Posted in Bible Study, Hebrews

Session 9 – 5:11-6:8

Hebrews 5:11-6:8
Immature Faith:  The Third Warning

The writer of this great book of Hebrews has been executing a plan to encourage his readers to take their Christianity seriously and not allow the world’s negative attacks distract them from success.  Woven into the flow of his elevating Jesus Christ as our Great High Priest through convincing arguments, he has chosen to follow up his arguments with five practical warnings for responsible Christian living (click here to review the Hebrews outline chart).  He has covered the basics of Who Christ is and how He is qualified to be our Savior and High Priest, and we will soon be shown in Heb. 8-10 how He lives today to be our Great Savior.  However, the writer remains concerned about his readers’ tendency to be pulled back to dependence on Jewish traditions. He has warned us about drifting (2:1-4) and disbelieving (3:7-19) – now he warns about being “dull” to the Gospel, knowing the Truth but not taking it seriously, having a poorly grounded or immature faith   Even today, we can become burdened down by the world’s distractions, and we can lose sight of our primary faith in Christ.  Recall when we first meet Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, he is weighed down with heavy burdens on his back as a result of his despair.  In Heb. 5:14, we are challenged to be strong, mature Christians, and in Heb.5:11-6:8, we read about the danger of choosing to turn away from what we know to be true about Christ and fall back into our old sinful life, essentially turning away from belief in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. 

The term “apostasy” and the phrase “falling away” jump from the page as we consider that living a faithful Christian life requires serious, disciplined thinking and consistent living.  It is important that we note that the book of Hebrews is written to Christians, so while the writer makes reference to Christ-followers who could “fall away”, we know the Bible teaches that a true Christian can never “lose” their salvation.  Our careful study of Scripture requires that we recognize that those who do “fall away” must never have been genuine believers in Christ, or they have given up on living according to their faith.  The transition in the first verses of Heb. 6 becomes more encouraging when we read Heb. 6:9 where the writer speaks positively to those of us who know our faith in Christ is certain.  This third warning passage reminds us to take our Christianity seriously, so we need to consider these verses with godly respect and treasure our faith in Christ all the more.

An Immature Christian?

In Heb. 5:11-14, the writer spotlights four issues regarding Christian maturity.  He has inititated his great theme on Christ’s sacrificial work as our High Priest.  Now, laid alongside of that great sacrifice, we are confronted with the opposite of personal sacrifice by those who prefer to have personal convenience.  The writer chooses to be emphatic by using an unusual Greek word (only used 2 times in the Bible, here & Heb. 6:12) which we see translated as “dull” as he raises the issue of Christians in the church who are being lazy about their faith – they are becoming lethargic and not responding dynamically to the teachings of God’s Word.  Compare that to a patient in the hospital displaying those symptoms – the doctors would be concerned for the person’s recovery.  (The writer has already brought up this danger of “falling away” in Heb. 2:1-4; 3:7-19.)  Remember that all of the warnings in Hebrews relate to our actions related to the Word of God and our Faith in Christ.  Christians are expected to mature, grow in grace, become more like Christ, be rooted in Christ and bear fruit (Jn. 15 & Gal. 5:22-23).  We are expected to grow stronger in our faith, not be weak!

We can’t coast – if we don’t apply and live the truths of our Christian faith, we will be out on open waters with no idea which way to go.  Compare for example the great truth s Paul taught in Romans 6, truths that we must learn thoroughly and apply consistently to our Christian lives.  Some believers just don’t want to hear that we need to be diligent about living our faith.  They have a “poor diet” of time in God’s Word (v. 12), neglect their fellowship with other Christians in a Bible-believing church, and don’t make any effort to understand and apply biblical truth to their real-world life.  If this is true for a Christian,  he will be responding slowly if at all to Biblical truth (v. 14) and he will become stagnant, not able to engage in further study and learning, much less will he be able to teach others biblical truth (v. 12).  Compare this to when Jesus corrected the disciples in Jn. 16:12, saying they weren’t “ready to hear” deeper truths about Jesus and His ministry.

