Sermon Tone Analysis

*Hebrews 6:1-3…* Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

3 And this we will do, if God permits.

*Commentary*

Hebrews 5:11-6:8, written to unbelievers, is a strong admonition to the unbelieving Jews in the church to abandon the shadows and types found in the OT and to look upon the substance of those shadows – Christ who had fulfilled the “elementary teaching” in the OT.

The issue here had nothing to do with leaving the basic teachings of Christianity but of becoming Christians!

Christians are never told to lay aside the basics of the faith like the ones listed in 6:1-2.

On the other hand, unbelievers have always been taught to leave their simple worlds behind by leaving their elementary doctrines and to reach for the Christ who saves.

They needed to put down their prophecies and pictures of Christ found throughout the OT and look upon the Man Himself who had fulfilled all of the “elementary teaching about the Christ.”

This teaching is for unbelievers.

There are six elementary teachings about the Christ these Jews were told to put aside.

These six refer to the OT sacrifices which pointed to the Messiah and His gospel, but in and of themselves are not part of the gospel.

The first was “repentance from dead works.”

This was a common theme throughout the OT, and in the early ministry of Jesus and of John the Baptist the message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Both the prophets and Jesus taught their audiences to turn away from evil and turn toward God.

In the NT God is Jesus Christ!

The second elemental teaching of the OT to leave was “faith toward God.”

This was elementary because God had been revealed in His Son Jesus Christ, and there is no repentance worth its salt unless it involves a turning unto Christ as Lord and Savior.

Thirdly, these unbelieving Jews were to leave the “instruction about washings.”

The washings are not baptisms as the NIV translates it, for the Greek word is not about baptism per se but about ceremonial washings.

In every Jewish home there was a washbasin at the entrance used for ceremonial washings, of which there were many, and these were worthless in lieu of Christ’s having made sinners righteous based upon his High Priestly work.

Even in the OT there were predictions of those washings being one day replaced by a spiritual one of God’s doing, namely the baptism by the Holy Spirit which cleanses at conversion for eternity.

Fourthly, there was the issue of the “laying on of hands” – a Jewish practice whereby one who offered an animal for sacrifice would lay his hands on the animal to show his identification with its shed blood to atone for his sins.

This was elementary because Jesus’ death was superior to animal sacrifices.

And identification with Christ came by faith, not the laying on of hands.

Both the “resurrection from the dead” (Dan.

12:2) and “eternal judgment” (Eccl.

12:14) in the OT were not well-developed doctrines, so they were often discussed by Jews.

But in Christ, these issues were settled.

Whereas the OT had little to say, Christ and the apostles had spoken of the resurrection and of eternal punishment in no uncertain terms.

*Food for Thought*

            Orthodox Jews today (God love them!) are like little boys playing with toy cars dreaming of the day when they can drive a real one.

The Hebrew Scriptures (the OT) point the way to the fact that the Car they dream about is actually here and available to drive.

All they must do is look upon Jesus who is that car, so to speak.

But they, along with so many others who attend pagan churches, insist on merely playing with toy cars.

The Messiah has come, and He’s coming again!

*Hebrews 6:1-3…* Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

3 And this we will do, if God permits.

*Commentary (Part 2)*

There is a secondary application for Hebrews 6:1-3 that can apply to Christians.

Although the passage is primarily addressed to unbelievers from 5:11 to 6:8, Christians can learn something because Christians can tend to “grow dull” in their walk with Christ.

Some, though once excited about Jesus wind up getting bored with Him and not growing in their faith (cf. 2 Pet.

1:5-7).

Like newborns they only drink milk and reject the solid food of deeper doctrine.

The audience addressed had been taught about Jesus Christ, but their present condition did not indicate that they were truly saved, for they were entertaining thoughts of going back into the rituals of Judaism and to their high priest who was inferior to Jesus.

The solution commanded by the writer was to leave the elementary teachings about Christ and “press on to maturity” (6:1).

First, they were to “leave the elementary teaching about the Christ.”

The Greek verb for “leaving” means “to put or place.”

The verb is prefixed with the preposition “off,” so the verbal idea concerns action which brings about separation.

The verb is an aorist participle (a once for all action) which means that the action of “leaving” must precede the action of the main verb which is “let us press on.”

