Sunday, April 6, 2008

Hebrews 6

THE CALL TO PRESS ON TO MATURITY


   Hebrews chapter 6 is one of the most hotly contested
scriptures in the Bible! Many teach that these verses prove that you
can lose your salvation. But these verses actually teach the opposite. They
actually teach that it is not possible to lose your salvation and be
resaved because that would require that the crucifixion happen over and over
again. The reason the apostle makes this statement is to prove the
futility of teaching the basics about salvation and baptism, etc., over and
over again. Since it is impossible to be resaved, then why teach those basics
over and over again to those who are already saved?


(1) *So let us stop going
over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us
go on instead and become mature in our understanding.
Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental
importance of **repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God.


*So: Picks up from Hebrews 5:11-14: There
is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain,
especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.
You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others.
Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about
God’s word. You are like babies who need milk
and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant
and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those
who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the
difference between right and wrong.

   The author is urging them to go on to the more mature
things and get to the place where they can teach others. He wants to be sure
the readers are really prepared to understand what he was saying about Melchizedek
and that they will take seriously the topic when he goes at it again in chapter
7. This stuff isn't for spiritual babies still dealing with just the basics.
He's also making sure that they are really saved - remember in an earlier chapter
that he told them to be diligent in examining themselves and confirming that
they are in fact in Christ!


**repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God:
These are indeed the first steps in becoming a Christian. This would be like
a church or ministry that is stuck on preaching the gospel and winning souls,
as admirable as that is, and not having a teaching ministry to lead people to
a deeper understanding of the Word and to a closer relationship to Christ. Unfortunately,
that is where my first evangelical church, which I helped start, was stuck.
I finally had to tell our pastor that I had to somewhere else to get some "meat"
and grow!


   This is written to Jews who have heard the gospel and have
accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah - but that's not salvation. They are
told that if they now reject the Messiah and fall away from the gospel, it is
impossible for them to repent and return to the Law and thereby renew their
old pre-cross relationship with God, since to do so would be to crucify to themselves
the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. These Jews are advised to leave the
elementary teaching about the Christ. This is not a call to abandon Jesus. Rather,
it is a call to abandon the elementary teachings about Messiah and move on to
the more advanced teachings of Messiah. What are the elementary teachings about
the Messiah? They are the same as the elementary principles of the oracles of
God described in Hebrews 5:12 (the same words are used in the Greek). They are
the types and shadows and the prophecies on the Old Testament. These all looked
forward to Christ. They are the ABC’s of the Messianic truths. These Jews
who had initially come to Jesus and had then turned away were going back to
the elementary teachings of Messiah - they were going back to the Temple sacrifices
and the rituals which pictured the Messiah who was to come. They need to leave
these things. They need to move on. They need to graduate to "Jesus 101."
They need to go on to maturity. What kind of maturity is this? Is it spiritual
maturity? Is it some kind of spiritual level to which a Christian attains by
doing all of the right things like praying and witnessing and giving money and
Bible study? No. It is simply a reference to the salvation which is found in
Jesus Christ. This "maturity" is a description of the man who has
come to Christ in faith. This will be seen when we come to chapter seven:
Hebrews 7:1: So if the priesthood of Levi, on which the law was
based, could have achieved the perfection God intended, why did God need to
establish a different priesthood, with a priest in the order of Melchizedek
instead of the order of Levi and Aaron? The word mature in this
verse comes from the Greek root word telos. It is the same word which
is translated "mature" in Hebrews 5:14 and mature here in
Hebrews 6:1. Elsewhere, it has been translated "complete, finished, fulfilled."
The point of the passage is that perfection never came through the Levitical
priesthood. Therefore, if you want to reach that perfection or maturity, you
need to leave that Levitical priesthood behind and hold to that which is perfect
and complete - Jesus Christ. The Jews are to leave their past heritage of infancy
behind and to hold to that which is the fulfillment and the completion of all
of the Old Testament types and shadows. They are to hold to Jesus.


(2) *You don’t need
further instruction about *baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection
of the dead, and eternal judgment.


*You: I've been putting in bold the words "we" and
"you" to emphasize where Paul is one of them and where he's not.


