Hebrews 6
6
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, 2teaching about baptisms and laying on of hands, and resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3And this we will do, if God permits. 4For it is impossible concerning those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and become sharers of the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6and having fallen away, to renew them again to repentance, because they#*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“have crucified again”) which is understood as causal have crucified again for themselves the Son of God and held him up to contempt. 7For ground that drinks the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth vegetation usable to those people for whose sake#Literally “for the sake of whom” it is also cultivated, shares a blessing from God. 8But if it#*Here “if” is supplied as a component of the participle (“produces”) which is understood as conditional produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to a curse, whose end is for burning.
9But even if we are speaking in this way, dear friends, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and belonging to salvation. 10For God is not unjust, so as to forget your work and the love which you demonstrated for his name by#*Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“having served”) which is understood as means having served the saints, and continuing to serve them. 11And we desire each one of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, 12in order that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and patience.
The Reliability of God’s Promise
13For when#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal participle (“made a promise”) God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself, 14saying,
“Surely I will greatly bless#Literally “blessing I will bless” you, and I will greatly multiply#Literally “multiplying I will multiply” you.”
15And so, by#*Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“persevering”) which is understood as means persevering, he obtained the promise. 16For people swear by what is greater than themselves, and the oath for confirmation is the end of all dispute for them. 17In the same way God, because he#*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“wanted”) which is understood as causal wanted to show even more to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his resolve, guaranteed it with an oath, 18in order that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge may have powerful encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us, 19which we have like an anchor of the soul, both firm and steadfast, and entering into the inside of the curtain, 20where Jesus, the forerunner for us, entered, because he#*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“became”) which is understood as causal became a high priest forever#Literally “to the age” according to the order of Melchizedek.
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Hebrews 6
6
1-3So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!
4-8Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why, they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!” But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.
9-12I’m sure that won’t happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you—salvation things! God doesn’t miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you’ve shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.
God Gave His Word
13-18a When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it all the way, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, “I promise that I’ll bless you with everything I have—bless and bless and bless!” Abraham stuck it out and got everything that had been promised to him. When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above them so that if there is any question that they’ll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.
18b-20 We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.