So after leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ the second command was to “press on to maturity.”

The verb means “to carry or bear,” and it is in the passive voice, which means that the subject is inactive itself and is being acted upon by some outside agent.

Thus, “abandoning once for all … let us be carried along into maturity.”

They needed to abandon so as to be able to press onward to maturity.

Their idleness had caused them to drift (2:1) because they had not been paying careful attention to what they had been taught.

Now since the passage is addressed to unbelieving Jews, this message to Christians is merely a secondary application concerning the “elementary teaching about the Christ.”

First, “repentance from dead works” is listed.

Repentance is turning away from sin, and to repent from “dead works” is to turn away from any futile attempt to earn one’s salvation through works.

Second, to have “faith toward God” is to believe not in God per se but in God the Son, Jesus Christ.

Whereas repentance from dead works concerns turning from the darkness of sin, faith in God concerns turning toward His light.

Third, “instructions about washings” may concern a discussion about baptism.

In the first century there was Jewish baptism, John the Baptist’s baptism, and Christian baptism.

Of course Ephesians 4:5, says there is “one baptism.”

The fourth elementary teaching of Christ concerned the “laying on of hands.”

This could refer to receiving the Holy Spirit’s baptism which was often bestowed upon believers by the apostles laying on of hands, but only in the first century.

Fifth, “resurrection from the dead” was a basic issue which taught that all believers would rise again in the end-times – some to eternal life, some to eternal death.

Which leads to the sixth elementary teaching: “eternal judgment.”

Sadly, people then, as now, still debate how a God of love could allow eternal judgment.

* *

*Food for Thought*

            God has permitted us to move forward (v. 3) and to grow, so we have the wonderful task of growing to maturity through the solid food of the Word.

All the basic doctrines of the Bible are important, but they merely lay the foundation of faith that must grow upon that foundation.

Amazingly all of these are still debated today by the immature who refuse to grow in their faith.

*Hebrews 6:4-6…* For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and /then /have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

*Commentary*

            From the day the church began almost 2,000 years ago there have been false believers who come and go.

Some look like believers for at least four reasons.

First, they “have once been enlightened.”

To “enlighten” means to shine a light into darkness and thus bring illumination.

It also means to “make known; to instruct.”

In this context those “enlightened” were those who had the gospel preached to them causing them to be illumined with the Truth of Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

This Truth is not said to have saved them, only to have enlightened them.

The second characteristic of these apostates is that they had “tasted of the heavenly gift.”

The “heavenly gift” is of course Jesus Christ himself, and they had “tasted” of him who is the Bread of Life.

Much like the Israelites in the wilderness who ate the daily bread from heaven for 40 years but who still refused to believe, so too are apostates who merely taste the goodness of God, once delighting in it, but who lose their appetite for the real meal.

These never feast on the Truth, but like one who samples food, they merely tasted Christ and rejected the meal he offered.

Judas was like this, as was Balaam, but they fell away in spite of all they knew about God.

Thirdly, these apostates “have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit.”

Notice they weren’t baptized by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor.

12:13) or sealed by the Spirit (Eph.

1:13-14).

They were simply made “partakers” – sharers – of the Spirit.

They did not possess the Spirit in that He made His abode in their hearts.

These were people who had been cooperating with other Christians in the common task of ministry.

But even the writer of Hebrews made it clear that true partakers are those who “hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end” (3:14).

Fourthly, these apostates “have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.”

The wicked Herod Antipas is said to have enjoyed hearing John the Baptist preach (Mark 6:20), but he later killed him!

In like manner, Jesus told a parable about those who received God’s word with joy in their hearts but later fell away (Mark 4:16-17).

These also merely taste of God’s Word without eating it, digesting it, and becoming full with it and nourished by it.

For those who fit this bill, believers who reject Christ and become apostate, it is “impossible to renew them again to repentance.”

No one is able to participate in God’s pre-salvation work in their lives and then choose to go back into a life that rejects Jesus as the Messiah.

To do so would put Jesus Christ to open shame.

One who would do such would actually participate with those who crucified Jesus and confirm their own belief that Jesus was not the Messiah but a false Christ and a deceiver worthy of death.

“Impossible” is not to be rendered “difficult” as some have proposed but as unattainable and unachievable (cf.