**baptisms: Notice that this is plural, not singular! The
Jews practiced ritual "baptisms" or "washings" of all kinds
- including the "washings" of hands and feet, eating utensils, etc.
The use of the plural "baptisms" doubtless sprang from the fact that
no fewer than eight baptisms are mentioned in the New Testament, these being:
(1) the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11); (2) the baptism of fire (Matthew
3:11); (3) the baptism of John (Matthew 3:16); (4) the baptism unto Moses (1
Corinthians 10:2); (5) the baptism of suffering (Luke 15:30); (6) the baptism
for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29); (7) the baptism of the great commission
(Matthew 28:18-20); (8) the "one" baptism of Ephesians 4:5. Of course,
Christians heavily debate which the "one baptism" of Ephesians 4:5
is.


   Judaism is called the "word of the beginning of Christ"
as in the marginal reading of the first part of verse 1. This of course includes
the entire Mosaic revelation, the teaching of the prophets and the ministry
of John the Baptist. "The law and the prophets were until John, but
now the kingdom of God is come and every man presses into it." In
six items, the Spirit of God epitomizes these preliminary principles whereby
the godly in Israel were prepared for the coming of the Messiah. These are:




  1. Repentance from dead works.


  2. Faith towards God.


  3. The doctrine of baptisms; or literally, a teaching concerning ceremonial
    washings.


  4. The laying on of hands (in connection with the sacrificial offerings).


  5. Resurrection of the dead.


  6. Eternal judgment.


   Throughout the Old Testament and in the ministry of John
the Baptist, the people were called to repentance from dead works
and urged to put their faith in God, the God of Israel. Through
the ceremonial baptisms or washings of the law, the people
were taught the need of cleansing, in order that they might have fellowship
with God, a cleansing which was from physical defilement alone, "the putting
away of the filth of the flesh" as Peter puts it.


   The laying on of hands has no reference
whatever either to the laying on of the apostles' hands for the reception of
the Holy Spirit as in Acts, or to ordination to the Christian ministry, as many
have supposed. There is no doctrine of the laying on of hands to be found anywhere
in the New Testament. Practice and doctrine are not the same thing. But under
the Levitical economy when the offerer laid his hands upon the head of the sacrifice
which was presented to God on his behalf, he was picturing the tremendous truth
upon which this Epistle strongly insists. It was the identification of the offerer
with the victim, and practically involved the transference of the offerer's
sins to the offering which was put to death in stead of the sinner.


   Resurrection of the dead is a cardinal Old
Testament doctrine, denied by the Sadducees, but insisted on by the Pharisees,
and recognized by Paul as entirely Scriptural, when he declared himself in this
respect still a Pharisee after he had been converted to Christ for many years.
Eternal judgment too is part of the former revelation. "God
shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be
good or whether it be evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14).


(3) And so, God willing, we
will move forward to further understanding.


(4) For it is impossible to bring back to repentance
those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced
the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit,


   "This warning has caused untold agony to many sensitive
Christians. It’s as if Satan uses Hebrews 6:4 and 10:26 to create hopelessness
and despair. But what do these passages teach? F. F. Bruce points out that they
refer to people who have deliberately abandoned reliance on the perfect sacrifice
of Christ. Raymond Brown said that theirs is not a single act of falling away,
but a state of willful, determined renunciation of all dependence on Christ’s
atoning work. God has no other plan for saving those who regard Christ’s
sacrifice as useless." - Barclay, William "The Gospel
of John: The New Daily Study Bible" [Online] Available www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=974


   There were many Hebrews who in the beginning
professed to acknowledge the Messiah-ship of Jesus and were eye-witnesses of
the marvelous things that took place at Pentecost and afterwards. But as the
Lord did not return and the promised kingdom was not immediately established,
it was easy to understand how many of these, if lacking personal faith in Christ
as Savior, would eventually give up the Messianic confession and go back to
Judaism which they knew to be a divinely revealed religion.


   This was a very serious thing, and yet it
was something to which all Hebrews would be exposed if they did not make a clean
break with Judaism and go on to the perfection of Christianity. As those who
had already apostatized, it was too late to help them. They had made their choice
and acted accordingly; and having experienced so much that was new and wonderful
and then turned away from it all, they would be the hardest people on earth
to change again.


