Hebrews 6

Continued Call to Christian Maturity; The Danger of Apostasy; The Faithfulness of God

This section begins with a continuation of the author’s exhortation to Christian maturity (beginning in 5:11), followed by another warning of the danger of unbelief and apostasy.  This is the pattern of Hebrews - exposition followed by exhortation. The author knew these believers were suffering persecution and struggling with doubt and fear.  So he urged them to persevere (11).  He reminded them of God’s faithfulness to their father Abraham (15) and of Jesus’ priestly intercession for them “behind the curtain” (19). 

Go On To Maturity

The Basic Teachings

Vs. 1 - Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity

The author was just scolding the Hebrews for their spiritual immaturity in the previous chapter.  Using a food metaphor, he claimed that, when they should have been ready to eat solid food, they were still drinking milk.  He felt as though he needed to re-teach basic principles of Christianity that these Hebrews should already have fully understood.  

Repentance from dead works - This refers both to the religious practices of paganism (the worship of idols and all that it involves) and the behaviour characteristic of pagan society. In Hebrews, the phrase also hints at the continuation of the Jewish Temple rituals, which have become redundant with the achievement of Jesus. 

Faith toward God - This is spelled out more fully in 11.1 and 11.6. It means, of course, belief and trust in the one true God as opposed to idols. 

Baptisms and laying on of hands - This double action was, from the earliest times, associated with admission into the Christian community. Jesus’ movement began with John’s baptism, and from the earliest days of the church new converts received baptism, followed by the laying on of hands, as the sign and means of their sharing in the new common life of the Christian family. 

The resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment - Again, from earliest times the Christians were quite clear that there would come a time when God would judge the whole world and usher in the age to come. No vague hope for ‘a better by and by’; no sense that, after death, one’s behaviour in the present life won’t seem to matter so much. Rather, a very specific hope, solidly rooted in long-standing Jewish tradition and given fresh focus and impetus by Jesus’ own resurrection.

The point of this list is for the writer to say that he is not going to go back over all this ground again. Rather, he wants to go deeper, to teach them more developed and wide-ranging truths.          - N.T. Wright

When he says “leave the elementary doctrine,” he doesn’t mean leave it behind altogether. What he means is build on it; add to it. Elementary doctrines are very important. But you cannot just be satisfied with milk forever. You have to get onto the solid food.            - Michael Kruger

In this case, the elementary principles to move beyond are all items in a common ground of belief between Christianity and Judaism. This was a safe common ground for these discouraged Jewish Christians to retreat back to.             - David Guzik

Rejecting The Son of God

One of the most heated debates over any New Testament passage is focused on this text. The question is simple: Are these people with these impressive spiritual experiences, in fact, Christians? Are they God’s elect, chosen before the foundation of the world?  Commentators divide on this issue, usually deciding the issue with great certainty but with no agreement.           - David Guzik

Vs. 4-6 - For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened…who have fallen away.

The solemn warning about ‘falling away’ in verses 4–8 fits here as a way of saying that, if you have learned the ABC thoroughly, and have started off enthusiastically on the Christian path, you can’t expect to be restored if you then renounce it and go off in a different direction.              - N.T. Wright

If people have joined in the life of the church and tasted the blessings that come through Christ’s death, then deliberately renounce Christ, nothing is left for them but judgment. They have disowned and shamed Christ by an action similar to that of the people who crucified him.             - Don Fleming

The idea is not that “if you fall away, you can’t ever come back to Jesus.” Instead, the idea is “if you turn your back on Jesus, don’t expect to find salvation anywhere else, especially in the practice of religion apart from the fullness of Jesus.”              - David Guzik

Vs. 7 - produces vegetation

Vs. 8 - produces thorns and thistles

Though it is not directly quoted, this agricultural illustration calls to mind Jesus’ parable of the soils (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-29; Luke 8:4-21).  All of the ground in this illustration was watered by the rain, just as all of the author’s audience had been exposed to truth, “shared in the Holy Spirit,” and “tasted God’s good word” (4-5). However, only some of the soil produced fruitful plants while other ground only yielded thorns and weeds. And this process takes time.  It is not immediately evident which of the crops will grow to maturity. 

