Tackling Tradition 29: Hebrews 6:1-12

6 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings,the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 

7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

There are two basic views about this part of Hebrews:  (1) The text is teaching that it is possible to lose one’s salvation.   (2) The text isn’t denying the doctrine we know as the Perserverance of the Saints.  Rather, it reminds us that those who have grown a great deal & have, for reasons sufficient to themselves, turned their backs on their faith can be some of the most difficult people to turn around.  

6 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

The authors of Hebrews begin with a review of what they themselves consider to be foundational concepts that believers in their target audience ought to know & understand, & it comes after a brief statement in Chapter 5 that if an individual or a group of individuals is having a tough time understanding doctrinal & ethical principles, moral problems are very likely at the root. 

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

The writers continue:  4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

I think this text is properly read in light of 6:7 & 8: 

7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

This text is similar to the description of the soils in the Parable of the Soils in Luke 13. Different soils yield different fruits.

 

In this passage, the writers divide the fruit into two basic categories: (1) For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. & (2) But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.  

I think these 2 categories are rightly applied to 6:1 - 6 — ie the writers are signaling that that we ought to understand 6:1-6 to refer to these two sets of people.    It’s also worth noting that the text’s deployment of an agricultural metaphor alludes to the diurnal cycle which, in the Bible,  can be rightly applied to the seasons of life in both the short term & the longer haul. 

In light if 6:7 &8: those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, 

 

These people are those who have “done the work” of prayer & study & have reaped its benefits.   They have also gone through cycles of falling away.  

This is the key section of the passage: 

 to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

Those described in 6:7 have reached the tipping point & have decided to put down their toys & believe & behave as grown-ups.    They are crucifying the Son of God to their own loss & holding Him up to contempt **not** by way of looking at Christ with 30 pieces of silver in their hands — but rather, in their hearts & minds they have come to understand that the cross of Christ overshadows every thought, word, & deed in a manner that elevates His Lordship over their personal gain.   

They live their lives like Paul, who wrote that for him to live is Christ, & to die is gain.   In other words, they know & understand that their loss (as sinners saved by grace) is a species of gain, though the world’s system thinks otherwise.   

It is impossible to restore them again to repentance insofar as repentance is a foundational doctrinal proposition & life ethic.    In other words, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” (1 Corinthians 13:11).     There is no turning back, & now they are understanding how their sin operates so that they can mortify it.   There is, therefore a sense in which they look to the cross & depend upon it while, as long as they are able to sin, simultaneously holding it in contempt as well as adoration.  

In light of verse 8, there are yet others who are like Cain who seem to constantly strive with the LORD, & once they have gone down this route they become like drug addicts who will have to bottom out in order to look up.      It may well be that they fall away because they really did never truly know the LORD, or the LORD finally removes their candlestick as a mercy so that they join the ranks of those described in 6:7 after they have crossed over.  

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

 

May God bless us all, each & every one, & “Go & sin no more.”