   We read in John of many who believed on Him when they saw
the signs that He did, yet who went back and walked no more with Him (John 6:66).
And it seems clear that these apostates were persons who had an outward acquaintance
with Christianity but they never knew what it was to receive the Lord Jesus
as their own personal Savior. Definitely authenticated by works of power as
He was, they still turned away from Him, and in so doing crucified for themselves
the Son of God afresh, making a show of Him. This would be true of all who turned
back from Christianity to Judaism. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew
7:21-23: “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord!
Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually
do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say
to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in
your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply,
‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s
laws.’


(5) who have tasted the goodness
of the word of God and the power of the age to come—


(6) and who then turn away from God.
It is *impossible to bring such people back to repentance;
by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once
again and holding him up to public shame.


*impossible: The word "impossible" is like a wall,
telling us something is impossible. The reason those in verses 4-6 cannot be
saved, is because if they were saved, once they fell away they could not be
brought back to repentance and thus were never “saved” to begin
with. These verses are more likely demonstrating an impossible situation, because
if it were possible then Christ would have to die again. The position of those
who are “truly” saved is a secure position not based on our ability
but on Christ’s sacrifice. It is not possible for them to do it a second
time because what’s done is done and cannot be undone and then redone
again – as though what God and the Lord Jesus Christ did regarding redemption
and salvation was incomplete and needed redoing.



   In understanding Hebrews, it is important to understand who
the audience is. Depending on the audience, the interpretation can vary. Hebrews
Chapter 6 is one of the more discussed chapters of Hebrews and is used by both
Arminians and Calvinists as a proof text to justify their position of the “saved”
believer. Hebrews 6:4-6, is the section often in question. Are those addressed
believers or unbelievers? If believers, is this an argument for the losing of
one’s salvation? If unbelievers how could they have been enlightened,
tasted the heavenly gift, been partakers of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good
word of God and the powers of the age to come?


Salvation Proof Texts:




  • Ephesians 1:4,13-14: Even before he made the
    world,     God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without
    fault in his eyes. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good
    News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified
    you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit    , whom he promised long
    ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give
    us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own
    people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.     The Holy
    Spirit is God’s guarantee of redemption. We are God’s purchased
    possession.

  • John 10:26-29: But you don’t believe me because
    you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow
    me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can
    snatch them away from me,     for my Father has given them to me, and
    he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from
    the Father’s hand    .     Christ knows his sheep. They
    shall never perish. They cannot be snatched from Christ. They cannot be snatched
    from the Father.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:5: God himself has prepared us for
    this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
    The Spirit is God’s Guarantee.

  • John 6:37,39: However, those the Father has given me
    will come to me, and I will never reject them. And this is the will
    of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me    ,
    but that I should raise them up at the last day.

  • Romans 8:28-29: And we know that God causes everything
    to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according
    to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance,
    and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn
    among many brothers and sisters.     - Hebrews Chapter 6: The Promise
    of Salvation     - Truthnet.org. "The Book of Hebrews"
    [Online] Available
    www.truthnet.org/Christianity/Hebrews/Hebrews6/


   When God gives eternal life to one of His people, it is eternal
life. It is not probationary life. It is not life until you sin again.
It is not life until you fall from grace. It is eternal life. Now we
come face to face with a problem. What about the man who comes to Christ and
then falls away? What about the man who becomes a Christian and then becomes
disillusioned with his Christianity and goes out and rejects God? There is one
of two possible answers. Either that person is only experiencing a temporary
period of rebellion, or else he was not saved by God in the first place. You
see, there are many people who hear the gospel and are initially attracted by
some aspect of it. Judas Iscariot was an example of this. When a person departs
from the faith, they are showing their true colors. They are showing that they
were never really children of God in the first place. 1 John 2:19
(King James Version): 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.
Do you see the implications of this? There are people who hear the gospel and
make a decision to accept it and who join the ranks of the Christians for a
time, but who then turn from the faith and fall away. The reason that this takes
place is because they were not really of the faith in the first place. They
came, but they did not come to stay. They came, but they were not drawn by the
Father. And so, they departed. The good news is that we have a continuing hope
of salvation. This is the note on which the writer of this epistle closes this
section. - Stevenson, John. Boca Seminary. "The Danger of Not Going
on to Maturity". [Online] Available http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/hb05-11.html


   After being rebuked for immaturity and then encouraged to
maturity, the Hebrews are told of a dangerous situation. A scenario is presented
describing the result of abandoning Christianity and returning to Judaism. If
a Christian were to return to Judaism, there would be no way to renew them to
repentance, because Christ would have to be crucified again, and that is impossible.
Though this passage is difficult to grasp, I believe what the author intends
to show is the futility of these Jewish believers abandoning the New Covenant
and returning to the Old Covenant. The warning of apostasy is hypothetical.
If these wavering Jewish believers leave the greater New Covenant for the lesser
Old Covenant, they have then removed themselves from the place of genuine salvation.


