Hebrews 6:4-8. A Double-Barrel of Warning and a Boatload of Hope, Part 2

Hebrews 6:4-8

A Double-Barrel Warning and a Boatload of Hope, Part 2

After warning those in the church to grow up in Christ, the preacher speaks a strong word against those who have left it and gone back to Judaism.  This passage, in its immediate context, does not readily apply to 21st-century American gentile Christians, but the warning holds in principle.  If you don’t commit to Christ and persevere, you are not saved. If you worship in another faith, you are not saved. It is impossible to find repentance anywhere other than in the cross of Christ. The video of our study is below, and the notes follow.

1. Difficulty of interpretation:

“And I will frankly confess to you I don't understand what it means. I'm sorry. I cannot give to you some glorious revelation that I have and this is what the text is saying.”  Chuck Smith study guide to Hebrews 5 and 6

2. Review of the context.
1. Jewish messianic congregation where several people had left the church to return to Temple or Synagogue worship.
2. Several calls not to harden your heart but to take hold of the gospel and make it your own (3:12ff)
3. He had just warned those who have sprung up in the faith but are not bearing fruit that they need to mature.
3. Separation and unity with preceding warning.
1. The pronouns change (review)
2. The tenses change.  
1. Before vs 3, perfect and present tenses.
2. After verse 7, perfect and present tenses
3. Verses 4 are adjectival aorist participles (supporting phrases that describe brief moments in time as a description of a dominant phrase.)
3. However, the presence of “For” as a connecting word keeps us from cutting completely free of the rest of the passage in its meaning.
4. This warning is the “second barrel” of the preacher’s shotgun in this section, and it is not aimed at those in the room.  Those who are the target of this had a brief encounter with body life and the community of believers, but they are no longer a part of it. The warning, however, to those who still attend in their immaturity is linked.  Take heed lest you immature become dead as well.
4. Review of the parable of the soils.  There are more who spring up (respond to a call) than are saved (persist in the faith to the end, bearing fruit).  You won’t be able to tell early on which shoots are saved and which are not.
5. Interpret difficult scriptures in light of clearer ones. Let’s get some boundaries to our interpretation.
1. James 5:19-20.  Matt 18:15.  Gal 6;1.  Those who are truly saved and fall away can come back, and we are to pursue doing so.
2. Matt 19:23-26. When it comes to salvation, it is always impossible for mankind, but nothing is impossible for God.  
3. John 6:39; John 17:6, 12; 2Tim 1:12.  It is Jesus who guards the salvation of those who are truly saved. It is not underwritten by their righteousness but by His faithfulness, and because of this, no saved person will be lost
4. Psalm 41:9; John 6:70, 13:18; 2Tim 4:10.  1Jn 2:19 It is possible for those in long time association with the church and with  ministry (even with Jesus and Paul) to leave their work and their association with the church.  Those who leave demonstrate that they were never really a part of it.   
6. Grammatical analysis of 6:4-6.  
1. The main verb is “to restore.”  All other verbal phrases are adjectival aorist prepositions and describe why it is “impossible to restore.”
1. This inflection focuses on a short temporary status.  “Punctiliar action.”  
2. Other uses of “tasted” apply to Christ’s experience of death (Heb 2:9).  It was a very real experience, but temporary.  He was resurrected. He is no longer dead.
3. The verbal change from the surrounding passage is significant.  Present and perfect verbal inflections still bear out in the present time.  They are ongoing. These actions were once true, but no longer are.
2. The second half of vs 6 is an explanatory phrase, also supporting why it is “impossible to restore.”
3. Impossible
1. Emphatic position.  This is the main point.
2. Occurs 4 times in Hebrews, and always seems to imply something that cannot be done.  Can’t soften the meaning to “hard” or “difficult.”
4. Literal translation: “Impossible it is for one who has been illuminated, has tasted of the heavenly bounty, having shared in the Holy Spirit and having tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the coming age, and having fallen away, again to restore them to repentance, since they crucify again the Son of God and hold Him in contempt.”
7. 6:4
1. “Enlightened,” or “illuminated” does not mean “saved.” It is a prelude to salvation.  We must be enlightened so that we can understand what the offer of the gospel is (Eph 1:18).  It is impossible for those who are not enlightened to understand, but the understanding is not synonymous with salvation.
2. “Tasted the Heavenly gift” is a short-term, momentary encounter with the gospel.  Reminiscent of the “springing up” in the parable of the soils.  It doesn’t last. They haven’t placed their whole faith and trust in Christ.  “Try Jesus.”
3. “Shared in the Holy Spirit” If the verbal tense were not what it is, this would imply that the Holy Spirit has become your “partner,” but the “partnership” was momentary and punctiliar. This is a short-lived association.
8. 6:5
1. “Tasted the goodness of the Word God” Same verb and inflection as above.  Short-term association. They have not poured over the scriptures, they’ve read a few passages and then moved on.
2. “And the powers of the world to come” same verb as the above phrase.  They have heard about the second coming of Christ and judgment and have dismissed the warning.
9. 6:6
1. “and have fallen away” is in the same tense.  This was a discrete moment in time.  An event, not a gradual slide.  
2. “restore them to repentance”
1. cf. 2Cor 4:13-16 The power of God and presence of the Spirit in our lives are constantly “renewing” us.  Same words.  The reason these people cannot be restored or renewed is because the Spirit is not there with the Power of God in His word to effect this renewal in the unbelieving.
2. 2Pe 2:21 Those who hear and reject are “worse off” because of their hardened hearts than those who never have heard (Rom 2:12-16)
3. 1John 5:16 The “sin that leads to death” is the rejection of the work of Jesus, saying “no” to the offer of the gospel.
4. Matt 12:31-32 Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the rejection of His work.  Same as above.
5. Crucifying again the son.  As a Jew, to step outside of the church of Jesus Christ and back into Judaism, you wold be adding your voice to the crowd which called for His execution and spit on him on the cross.
3. Historical help:  
1. During the time when this sermon was preached, the followers of Jesus were being persecuted, but the Jews were not.  This caused many jews to hesitate about joining “the way.”  
2. Also, starting in the early 60’s AD, the Sadducees began “evangelizing” Christians and inviting them back into Judaism overtly.  They simply had to come to Temple and participate in a sacrifice.
3. This would constitute a moment of apostasy where they rejected the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice.  
10. 6:7-8 Vineyard parable
1. Parallel to Isa 5. God has done all the work to save us.  Those who reject Him will suffer terrible consequences.
2. Obvious exceptions to “irresistible grace”
3. The Rain which falls on the field is the constant presentation of the word of God and the call to repentance which was present in the community to which they belonged.
4. Those who mature (a warning applicable to those inside and outside the church) and bear fruit will be blessed.  
5. Those who bear evil fruit, will be judged.  Gen 3:17 Thorns and Thistles.
6. “close to” and “in the end”  The judgment is coming, but we still get to live out our days in the common grace of God in this life.

