Hebrews

6.1-20

Chapter six offers the solution to the problem of growing hard, dull, and stupid that we saw as the situation faced by unbelieving Jews from 5:11-14. Because unbelievers are who this section addresses, do not mistake that the six features pointed out in 6:1-2 are Christian truths to be abandoned in order to go on to maturity. They are Old Testament concepts that these unbelieving Jews would have been holding onto as their faith foundations. But while they point to the gospel, they are not part of the gospel themselves. It is time for them, and anyone who holds onto a faith other than the one true faith in Jesus Christ and His resurrection, to divorce (aphiemi, to forsake) themselves from that teaching and press on to maturity. In this case, it was as if these Jews were holding onto a picture of Christ, while He himself was available to them. It was time to set the picture aside and grasp the Savior. The danger of hearing the truth for too long while waiting to respond is of passing the point of no return (v.6). Conversely, there are five great advantages to pressing on. Those who have received Christ have been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, partaken of the Holy Spirit, tasted the Word of God, and tasted the powers of the age to come (vv.4-5). In verse 9, we know there is a transition because the term beloved (agapetos - from agape) is never used in Scripture to refer to unbelievers. From here, we read of the accompaniments of salvation, to whom they apply, and in vv.13-20 the securities of God's promise.

CHAPTER 6

Warning Against Falling Away

1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 of teaching about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do, if God permits.
4 For in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;
8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is unfit and close to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

The Inheritance of the Promises

9 But we are convinced about you, beloved, of things that are better and that belong to salvation, though we are speaking in this way.
10 For God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and continuing to minister to the saints.
11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,
12 so that you may not become dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,
14 saying, “I WILL GREATLY BLESS YOU AND I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY YOU.”
15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.
16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.
17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, guaranteed it with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and confirmed and one which enters within the veil,
20 where a forerunner has entered for us—Jesus, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.