   Galatians 5:4 is a brief summary of Hebrews 6:4-6. Paul writes
there that if the Galatians mixed their faith in Christ with the rituals of
the law, then they have removed themselves from grace. It is not that they have
lost their salvation, but that they have separated themselves from the effectiveness
of true, saving faith. Galatians 5:4: For if you are trying
to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off
from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.


(7) When the ground soaks up the falling rain
and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing.


(8) But if a field bears thorns and
thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and
burn it.


   An illustration is drawn from nature. When it rains, good
ground will produce fruit; bad ground will produce thorns and thistles. In like
manner, the ground pictures the heart of the hearers. Their positive response
to these truths regarding Christ and Judaism indicates the fruitful condition
of their heart. The rejection of these truths indicates their worthless response
to God’s work.


(9) 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.


*friends (beloved): the Greek word agapetos comes
from agape, the highest kind of love. The beloved or friends are the saved,
this is the same group in Hebrews 5:11 to 6:3. Though the writer of Hebrews
was hard on them, and calling them infants, who need milk but should be eating
solid food, here he encourages them. Telling them they do not fall into the
hypothetical category, because they are saved. He hopes to take into deeper,
“solid food”, away from elementary teaching.


**come with (accompany):The Greek word echo means
to have, hold, own or possess. They possess salvation. Accompanying
salvation is not infancy but maturity, not milk but solid food, not inexperience
in righteousness but perfect righteousness, not repentance in dead works but
repentance toward God unto life. To separate this group from those being addressed
in 5:11 to 6:8, forces the text. Either, somebody is saved, or not saved. But
those who are saved have fruits of salvation which are mentioned here. Works
and fruit separate those who are saved, from those who not saved, but claim
to be saved. This is the point the writer is trying to make with this group
of struggling believers. This group has fruits of salvation, they are involved
in ministry, they love the Name of the Lord and they support the brothers in
Christ. - Hebrews Chapter 6: The Promise of Salvation - Truthnet.org.
"The Book of Hebrews" [Online] Available
www.truthnet.org/Christianity/Hebrews/Hebrews6/


   Paul says that losing salvation was not one of the things
his recipients would do. They were saved and would remain so. The immature would
move on to maturity.


   Once the scenario of 6:4-6 is presented to the Hebrews as
a warning, the author writes, "but, beloved, we are confident of better
things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak
in this manner," (6:9 - KJV). He is confident that the Hebrew believers
were not in danger of leaving their faith. The severe description has been employed
for the sake of argument, and thus is hypothetical.


(10) For God is not unjust. He will not
forget how hard you have worked for him and how you
have shown your love to him by caring *for other believers,
as you still do.


*for other believers: Greek for God’s holy people.


   Good works do not bring salvation. Rather, they are the fruits
of salvation. God will not forget the righteous acts of the saints. Those that
serve God will receive a reward for their works. Those who are unsaved will
have no works to reward. The spiritual babes will have no works and will receive
no rewards because in order to serve, one must have the knowledge of the doctrines
of the faith.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (King James Version): For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest
any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them.


   We read that God will not forget your work. This relates
specifically to your life. If you want to know if you are a Christian, then
look from where you have come and look at the direction in which you
are going. Jesus said that people would be able to identify His disciples
by their LOVE. The problem is that we started defining love as an emotional
feeling that you get; something akin to heartburn. But love in the Scriptures
is always an action word. The way that you love your neighbor as yourself is
by treating him the way you want to be treated. - Stevenson, John. Boca Seminary.
"The Danger of Not Going on to Maturity". [Online]
Available http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/hb05-11.html



(11) Our great desire is that
you will keep on *loving others as long as life lasts, in order
to make certain that what you hope for will come true.