Hebrews 5:11-6:3 "A Double-Barrel of Warning and a Boatload of Hope, Part 1"

Hebrews 5:11-6:3

"A Double-Barrel of Warning and a Boatload of Hope, Part 1"

This VERY challenging passage casts a clear a loud warning against those who fail to grow and develop in their faith.  In the context, this warning is about stopping at the point of Judaism.  The references to immature faith all point to shared teachings between Judaism and Christianity.  Don’t stay in that incomplete faith.  Enter the faith of Christ!  Otherwise, once having heard of Christ and turned away, back to Judaism, you will not find salvation. This message focuses only on the "First Barrel" directed at those in the room, the immature believer. Next time, we will focus on the other warning in vs 4-8.

1. 6:4-6 are often lifted out of context and used as proof-texts for a doctrine of apostasy.  
1. This is a sermon.  Context matters. Thoughts flow.
2. The phrase “You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” in 5:10 and again at the end of Ch 6 form parenthesis in the thought.  This whole section is one idea.
3. It begins with statements of their immaturity and inability to leave elementary doctrines shared by Christianity and Judaism,
4. Moves to warnings that such people, who have heard the truth of Christ but turned away from it, are not saved,
5. Then concludes with a long and strong encouragement to remain confident in the salvation that the believing Hebrews do have.
6. More space is given to the assurance of salvation in this passage than on the impossibility of a particular group to be saved, but we focus on the impossibility and forget about the context.
2. A statement about Systematizing theology:
1. Systems are good, because they allow you to quickly evaluate ideas against the system and judge them as valid or not.
2. Systems are good because they allow us to build consistent theologies by which to live our lives.  
3. Systems are dangerous when we come to a passage that seems not to fit.  We can’t decide before hand that the passage cannot mean what it clearly means.
4. We must not let the voice of the system be louder than the voice of the text.  
5. We must be okay with mystery.  
6. We must make room in our theologies for the carefully exposited meaning of every text.  
3. Note the pronouns in this passage.
1. Vs 11-1:  Us, we, you.  Clearly those in the room hearing the sermon.
2. 6:4-8: Those, they, a sense that these people are not in the room.
3. 6:9-20:  Us, we, you.  Back to inclusion.
4. Harder to see in English, but the verb tenses also change.  
1. 5:11-6:1 are mostly in the perfect tense.
2. 6:2-6:6 are all Aorist verbs
3. 6:9-6:20 are back to mostly perfect or present tenses.
5. There is a grammatical basis for setting the warning passage in 6:3-8 outside the present audience and in a different temporal sense.
6. C.f. Parable of the soils in Matt 13
1. Not every seed which springs up goes to maturity.  
2. Is the springing up salvation?  No.  
3. Salvation bears itself out into maturity and fruitfulness (Rom 8:30; eph 2:8-10)
4. Those who do not mature to fruitfulness are not saved (Jas 2:14-26; 1Jn 2:28-3:10)
5. Those who just hear and receive but then do not mature “die” in the parable.  Death is not eternal life.
7. 5:11-6:4 deals with immaturity in those who are attending church.  
8. 5:11 Immaturity limits what can be learned/Taught
1. The comparison of Jesus and Melchizedek is detailed and hard to comprehend, and the preacher isn’t sure that everyone will receive it.  
2. He does eventually get to it in Ch 7.
3. The audience has “become hard of hearing.”
1. Perfect tense.  A past event with ongoing consequences.
2. “Lazy of hearing.”