In Heb. 6, the statement that they should “leave the elementary teaching” is reference is to Jewish traditional teachings centered only on the Law and Temple, similar to the “oracles” of the OT mentioned in Heb. 5:12.  These teachings were designed by God to prepare His people’s understanding about the coming Messiah.  The mature Christian needs to see that those old teachings are now supersceded by Christ, but there were apparently Jews in the new Christian churches that were hanging on to those old teachings to the extent that they were being distracted from growing in Christian maturity (compare Paul’s comments about the mature believer in 1 Cor. 2:14-3:3).

Christian Distinctives

The five significant statements of Heb. 6:4-5 are clearly distinctives of a Christian believer.  Consider these important points, each clearly related to believing faith:

  • v.4, “those who were once enlightened.” (compare Heb.10:32)
    • This is the moment when the light of the gospel was “turned on” for us for the first time (compare 2 Cor. 4:4, 6; Eph. 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:10) –  “once”, that is, never to be repeated
  • v.4, “… and have tasted of the heavenly gift.” (compare Heb. 2:1-4, 9)
    • Taste in the sense of ingesting and making your own, absorbed
    • We  believed and received;  His death and life became ours
    • “… and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.”(compare Heb. 3:1, 14)
  • v.5, have tasted the good word of God  (corresponds to Heb. 2:1-4)
    • “… and the powers of the world to come.”, that is, the powers of Christ’s Millennial reign

But Heb. 6:6 introduces the possibility of an exception, a person who has claimed to have these distinctives but then “falls away”.  We know for a fact that the Bible teaches that a person who has genuinely received Jesus as Savior (Rom. 10:9-10) is “born again” and made a child of God, baptised into Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  Once true repentance and redemption occurs in a person, it can’t be undone – the child of God can’t be snatched out of God’s hand (Jn.10:27-29).  The passage goes on to say that this redemption also cannot be repeated (Heb. 6:6), fundamentally because it would suggest the need for Jesus to die on the Cross a second time.

Catastrophic Failure

The sad truth is that we know there are some who seem to come into God’s family, they even start fellowshipping in a church body, but then they turn away and deny their believing faith (either by overt statements or by observing their life actions – either way, demonstrating that they never really had believing faith).  The four qualifying phrases in Heb. 6:4-5 are clearly true of every true Christian who has genuine faith in Christ, but Heb. 6:6 identifies a catastrophic failure of a person’s perceived faith which has instead proven to be apostasy, a rejection done with full awareness of truth and experience.  The writer has been seeking to warn the readers of this danger (“hold fast” in Heb. 3:6,14; 10:23-25, 35-39), but he knows there will be some who will fall away.  This alarming scenario is folllowed by the writer’s optimistic encouragement in Heb. 6:9 which is covered in the next study session.  But to be clear, this passage does not teach that a true Christian can lose his salvation.

  • Heb. 6:5-6 lists five Christian privileges given which are key to these verses (from John Lawrence) which are true for every genuine believer:  tasted the gift, indwelled by the Spirit, tasted the good Wrdof God, known God’s power plan for the future
  • Heb. 6:6 states the tragedy:  having known the truths of Christ personally, including all the Christian distinctives, they have turned away and rejected Christ with full knowledge and experience.
    • 6:6 “again” – it is impossible to renew, important to understand this as saying “never again”; once a person experiences repentance to salvation, you can’t take that person back to that experience again, that is, take the fallen person back to the prior time of salvation for them to repent again
    • Such a rejection would have to be saying that while he previously believed Christ died for him before, now he is believing in Christ’s death again, applying Christ’s death a second time, as if Christ spiritually would die again
    • In physical terms, you were a baby but you grew up.  Now you see mistakes you’ve made in life and want to start over again – but you can’t do that.
  • Note that this falling away is a fully informed, catastrophic rejection of what the person had come to know about Christ – it was a decisive rejection of God and his redemption plan.  In context, this could have been a turning back to the legal requirements of the Law.
    • Compare 2 Tim. 2:17-18, two men who had supposedly believed, now being destructive in the church
  • Key take away:  It isn’t God’s forgiveness or redemption that can’t be repeated, it is the person’s repentance.  Note that this term “fallen away” or apostate, is the extreme case, the one with hardened hostility, often associated with being “backslidden”, and the person no longer has the ability to repent because of his “hardened heart” (Heb. 3:13).  Remember, the writer has repeatedly challenged us to maintain our testimony and confidence in Christ (Heb. 3:6,12-15; 6:11-12, 23-25).  Don’t give up!

