Hebrews · chapter 6 of 13
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Hebrews 6 calls the readers to leave the basics and press on to maturity, and it contains one of the most debated warnings in the Bible about those who fall away after being enlightened. It then encourages believers with the certainty of God's oath to Abraham: a hope that is an anchor of the soul and enters behind the curtain, where Jesus is high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5 ended with a rebuke for the readers' immaturity. Chapter 6 combines three tones: an exhortation to move on, a severe warning and a firm comfort. It is one of the most discussed passages of the letter, so it should be read slowly and within its pastoral setting.
The author asks his readers to leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith toward God, instruction about washings and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. This they will do if God permits.
Then comes the warning. It is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit and tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since they crucify the Son of God again for themselves and put him to open shame. The author illustrates it with land that drinks the rain and bears a useful crop, receiving a blessing from God, while land that bears thorns and thistles is worthless, near to being cursed, and ends up burned.
He immediately softens the tone: though we speak this way, beloved, we are sure of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation. God is not unjust so as to overlook the work and love they showed in serving the saints. He wants each to show the same diligence to the end, for the full assurance of hope, so that they may not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
The second half of the chapter rests on Abraham. When God made his promise, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself, and Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. Through two unchangeable things, the promise and the oath, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge have strong encouragement to hold fast the hope. This hope is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul that enters behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The author asks them to leave the elementary and go on to maturity. The Christian life cannot stall at the beginning.
Someone who has been enlightened and has shared in the gifts of the Spirit and then falls away cannot be restored again to repentance, because he rejects the Son of God. It is a most serious warning that Christians interpret in different ways.
God is not unjust so as to forget the work and love they showed in serving the saints. It is a word of encouragement that balances the earlier warning.
Hope is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul that enters behind the curtain. It is fixed in heaven, where Jesus has entered ahead of us.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Press on to maturity. — Hebrews 6:1
Answer: It receives a blessing from God. — Hebrews 6:7
Answer: It is worthless, near to being cursed, and ends up burned. — Hebrews 6:8
Answer: Better things that belong to salvation. — Hebrews 6:9
Answer: By himself, since he had no one greater. — Hebrews 6:13
Answer: As a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. — Hebrews 6:19
Hebrews 6 joins demand and tenderness. In a small group the warning can be read without morbidity: it is not a text to torment someone who fears having failed, but one to wake up someone who is drifting. A person who asks whether there is still a way back, and wants it, shows the opposite of the hardness the passage describes.
The second part invites us to live with firm hope. You can ask what is tossing your boat today and how to remember that God, who swore by himself, holds the anchor. A practical exercise is to write down one promise of God to trust this week.
Hebrews 6 closes with Jesus as high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Chapter 7 finally stops to consider that mysterious figure and shows why his priesthood is greater than that of Levi and Aaron.
Christians understand it in several ways. Some see here true believers who can fall away irreversibly; others see people who tasted the blessings of the church up close without ever truly trusting Christ; others read it as a real warning that God uses to make believers persevere, so that none of his own is lost. All agree it is a serious call not to turn from Christ, and that verse 9 encourages us to expect better.
That by consciously and finally rejecting Christ after knowing his truth, such people side with those who crucified him and hold him up to public shame. The text is not describing a momentary fall but a deliberate abandonment.
Because an oath gives the greatest guarantee. God, who cannot lie, confirmed his promise to Abraham with an oath so that believers may have sure encouragement, and that same certainty undergirds the hope of those who trust Jesus.