Hebrews 6:1-12

A Serious Warning Against Falling Away

1 Therefore, leaving behind the elementary message about Christ, let us move on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God,

2 teaching about baptisms and laying on of hands, and resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

3 And this we will do, if God permits.

4 For [it is] impossible [concerning] those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and become sharers of the Holy Spirit,

5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age,

6 and having fallen away, to renew [them] again to repentance, [because they] have crucified again for themselves the Son of God and held him up to contempt.

7 For ground that drinks the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth vegetation usable to those [people] {for whose sake} [it is] also cultivated, shares a blessing from God.

8 But [if it] produces thorns and thistles, [it is] worthless and near to a curse, whose end [is] for burning.

9 But even if we are speaking in this way, dear friends, we are convinced of better [things] concerning you, and belonging to salvation.

10 For God [is] not unjust, [so as] to forget your work and the love which you demonstrated for his name [by] having served the saints, and continuing to serve [them].

11 And we desire each one of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of [your] hope until the end,

12 in order that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and patience.

Hebrews 6:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS 6

In this chapter the apostle exhorts the believing Hebrews not to rest in the rudiments of the Christian religion they had learned; and much less to lay them again in the foundation after the Jewish manner, of which he instances in six particulars; but to seek after a perfect knowledge of evangelic truths, which, under a divine permission, was his determination to do, Heb 6:1-3 which was the best method to prevent apostasy, he dissuades from; by giving the characters of apostates, showing how far they may go in the knowledge of divine things, and yet fall away; by asserting the impossibility of their repentance and recovery, with the reason of it, taken from the blackness of their crimes, Heb 6:4-6 and the difference between them, and true believers, he illustrates by two sorts of earth, the one takes in the rain that comes down from heaven, and brings forth herbs for the use of its dresser, and is blessed of God: such are true believers in Christ, Heb 6:7 the other bears thorns and briers, and is rejected and cursed, and in the issue burned; and to such earth the above apostates may be compared, Heb 6:8 but lest the believing Hebrews, such as were truly gracious among them, should conclude that this was their case, and that it was desperate; and lest they should think the apostle had an ill opinion of them, he declares he was otherwise persuaded of them, and hoped and believed they were interested in the things of salvation, Heb 6:9 the reasons of which persuasion are taken from the work of grace, which was wrought in them; from their laborious love they showed to the name of God, and to his people, and which they continued to show: and from the righteousness of God in not forgetting all this, Heb 6:10. And then he proceeds to exhort them to diligence in the exercise of grace, and discharge of duty, that so they might arrive to a full assurance of hope, Heb 6:11 and not to indulge slothfulness, but to be followers of the saints that were gone before them; whose character is, that through faith, and patience, they had inherited the promises, things the apostle would have those believers imitate them in, Heb 6:12 and particularly instances in Abraham, the father of this people, and of all believers; who having a promise from God, to which an oath was annexed, patiently waited for it, and obtained it, Heb 6:13-15 and having made mention of an oath, the apostle takes notice of the nature and use of one among men, Heb 6:16 and of the design of God in making use of one himself, which was to confirm his promise, and show its immutability to the heirs of it; and that by observing these two immutable things, which could never fail, they might have solid and abiding comfort: even all such, who, under a sense of danger, flee to Christ for refuge, who is the ground of hope proposed to them in the Gospel, to lay hold upon, Heb 6:17,18 and because of the firmness of the grace of hope, as it is conversant with Christ, and is cast on him, the good ground of it, it is compared to an anchor; and is said to be sure and steadfast, and to enter within the vail, where Christ is gone as a forerunner; and which is an encouragement to that grace to enter in after him; who is further described by his name Jesus, by his office as an high priest, and by the order of which he is, that of Melchizedek, Heb 6:19,20 which is mentioned, to lead on to what the apostle had to say concerning him, in the next chapter.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[because]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("have crucified again") which is understood as causal
• [b]. Literally "for the sake of whom"
• [c]. *Here "[if]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("produces") which is understood as conditional
• [d]. *Here "[by]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("having served") which is understood as means