Instead, Do Better

Hebrews 6:9-12 is a transtional paragraph in order to guide the reader to leave the warning and get back to business of serious Christian living, as addressed starting in Heb. 6:13.  There is a similar transition as Heb. 4:14-16.  In summary, the writer challenges the reader to show the same diligence, live according to God’s full assurance to the end, and don’t allow yourself to be sluggish in your Christian faith and life.  We should do “better” than succumb to the doubts and fears the world throws at us.

Heb. 6:9, “But beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you!”  Knowing that your faith is real, live that way, demonstrate in your life the “better things that accompany salvation”.  Faith in Christ should result in a “revolution” in your soul (Rom. 5 & 6), and the writer knew there were some he was addressing who weren’t living that way.  Recall that Jesus in Jn. 10:10 tells us that His life mission was to enable us to possess eternal life and show that we have it in our daily walk.  Romans 8 has a lot to say about how we are enabled to live that life by the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Consider what the “works” of our Christian faith should be, how should they accompany, or validate, our salvation?  Consider these texts for more thought on this:  Rom. 5:1-5; 6:10; Eph. 2:10; Jas 2:18, 26.  The things alluded to in Heb. 6:1-5 are the opposite, they don’t accompany salvation but are indic of lack of faith.  Compare this to Jn. 10:10, where we pictured as possessing eternal life with abundance, a “full salvation” (Rom. 8).  This is diligent Christianity, full of assurance of our hope to the end, the opposite of sluggishness.  Heb. 6:10 is optimistic,encouraging the readers to continue their diligent walk in Christ.

    • 11 & 12, retains contrasting reference to “sluggish” (see 5:11), i.e. lazy
      • a lazy ball player or construction worker
    • same diligence – could be addressing one who is still following Jewish faith, hanging to those elementary principles 6:1 – but he is mainly addressing true Christians
  • :12, the promises of our faith – a grand subject very visible througout book –  6:13,15,17; 1:14; 4:1,3; 9:15; 10:36; 11:7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 17, 33, 39
  • we must progress spiritually – in order to do so, we must understand Jesus’ priestly ministry for us in heaven
    • 6:12, imitate others thru faith & patience – to inherit promises – anticipates theme of Heb. 11
      • v13 – God has been making & keeping promises from the beginning
    •  this point now moves the writer to his next  major subject

 

Bible Study Journal

        • After working through this challenging passage, does what the writer says at the end of Heb. 5:11 make more sense now?
        • What does being a mature Christian mean to you (see Heb. 5:14 & 6:9)?
        • If you encounter a Christian friend whose faith is weakening, how can the four distinctives listed in Heb. 6:4-5 help guide your conversation?
        • What is the writer concerned about in Heb. 5:11 and 6:12 , and how should that guide us in our fellowship with other Christians?
        • What Christian habits do you think would help you not to become “sluggish”?  (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Eph. 6:10-18; 1 Tim. 4:7-8)
        • The writer of Hebrews liked the word “better”.  Here are all the verses:  Heb. 1:4; 6:9; 7:19, 22; 8:6; 9:23; 10:34; 11:4, 16, 35, 40; 12:24.  Here’s a revolutionary idea for your Bible study:  Instead of just reading each of these verses on your handy phone app, how about getting your “real Bible” and your Journal out on your desk and spend 30 minutes or so looking up each verse, and note in your journal how the writer uses the word “better” in each verse.