Just as all the earth receives rain, so all who meet in the church receive God’s blessings. But as some soil later proves to be bad, so some in the church later prove to be without life. Those with true faith prove it by their perseverance.              - Don Fleming

Hope Until The End

Better Things

Vs. 9 (NLT) - Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.

Despite his disappointment with their lack of spiritual maturity, the author had hope that these Christians would understand his teachings, heed his warnings, and persevere in their faith.  

Yet, the apostle says, he hoped better things of them. They had, indeed, receded from what they had been. They had not made the advances which he says they might have done. But still, there was reason to hope that they would not wholly apostatize, and be cast off by God. They had shown that they had true religion, and he believed that God would not forget the evidence which they had furnished that they loved him.                  - Albert Barnes

Vs. 11 - Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end. 

This writer is bending every effort to help these people persevere in faith (6:12) and hold fast to their confession (4:14) and fight the evil heart of unbelief (3:12) and pursue the holiness without which they will not see the Lord (12:14). He warns and argues and pleads. And he is hopeful that God is at work in them.   - John Piper

Salvation is the victorious participation with Christ in the coming kingdom as it is in Hebrews 1:14, which only those who persevere as companions of the King will inherit. The writer obviously expects that his readers will persevere to the end, enter into rest, and obtain these blessings.       - Joseph Dillow

Follow The Example

Vs. 12- 13 - Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance. For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham.

As an example of faithful perseverance, the author reminded these believers that Abraham was also tasked with trusting God’s promises in the face of doubt and discouragement.  He quoted Genesis 22, the account of Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah, when the angel of God reminded the father of faith again that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through his offspring and obedience. 

Genesis 22:15-18 - Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.  And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”

Two Unchangeable Things

Vs. 17-18 - Because God wanted to show his unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.

First, God made promises to Abraham; then he swore an oath that he would indeed keep them. ‘Two unchangeable things’, as verse 18 puts it. God can’t lie in either of them.            - N.T. Wright

The author reassured his weary, persecuted audience of the faithfulness of God, the surety of His promise, and steadfastness of their hope.  They would “inherit the promises” only by “faith and perseverance” (13). 

Anchor For The Soul

Vs. 19-20 - We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf…

Because God was faithful and could not lie, these Christians could confidently place their hope in Him to keep His promises.  And their hope was secure, just like a boat secured in a harbor by a strong and heavy anchor.  They did not need to worry about drifting out of the harbor or being lost at sea.  Jesus had secured their future. 

What he’s going to say, more fully, in the passages to come is that Jesus has gone in, not into the earthly Temple in Jerusalem, but into the true sanctuary, the world of heaven itself, right into the innermost courts and into the very presence of the loving father. And he has gone there on our behalf. We are attached to him as though by a great metal cable. He is there, in the very presence of God, like an anchor. As long as we don’t let go of the cable, we are anchored to the presence of God; all the winds, tides and storms that may come can’t shift us. There is enormous comfort to be had, precisely at such times, in the knowledge The writer was ready now to proceed to serve the solid food he said his readers needed to eat (Hebrews 5:14 to Hebrews 6:1). This spiritual meat was exposition concerning the present high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ.               - N.T. Wright

Vs. 20 - he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.  

In the last sentence of chapter 6, the author returned to the “meat” (solid food, deeper teaching) that he desired the Hebrews to understand.  He had been explaining the unique and superior priesthood of Jesus, and now he will continue that exposition in greater detail. 

Barnes summarized the author’s purpose in this section:

By such considerations, he would guard them from the danger of apostasy; he would encourage them to diligence in the divine life; and he would seek to prepare them to welcome the more high and difficult doctrines of the Christian religion.            - Albert Barnes