Reflections on Hebrews 6

 

Hebrews 06 (Contemporary English Version)

1. We must try to become mature and start thinking about more than just the basic things we were taught about Christ. We shouldn't need to keep talking about why we ought to turn from deeds that bring death and why we ought to have faith in God.
2. And we shouldn't need to keep teaching about baptisms or about the laying on of hands or about people being raised from death and the future judgment.
3. Let's grow up, if God is willing.
4. But what about people who turn away after they have already seen the light and have received the gift from heaven and have shared in the Holy Spirit? What about those who turn away after they have received the good message of God and the powers of the future world? There is no way to bring them back. What they are doing is the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross and insulting him in public!
5. (SEE 6:4)
6. (SEE 6:4)
7. A field is useful to farmers, if there is enough rain to make good crops grow. In fact, God will bless that field.
8. But land that produces only thornbushes is worthless. It is likely to fall under God's curse, and in the end it will be set on fire.
9. My friends, we are talking this way. But we are sure that you are doing those really good things that people do when they are being saved.
10. God is always fair. He will remember how you helped his people in the past and how you are still helping them. You belong to God, and he won't forget the love you have shown his people.
11. We wish that each of you would always be eager to show how strong and lasting your hope really is.
12. Then you would never be lazy. You would be following the example of those who had faith and were patient until God kept his promise to them.
13. No one is greater than God. So he made a promise in his own name when he said to Abraham,
14. "I, the Lord, will bless you with many descendants!"
15. Then after Abraham had been very patient, he was given what God had promised.
16. When anyone wants to settle an argument, they make a vow by using the name of someone or something greater than themselves.
17. So when God wanted to prove for certain that his promise to his people could not be broken, he made a vow.
18. God cannot tell lies! And so his promises and vows are two things that can never be changed. We have run to God for safety. Now his promises should greatly encourage us to take hold of the hope that is right in front of us.
19. This hope is like a firm and steady anchor for our souls. In fact, hope reaches behind the curtain and into the most holy place.
20. Jesus has gone there ahead of us, and he is our high priest forever, just like Melchizedek.
    

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    Following the writer's reprimand in the last verse of chapter 5 about the readers' inability to handle "solid food," he now states in 6:1 his intent to give them solid food anyway: "leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity." He says, "we will do this if God permits," (6:3) acknowledging God's involvement in gaining spiritual understanding. From there he issues a warning against turning away from their faith. To do so would be as if they were "recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt." (6:6) When the readers first trusted Christ, their profession of faith acknowledged that Christ had been crucified unjustly but that the outcome had been the forgiveness of man's sin. If they were to now reject this faith and apostacize, they would be stepping back across the line and agreeing with Jesus' enemies who put Him on the cross.
    
    A debated issue for centuries concerning this passage is whether it speak of losing one's salvation. I am among those who reject this thought since I believe it to be inconsistent with New Testament teaching.  Passages such as John 6:39-40 teach that salvation is God's work and He is able to keep it secure: "This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." I come away with the conclusion that those to whom the writer refers had initially agreed mentally with the concept of Christ's death for the sins of mankind but never made a heart commitment. Thus, without the power of the Holy Spirit in them to teach them and convict them of sin and keep them strong spiritually they later crossed back over the line in their mental agreement. But nothing changed in either direction regarding their eternal destiny. One problem with this conclusion is that the writer seems to assume that his readers had made more than a mental agreement concerning the tenants of the Christian faith. But it is possible he suspected there might be those among the readers who were agreeing outwardly but had not yet made a heart commitment.
    
    Whichever conclusion one draws concerning the salvation of one who apostacizes, the writer is very clear about the fact that having apostacized one cannot or will not return. Having dabbled with Christianity and then rejected it they render themselves incapable of going back in their thinking. They have made a very conscious choice which is impossible for them to reverse. One who has never made a choice to accept Christ may drift along toying with the idea, fooling themselves that they are not consciously rejecting Christ, they just are not accepting Him. But choosing to believe that Christ's death is an atonement for our sins and then rejecting it is a very conscious act.
    
    Following his warning about apostacizing, the writer goes on to give encouraging words to his readers speaking of his confidence that they do not number among those who would apostacize. Going further, he assures them that as they remain faithful "God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints." (6:10) It was unlikely that a Christian of this time period could avoid persecution. In the face of persecution or any other difficulty the writer is assuring them that their faithfulness is not in vain.
    
    Having encouraged the readers the writer then challenges them "to demonstrate the same diligence for the final realization of your hope." (6:11) Their model for this diligence is Abraham who waited patiently to obtain the promise God made to him. Furthermore, the promise made to Abraham was also for his heirs. We who accept Christ are partakers of that promise, and we need to be patient, as was Abraham, for the fulfillment of the promise. With these words, the writer returns to the subject of Jesus as a High Priest: "We have this hope--like a sure and firm anchor of the soul--that enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because He has become a 'high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.'" (6:19-20)