11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing. 12 For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that some one teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. 13 For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. 14 But solid food is for fullgrown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

      6:1 Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit. 4 For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 7 For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from God: 8 but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned.

      9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak: 10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fulness of hope even to the end: 12 that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

      13 For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he sware by himself, 14 saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. 17 Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us: 19 which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and stedfast and entering into that which is within the veil; 20 whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

      There is a revelation of the Hebrew Christians' spiritual condition in the next few verses, all the more noteworthy because it is strictly just and true, coming, as it does, not from the biased judgment of man, but from the all-knowing God. What would God say of us? [30]

      These Christians had ceased to grow--a fatal fact in itself. They had retrograded, which is unavoidably consequent upon cessation of growth. Once their ears were wide open, sensitive to the word of God; now they had "become" dull of hearing. It is expected of every Christian that, after a certain time has elapsed, he should be able to teach the religion of Christ--if not publicly, at least privately; if not in words to any great extent, at least in life and work. These Christians had come to the place where they themselves needed being taught again, and that in regard to the simplest elements of Christ and in the simplest fashion. (Compare 1 Corinthians 3:1-3.) He must feed them delicately on milk, as one would babes or those who have weak stomachs. Their minds are such that they cannot bear deeper truths, greater spiritual light--a state that was lamentable and culpable in them specially because they had "become" such.

      There are degrees in spiritual understanding and vision. It is not a matter of superior intelligence, but of faithful spiritual life. Two persons may look at the same passage of scripture--the one with about as much comprehension and appreciation as that with which a cow views a landscape; while the other sees it as an artist sees the scene, in enthusiastic admiration. As we progress in the Christian life, the word of God grows more beautiful and wonderfully sweet. It widens out on every side, and the depth of its riches becomes unfathomable. The privilege of seeing thus is to the humble, the poor in spirit, to them that walk in the fear of the Lord (Psalms 25:14), which is synonymous with the expression used in verse 14: "Those who by reason of use had their senses exercised to discern good and evil."

      If this falls into the hands of a Christian who is satisfied with a nominal Christianity and aspires only to escape hell (the name of those who rest themselves on a merely "tolerable" Christian life, willing to sin along as far as consistent with a "fair standing" and anxious to do no more than enough to avoid hell, is "legion"), I would urge upon him a careful reading of Hebrews 6:1-8. Again, to those who live and move and have their being in "first principles," who are forever laying the foundation of "the steps that induct an alien sinner into the kingdom" and never build upon it, whose religion consists mainly in a few original or secondhand arguments wherewith to oppose and confound the "sects," these words of warning are specially to be commended. How easy it is to stop at the door, instead of following on where faith, hope, and love make more and more demands on our time, strength, and possessions! But our Leader says: "Press on to perfection." We must not leave him in the way and slink back. Remember Lot's wife. "On to perfection" is our password. And for whom are the awful warnings (in verses 4-8) but for those who, having received the blessings of Christ's kingdom, abandoned their Leader and failed to bring forth the fruit which was the chief object in the Husbandman's mind?

      How "leave" them? Drop them altogether? He cannot mean that. But leave them as the builder leaves the foundation--rising from it, yet ever resting on it; as a student leaves his alphabet and his spelling book and his multiplication table--leaving it behind, yet carrying it with him and using it continually in higher studies. See how often the apostles wove a consideration of the first principles (elementary teachings) into the highest Christian instruction. (Romans 6 et al.) But if we stay forever on simply "first principles," we are failures. The root is very good and essential; but if stalk and blade and ear do not shoot up from it, what matters it whether there is any root?

