive and a narrative passage. It was not intended to be taken as instruction for the church or individuals in the church. It describes what Moses did one day. We should not send our wives and sons on an ass and then go to Egypt.
A Less Clear Example
Other passages are less clear. One example is:
1 John 2:18-19 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
This passage describes some individuals who were a part of the church for some time and then left the church. The reason that they left was that they were not one of the church. This could be seen a question begging without understanding the historical context. Anyone who leaves the church might be said to have never been a part of the church. This is how many use this passage.
But is this passage really a general case or is it more specific to the historical situation of the early church? Certainly there were converts who came to faith and then returned back into the Jewish religion for various reasons. At the very least it is likely that they simply ceased believing that Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God.
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