Hebrews 6
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For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
Heb 6:
Imagery of OT wilderness wandering
Crucifixion
tantamount to speaking about the gas chambers
Apostasy is crucifying Jesus again. Why?
Joining the executioners
Rejection of Christ is attempting to add shame upon Jesus and deter unbelievers from coming
How important is a word?
Impossible
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Heb
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Warning passages
, , , ,
What do they all have in common?
Party
Seth
Was Christian, not anymore
Study
What’s happening? What have we learned about Jesus?
Warning
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Dull of hearing - can’t learn any more about Christ’s priesthood
Dullness - the inability to hear and be affected by explanation
Dullness can be seen. How? Through inaction from the Gospel and deeper truths
Teachers, and utilization of spiritual gifts is the outcome of knowing You
Dullness to be combatted
Re-explanation of the Gospel
Or, someone who’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing
Or, someone who’s about to fall away
What are the basic principles of the oracles of God?
Milk, not solid food
Basic imagery - Baby feeding on mother’s breast. Dependence, what we can all eat
Steak and solid food not for babes. High priesthood too much? Go back to learning about Christ being better than your institutional understandings - Prophets, angels, moses, etc.
Living on Milk
What does it mean to be unskilled in the word of righteousness?
Being a child, not an adult
Evidences itself somehow - not manifesting the works of Christ in our life
Milk is not bad! It’s AMAZING in context.
The Gospel of Jesus is never exhausted. Thank you, Jesus :)
We must never wean ourselves off milk
A milk-only diet is not what we need
Solid Food
Maturity expands our diet
maturity expands our responsibility to know what is true and what’s not
To distinguish good from evil
When you listen to Joel Osteen, your stomach turns instead of wanting to learn more
maturity expands our responsibility for being active in the Church
maturity expands our teaching, and thus our lives
Elementary Doctrine of Christ
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.
Surprising that there is a rebuke, and then a transition to maturity
Who’s the audience?
Foundation
Repentance from Dead Works
Faith toward God
Instruction about washings
laying on of hands
resurrection of the dead
eternal judgement
Core foundations of our faith, the MILK! The GOSPEL. Jesus, I see you in each of these.
Lord willing, we will move on together
Evidence God and His will for our lives by Him taking the toddlers by the hand until they’re old enough to sit at the table and eat grown-up food
It is Impossible
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
Notoriously ambiguous
We come to the text with presuppositions
All agree that it is a stern warning
What are the interpretive challenges?
Some have been enlightened.
Describing them
“tasted heavenly gift”
“Shared in the Holy Spirit” - Big one. Were they saved?
“tasted the goodness of the word of God and powers of the age to come” - Ecclesiology and Eschatology.
What do these mean?
They then fell away, and it’s “impossible to restore them again to repentance”
What’s happening? Some had fallen away, and they end up looking like Judas, playing a contemptuous role in the crucifixion of Jesus
Is it that they were saved by repenting and they can’t repent again?
Is it that they never originally repented, so a second repentance is impossible because that would demand another crucifixion of Christ?
All views see the individual in trouble
Author speaking of Jew who thought he was a believer, but actually wasn’t
Can’t restore what hasn’t been lost
Can’t resuscitate someone who wasn’t born
Imagery and wording indicates Wilderness wandering
Not meant to be a personal analysis, but a corporate confrontation that individual unbelievers make up
Also, Greek indicates a distance between the one who experienced and actual Christian experience
By what means did they fall?
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
Parable of the seeds. Which were they?
Can the soil that had shallow roots and got swept away just try harder and get more fruit?
No, because its roots were never deep, it wasn’t a plant of the vineyard
The soil would need to be cultivated again properly and re-seeded
In order for the fallen individuals to return, they would need to be re-cultivated, not re-encouraged to come back and repent
That would encourage their false view of Christ
How did they fall? Had affection for Christ that turned sour
Acquaintance that you got to know, and slowly grew animosity?
They didn’t love Christ, but they knew of Him
Closer they got, the further apart they were pushed
snapping point, like bending a plastic fork
To have them come back to Christ now would re-magnify their hatred towards Christ - they were the crucifiers who didn’t repent, and this would condemn them further.
If they are to repent, they must be changed thoroughly
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
v.7-8 reinforces this
Everyone gets the same rain on the field
Good ground with seed are the plants the Farmer uses
Bad ground with mixed seed is worthless and burned
Church community is a Hospital from the sick world
Refuge of the needy redeemed
Church also is a breeding ground for hidden legalism, hypocrisy, and wolves in sheep’s clothing
What reasons do people join a church?
Alistar
Regeneration vs. participation
When people leave
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
What assurance do we have?
but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Perseverance - differentiates what is conditioned/learned vs what’s natural
Heb
Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Bright Encouragement!
Warning Not applying to them
Warning Applying to False Believers
Warmth of familiarity and security towards believers he knows are filled
God knows!
Pastoral Heart of writer exhorts people not to be sluggish, but to be filled
Church community is a Hospital from the sick world
What should we walk away with?
Refuge of the needy redeemed
Church also is a breeding ground for hidden legalism, hypocrisy, and wolves in sheep’s clothing
Doctrine
“Impossible”
OT imagery
This passage is not referring to the believer wondering about their salvation
Jesus says, “I will never leave you or forsake you”
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
May we not participate with the Spirit only, but be filled by the Spirit
That we may not be hardened by Sin
That we may exhort one another every day
That we may continue in good works and imitate Christ
That we may have the abundant certainty of knowing Christ
Let us be filled by the Spirit of the One who is superior to the Prophets, to the Angles, to Moses, to the Sabbath, to the Promised Land, to the High Priest, to every institution that we’ve known.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,
Difference from regeneration vs participation