      What kind of items are these he mentions under the head of "elementary teachings?" They were the points of Jewish-Christian importance--points of difference or special discussion which (like, for instance, baptism among us) by controversy were brought into special prominence. The "baptisms" mentioned are Jewish washings--not exactly the same Greek word that is used in reference to John's or Christ's baptism. The "laying on of hands" may be that spoken of in Acts 8:18. It is not good to harp too much on any one thing, lest we make a hobby of it and get a distorted view of God's word. It is sometimes necessary to emphasize a disputed truth more especially or bring an overlooked truth to people's attention. But it is easy to overdo this thing. We are all, or mostly, born extremists, anyway. And there is the danger that in dwelling too exclusively on one point we lose sight of the weight of other things, and even distort our specialty to such an extent that, like these Hebrews, while doting on and saying so much on "first principles," we come into need of being ourselves instructed again in "rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God." Then the pride of intellect, the vaunting of wit and logic, the pharisaical self-righteousness and censoriousness, and the often bitter, boastful, unkind, overbearing way of presenting [31] one's teaching; ungodly disputes and wars of words, tilts in which the great point is to unhorse the opponent and gain the applause of people and court; self-complacency and living on a few dry husks of argument, when we should feed on the living gospel; prejudice, jealousy, anger, clamor, wrath, revilings, even lying and various dishonesties--all these evils are liable to come in the train of the stunted "first-principle" religion of which we are here warned.

      He has just presented a terrible possibility. (Verses 4-8.) The gloomy dispositions may be ready to give up all hope. But it is not discouragement that the Lord wants. "All discouragement is from the devil," some one said. "It's of no use" is Satan's stock phrase, which he whispers at some time into the ear of every struggling soul. God, throughout this letter and all the Book, assures us there is use. So, to counteract unnecessary dejection, the writer gently revives their hope. (Verses 9, 10; compare 1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Timothy 1:16-18.) The old keynote, "Do not give up," rings out again in verses 11, 12. Ponder the words "faith and patience" and "diligence unto the fullness of hope." Tribulation, steadfastness, approvedness, hope--this is the scale in another place (Romans 5:3-5). Our acceptance is from the first freely granted to us of God, but it is by patient going forward to perfection that our hope is assured and confirmed to us. Thus we climb upon the mountains of Beulah and see afar off, with increasing clearness, the City and the Father's house.

      The Christian's hope distinguishes itself above any other in that it is unfailingly certain--"a hope that maketh not ashamed" (Romans 5:5). Every other enterprise rests upon a guess. Success is a gamble. After you have worked for it and spent your best on it; it may yet elude your grasp; for the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, for time and chance happen to them all. Let moralists and lecturers say what they will, there is an unmistakable element of "luck" in every earthly project. Not so with the Christian's hope. It rests upon two immutable foundation stones--God's promise and God's oath, in which it is impossible for God to lie. As long as you go forward with Jesus, you are surely approaching it; you need count on no failure. You lose it only when you choose to quit seeking after it and when you cease to follow your Leader. As long as you keep on climbing, you will continue to go up. Faith and patience attain to that hope.

      Note how he applies the promise to Abraham as though it were our promise. The "we" in verse 18 (compare Galatians 3:7, 9, 29) shows that in its spiritual meaning the promise applies to Christians.

      What is an anchor? What is it for? What does it hold to? Can the sailor see that on which the anchor lays hold? Why is our hope called an "anchor of the soul?" Where does it lay hold? Can we see the realities on which it fastens itself? Why not? It "enters into that which is within the veil."

      Our Father, we know your promises are sure and steadfast and our hope is secure. But our zeal flags, our energy fails, our faith grows weak and our assurance faint. We need you every hour. We believe that you are able to keep that which we have committed unto you; yet protect you us from our own selves, lest we abandon the attitude of faith and patience and drift back when we should go forward. Work you in us both to will and to do of your good pleasure. May your solemn warnings and tender admonitions and encouragements, your exceeding great and precious promises and the knowledge of your perfect faithfulness, inspire us to patient perseverance in the way and the aim to attain to Christian perfection, that every one of us who has this hope set on him may by your grace purify himself, even as Christ is pure. Amen. [32]

      Remember, these are the things "hard of interpretation" mentioned in chapter 5:11.

      Make a list of all the statements concerning Melchizedek; then compare and see if the description fits any being known to you. [33]

[LOH3R 30-33]