3. Difference between hearing and paying attention.
4. “He who has ears to hear”
9. 5:12 Immaturity limits what the body can do
1. It has been long enough that the audience ought to be mature, but they aren’t.
2. Arrested development.  Adolescence, but worse.
3. “Basic principles of the Oracles of God.”
1. These will be listed in 6:1-2.
2. Not “Christian” principles, but truths shared with Judaism and Christianity.
3. These Hebrew believers are still in the room (us, you, we), but are not passing through to the teachings of Christ.  These are curious Jews who are not maturing in Christ because they are still hanging on to the common ground.
10. 5:13:Immaturity limits what people understand the word to mean (from purpose of parables)
1. They need the basic teachings again and are “unskilled in the word of righteousness,”  the gospel.
2. They are spiritually children, unlearned, and not advancing.  
3. Milk and meat is a common Pauline analogy.  
11. 5:14
1. Solid food for the mature Teleion, Those who have reached the end.  
1. Even the young believer who puts their faith in christ is, in a sense, already mature (Rom 8:30; Col 1:3-6; 2:10) although it will still be worked out in time (Phil 1:6)
2. Men conduct experiments which may fail; God works out his declared plan, perfect and final from eternity past (Eph 1:11; 3:10-11)
3. Those who are sitting in church for years and are still not Christians are needing the gospel again and again.  Those who have embraced Christ in truth are in one day, ready for meat.
2. Conscience trained by constant use. The Holy Spirit constantly teaches us His will (John 16:8).  As we mature, we will learn His ways through the experience of His constant leadership as well as through His word.
12. Ch 6:1-4 The list of “elementary doctrines”
1. Not a list of explicitly Christian doctrines, shared doctrines with Judaism.
2. These “immature” believers are still Jews, but are interested in finding out about Jesus as Messiah or they are afraid of committing because of persecution at the time.
3. G: “The Beginnings of the Christ words”  
4. 3 sets of 2. Joined by “and.” No articles. The head of the list is “The Beginnings”
1. Repentance from dead works and faith toward God.
1. Works that lead to death (Ex 31:14, etc.)
2. Resting in faith (Gen 15:6; Hab 2:4)
2. Instructions about washings and the laying on of hands.
1. Washings, G: Baptismoi, plural, not Baptismos, sing.  In the NT Plural is always a reference to the OT Mikvah, not believer’s baptism.  Baptized once!
2. Laying on of hands for ordination (Lev 8) and Blessing (Gen 48:14; Lev 9)
3. The resurrection of the dead and judgment to come.
1. Resurrection: Job 19:25-26; Isa 26:19
2. Judgment to come: (Ex 34)
5. The problem is that these “baby” believers were still dabbling on the fence on the mid-ground and not committing to Jesus for real.

Hebrews 5:1-10. Jesus is Greater Than the Aaronic High Priest

Hebrews 5:1-10

Jesus is Superior to Aaron

This passage compares the priesthood of Aaron with that of Jesus with regard to fitness for service.  It begins by setting out the qualifications and then concludes by describing Jesus’ fitness for the office of High Priest and his superiority to Aaron’s.  Application is made to our confidence before God and the universal priesthood of believers.

1. The Ordination of the High Priest
1. Aaron: Chosen from among men (vs 1)  
1. Lev 8 for the process of ordination and his consecration from among men.
2. Ex 28 for the priestly garments
3. Ex 29:1-9 The dressing of the priests for their ordination
4. Psa 105:26 Aaron whom he had chosen.
2. Jesus: The only unique Son of God (vs 5; Ps 2:7), which together with his Humanity (ch 4) makes him fit.