*loving: The word "loving" comes from the Greek
word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means
to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether
it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor,
or towards anyone else. God tells His children today how to Godly-love by means
of His written Word and also via our holy spirit-life. It is not the same as
the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual
kind of love.


   A Christian is not someone who never falls down. A Christian
is someone who keeps getting back up again. The Christian race is a marathon
and the prize only goes to those who have crossed the finish line.


(12) 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.


   How do you enter into this relationship with Christ? How
do you become a "Saint" instead of an "Ain’t"? Verse
12 tells us that it is through faith and patience that we inherit the promises.
Which promises are these? They are the same promises that were given to all
of the Old Testament saints. They are the promises that were given to Abraham.
They are the promises of a heavenly inheritance. There is a promise here for
you. God has you in His hands. If you have come to Him in faith, then you are
His special child. He will never let go of you. And, if you begin to slip, He
will not forget. If you fall into sin, He does not ignore the past evidence
of your salvation. He will continue to hold you so that you can realize the
full assurance of hope until the end. - Stevenson, John. Boca Seminary. "The
Danger of Not Going on to Maturity". [Online] Available http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/hb05-11.html


God’s Promises Bring Hope


(13) For example, there
was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to
swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:


(14) “I will certainly bless you, and
I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”


Genesis 22:17: I will certainly bless you. I will
multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and
the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of
their enemies.


(15) Then Abraham *waited patiently,
and he received what God had promised.


*waited patiently: It was 25 years from the time God promised
Abraham a son (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-6; 15:4-5; 17:16) to Isaac's
birth (Genesis 21:1-3).


(16) Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.


(17) God also bound himself with an
oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly
sure that he would never change his mind.


   In Genesis 15:7-8, God passed through the divided animals
signifying his “Covenant” with Abram (renamed "Abraham"
in Genesis 17). The Hebrew word for Covenant is tyrb Beriyth (ber-eeth'); meaning
“To cut”, when an covenant was made both parties walked between
the divided animals to signify that if either party failed to live up to their
agreement, may they be cut in half like the animals who they are walking between.
In essence, God was telling Abraham, if He did not fulfill his agreement with
him, may God be cut in half. Abraham did not walk through the animal halves,
only God passed through the animal parts. The promise was to Abraham and to
his seed, those who would inherit the promise God made to Abraham. The Church,
the body of Gentile and Jewish Believers, is grafted into the promises of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. (Romans 11).


(18) So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have
fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that
lies before us.


(19) This hope is a strong and trustworthy
anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s
inner sanctuary.


(20) Jesus has *already gone in there
for us. He has become our eternal High
Priest in the order of Melchizedek.


*already gone in there for us: “Prodomos,”
used to describe Jesus, is usually translated “forerunner”
and would have had a picturesque meaning for the people of Jesus’ day.
The harbor of Alexandria was very difficult to approach. When the great corn
ships came into it, a little pilot boat was sent out to guide them in. It went
before them, and they followed it as it led them along the channel to safe waters.
That pilot boat was called the prodomos. In the Roman army the prodomoi were
the reconnaissance troops. They went ahead of the main body of the army to blaze
the trail and ensure that it was safe for the rest of the troops to follow.
These two things illustrate what Jesus is saying about himself in this passage.
He goes first, to make it safe for those who follow. He blazed the way to heaven
and to God that we might follow in his steps. - Barclay, William "The
Gospel of John: The New Daily Study Bible" [Online] Available
www.bible.org/illus.php?topic_id=974


   It marks a difference between Christ passing in within the
veil, and everything that had preceded it in the ritual of the Hebrew people.
Aaron had entered within the veil once a year, but never as a forerunner. He
entered as the representative of those who were left outside; but they were
always left outside. No one followed Aaron when he entered within the veil to
stand in the presence of t he ark and the mercy seat. When Jesus passed within
the veil, he entered as a forerunner, which at once suggested that the way was
open for others to follow him. - Coffman, James "Commentary on
Hebrews 5" [Online] Available
www.searchgodsword.org/com/bcc/view.cgi?book=heb&chapter=006


   It is implied in Hebrews here that Jesus sprinkled His Own
blood on the altar thus opening the Most Holy Place for us to enter. Hebrews
4:16: So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need
it most.




Bibliography/Works Cited:


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