Inheriting The Promise

INTRO

Hebrews 6 has a messy message. In Hebrews 5 the writer identifies markers of spiritual immaturity. The possible time of the writing of Hebrews would have been before the fall of the second temple in A.D. 70. The identified audience of Hebrews was categorized as lazy and dull to the Word. The people had no desire to study the Word.

The writer commented that these believers should be teaching the Word of God, but that they were not spiritually mature enough to do so. They had no idea how to be trained or to discern the difference between good and evil. They were immature believers. They had no depth of understanding about the Messiah. They needed to move beyond a basic, simple understanding of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. They were expected to press on to maturity. In order for them to have spiritual progress the Hebrews writer listed the six things they needed to move on from.

TEACHING

Hebrews 6:1-20: God calls us to “go on to maturity”¹ (v. 1)! The writer was suggesting that the believers needed to move forward. Wiersbe identifies chapter 6 as the call to spiritual maturity and the invitation of spiritual life.²

Acts 20:21 speaks about repentance toward God and faith in Christ; these two items are pillars for a person’s belief. In Hebrews verses 1–6, the author listed six elementary principles of Christ that the believer should follow:

1. “Repentance from dead works” (v. 1a).
2. “Faith in God” (v. 1b).
3. “Teaching about ritual washings” (v. 2a).
4. Teaching about the “laying on of hands” (v. 2b).
5. Teaching “the resurrection of the dead” (v. 2c).
6. Teaching about “eternal judgement.” (2c).

The principles of faith and repentance are the givens for believers and the goal should be to move beyond these. Then the next item would be the ritual washing or baptism that had Old Testament and New Testament ties. Luke 24:50 speaks of our relationship to God and our relationship to others as a form of blessing. The baptisms and the laying on of hands “have to do with a person’s relationship to the local assembly of believers.”³ Acts 19:6 is a record of Paul laying hands on believers and the Spirit coming on them.

The resurrection of the dead and the final, eternal judgment “have to do with the future.”⁴ These last two items are related to the relationship with the future. Acts 24:14-15 reference the resurrection from the dead. Acts 17:30-31 reference the final judgment. Judgment will come to the world by Christ who has been appointed as the High Priest.

Wiersbe compares spiritual maturity to kindergarten: “You learn your ABCs so that you might read words, sentences, books—in

fact, anything in literature. But you do not keep learning the basics. You use the basics to go on to the better things.”⁵ After the basics of spirituality are learned it is time to move forward. If the audience can move past the elementary message, they are ready to address other aspects of maturity and repentance.

In verse 4 the writer addressed those believers that were once enlightened by the truth and were once saved but have now turned away from Christ. The reference implies those who were once saved and had now turned away were beyond repentance. If just verse 4 was examined, then it would seem there would be no way an individual who turned away could come back to Christ. Verse 5 talks about those that had experienced salvation and then turned away as holding Christ up for contempt.

Hebrews 6:1–3 creates no problem for readers because these verses state believers are expected to grow in maturity in their faith. Hebrews 6:4–6 requires a different perspective since these Scriptures point to the concept of no repentance for those that have believed and fallen away.

There are basically two views on eternal security: (1) Romans 8:35–39 states nothing can separate us from the love of Christ; and (2) Hebrews 6:4, “once a saved person turns his back on Christ, he cannot be restored to salvation.” 6 The difficulty is how to work out our salvation. John 6:39 states none should be lost. John 10:27–29 states no one can snatch a believer from the hand of God, implying eternal security. Romans 8:28–30 speaks of a process toward eternal security. Once an individual has salvation, they are expected to work it out.

Salvation leads to justification, and justification leads to sanctification. Sanctification leads to glorification. The initial warning of Hebrews was to obey the Word of God so that a believer does not drift away. Our salvation is not based on our works but rather on our desire to be closer to God and stay in the Word as we grow closer to God.

Verses 7-8 state that those who hear the gospel and respond in faith are blessed and those who hear and reject the gospel are cursed. Those who received the gospel in faith would be blessed and those things of life that are not of the Lord, at the end, would burn away. The writer of Hebrews was trying to create a sense of fear so people would believe. In verse 9 the writer warned believers what could happen. But for those who did have faith, God would not forget their good works.

In verse 11 and following, the author referenced Abraham obtaining the promise of God. God guaranteed His promise to Abraham with an oath. Verses 19-20 offer all a message of hope in Christ as our High Priest.

CLOSING

The emphasis of Hebrews is to keep our eyes on Christ. God guaranteed that we have an anchor in Christ as our High Priest. He is our hope, our covenant, and our life.