Hebrews Chapter 6
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 instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
This passage tells us what the elementary teachings of Christ are. Let’s take a moment to go over these teachings...
A ‘dead work’ is something that you think or do that is sinful i.e. it leads to you dying spiritually. Therefore, repentance from dead works refers to desiring not to sin in any way anymore.
Faith towards God refers to believing the things God said, especially the things concerning our salvation. For more details on what we must believe to be saved I refer you to my book ‘The Strait Gate and the Narrow Way’.
‘Washings’ refer to water baptism – which is our public commitment to be willing to suffer in the flesh in our fight against sin.
‘Laying on of hands’ refers to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Some people teach that we are baptized in the Holy Spirit automatically when we are born again. But if that were so then the instruction of laying on of hands would not be a separate elementary teaching. This is because the word ‘instruction’ refers to us doing something, and not something automatic.
The resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment refers to the teaching that we all will be raised, some to glory and some to torment.
3 And this we will do, if God permits.
The writer wants the Hebrew Christians to press on to maturity. But he also recognizes that he can only do that if God permits.
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have 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 worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
If you fall away now you will not come back because you’ve already experienced the kingdom. That is why the writer is expending so much effort in convincing these Hebrew Christians not to fall away.
Verses four to eight are the focus of a battleground in Christianity, and the battle has been raging for several centuries. The battle is about what is called ‘eternal security’ – can a person lose his salvation?
Those who say that a person cannot lose his salvation find Heb 6:4-8 (and other portions of Hebrews) very difficult passages to explain. They have to explain away what ‘enlightened’ means. They have to figure out how to convince you that ‘tasting the heavenly gift’ doesn’t imply that you are saved. They have to desperately run around searching for ways to explain why ‘being made partakers of the Holy Spirt’ does not mean you are saved. They have to address why a person can ‘taste the good word of God and the powers of the age to come’ and still be unsaved. They have to tell you why a person never repented in spite of the text point out that you can’t renew them to repentance (for you can’t renew something that wasn’t already once new, can you?). They have to successfully navigate around the text that says that such apostates again crucify Christ (can one accomplish this without once being saved?). They have to explain how it is possible for these people to minister to saints and love the name of God without being saved (verse 10). They have to explain why the writer would want to press on to maturity with them rather than lay the foundation first if they haven’t been saved in the first place (you wouldn’t teach maturity to the unsaved, would you?). They have to explain why the writer calls them ‘holy brethren’ in Heb 3:1. They have to explain why the writer thinks that they ought to be teachers (Heb 5:12) if they weren’t even saved.
They also have to explain how one can drift way from a salvation they never had, and how one can neglect a salvation they never had, and how one can fall away from a position of salvation that they never attained.
Aren’t you glad that you aren’t in such a position? If you believe that a person can lose his salvation, you don’t have to explain away any of these things. Moreover, you won’t have to incur God’s wrath for teaching what is false and leading people astray.
If, today, it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, eats like a duck, mates like a duck, and has the genes of a duck, shame on me if I let you convince me that it isn’t a duck.
Now tomorrow it may die and no longer be a duck, but that doesn’t negate the fact that once upon a time it was a bona fide duck.
Heb 6:4-8 tells us that we who are saved can fall away, and should therefore be careful not to fall away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
9 But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. 10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.
While it is possible for you to lose your salvation if you stop repenting you must realize that God will do His part to help you not fall away, especially if you have done useful service for Him. But even after all that, the final choice is yours and God will never force you to stay saved. If you want to continue in sin then He will let you fall away.
The writer is hopeful that these Christians won’t fall away.
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 will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
One must be diligent to keep themselves saved.
God has given us many promises, but for us to inherit them we must have faith and patience. That is, we must continue to believe that God will do what He says until He actually does what He says. Specifically, we must not lose hope that one day we will no longer be tempted. We express this hope by not wanting to sin (i.e. by repenting) and by fighting temptation every time we are tempted (i.e. by suffering in the flesh just like Jesus did (1 Pet 4:1).
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 SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY 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, interposed 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 steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
For example, God promised Abraham that He would multiply him. But it didn’t happen immediately. Abraham waiting patiently for it to happen, and it finally did.
In the same way, God has promised to raise us untemptable. It will happen in due time and we can patiently want for it.
God cannot lie.
Jesus is our forerunner. That is, He showed us how to live a life without sinning while in the same flesh as ours. To live without sinning He had to enter within the veil. That is, He had to suffer in the flesh.
Jesus is a high priest forever according to the order of (i.e. just like) Melchidezek. We will explore this fact in more detail in the next chapter.
If I were to summarize chapter 6 I would say something like this…
You’ve experienced the new life, but you’ve not seen the promises fulfilled, so you give up, and go back to the old life? How can you do that? You have to wait patiently to inherit the promises.
You can’t overcome a sin, so you give up?
Your spouse doesn’t change, so you stop loving?
If you are falling away because you expected some behavior from God and it didn’t happen, you have to understand that God is sovereign, not you. What He says goes, not what you want. If you are inflexible you will lose, so you have to adapt to the authority of the Almighty. You can’t stand in front of a bulldozer moving towards you and live.
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