3. Aaron: Appointed by Men to stand before God (vs 1)
1. Vs 4: God is behind the appointment process as men are chosen, but it is constrained by many things: Levite, Descendant of Aaron’s first son, Elected by the body of Priests
2. By the time of Jesus, the office of the High Priest was bought and sold as a political favor.  Josephus: some of the High Priests weren’t even member of the Levites.  1Macc7:9
3. When Jesus was tried, there were two men serving as High Priests, Caiaphas and Annas Lk 3:2

4. Jesus: Appointed by God to reveal himself to man (vs 5-6; Psa 110:4; John 8:54; vs 10)
4. The Job of a Priest is to intercede (vs 1):
1. Examples of intercession between people:
1. Gen 37:21, 26
2. Gen 44:33
3. 1 Sam 19:4
4. 1 Sam 25:24
5. Phlm 10
2. Priests can deal gently with the sins of men (vs 2) because they themselves are sinners
1. Words for overt transgressions are not used here.  “Wayward, ignorant, and weakness” correspond more to the idea of “unintentional sins.”
2. Compare Lev 1-8 with Numbers 15:30  This is going to become important later on.
3. The only recourse for premeditated sin is broken appeal to the mercy of God and repentance.  Psalm 51
3. Aaron was a sinner and needed to offer sacrifices to be heard (vs 3; Lev 4:3; 9:7; 16;6)

4. Jesus was heard because of his relationship to the Father (vs 5)
1. This has to do with Jesus’ sinlessness. 4:15
2. The “perfection” of Jesus that he achieved (vs 8-9) was not about moral perfection since he started as a sinless son.  
1. As has already be covered, Teteostai means to come to a final completion.  Jesus was always perfect, but his process, his experience, was completed in his passion.  Mission accomplished.
2. Luke 2:52.  Jesus matured, although always perfect.
5. Aaron interceded by his offering of gifts and sacrifices (vs 1)
1. The sacrificial system was a continual reminder of the price for sin (Lev 1-8).
2. The Priest bore the names of the sons of Israel over his heart while ministering (Ex 28:9-30)
6. Jesus WAS the sacrifice (vs 9).  His maturity, the completion of his mission, was His suffering.  
1. This act allowed him to become the source of salvation.  
2. Side note: His salvation is ETERNAL.  It is not fading.  It is not temporal. However, it is for those who believe.  Two truths!
7. Another aspect of intercession is prayer.  Not mentioned of the Aaronic priesthood, although it certainly happened.  
1. Examples of Intercessory Prayer:
1. Ex 32:32
2. Num 12:13
3. Num 14:7
4. Deut 9:22
5. 1 Sam 7:5
6. 1 Kings 13:6
7. 1 Chron 21:17
8. 2 Chron 30:18
2. Christ’s:
1. Lk 22:32
2. Lk 23:34
3. Jn 14:16
4. John 17:9
5. Rom 8:34
8. Heb 5:7
1. In the days of his flesh-- Not just in Gethsemane
2. Jesus prayed often (above, plus more!)
3. Supplications, Submissive request.  Part of having “good lips”
4. Loud cries and tears: “Mighty clamour.”  Gethsemane is the only time we are explicitly told that he was emotional in his prayers, but there is no reason to think that this was his only emotional prayer time!
5. “Him who was able to save Him from death.”  This also points to Gethsemane, but it also rightly just an aspect of God (1 Sam 2:6)
6. Jesus was “heard,” although God’s answer to him was not an immediate “yes.”  He was saved from corruption (Ps 16:16)
7. Heard because of “reverence”
1. Only used twice in NT.  Here and Heb 12:28.  ESV “reverence” is awkward, as is the KJV “Fear”
2. Eulabia: Eu= true, good. Labia= lips.  This is that he had “true lips.”  Jesus’ words about the Father were true.  He spoke with respect and reverence of the Father.
3. Jesus was not, like Isaiah, a “Man of unclean lips” Isa 6:5
4. If the foundation of Christ’s prayer life and the reason fo his prayers being heard is his speaking true things of God, his good theology, why would we expect that prayers based on anything else will ever be answered?
5. Jesus’ successful prayer life is now used on behalf of the church (Rom :34).
6. Not even Jesus was able to speak faith-filled words and have his will accomplished by the Father.  Where do word-of-faith people get off?

3. Application:  Christ is our high priest; we don’t need anyone else!
1. Every Levite was a “minister” before the Lord on behalf of the people.  They were servants in the temple and the tabernacle.  They assisted the Jews with their spiritual observances, but they were not intermediaries.  Num 8:5-22
2. Priests were a special class that stood between. We don’t need that any more:
1. Temple torn in two: Matt 27:51
2. We can come boldly! (4:16)
3. NT Pastors are ministers, preachers, and teachers, not priests!
4. Korah’s Rebellion  was about a Levite (Minister) trying to steal the priesthood.  Num 16
5. Saul and Uzziah
6. The concept of a Catholic priest is not biblical.
7. Today, some ministers try to stand between his people and God and make a priest out of himself.  This is an abomination!
8. Every believer can minister and be an assistant to someone’s walk with God (2pet 2:9) you cannot step in between them and God.