A Word of Warning

Hebrews 6:4-6 gives what amounts to a word of warning: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."

The NASB slightly rearranges the wording in verses 4-6 for clarity: "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, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 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."

This grave warning is for those who have five great advantages, yet have not trusted Christ for their salvation. In fact, there is no mention of salvation here. No mention of justification, the new birth, regeneration, let alone sanctification.

So who is he talking about? Those who "were once enlightened" (v. 4a) are not spoken of as born again, made holy, or made righteous. None of the normal words for salvation are used and this phrase is never used in the New Testament to refer to salvation. To be "enlightened" refers to the intellectual perception of spiritual or biblical truth. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word is often translated "to give light by knowledge or teaching." It means to be aware of something, to be instructed or informed. It carries no connotation of response. It does not indicate acceptance or rejection, belief or disbelief.

When Jesus began His ministry in Galilee He quoted Isaiah 9:1-2 which says in part, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." All who heard and saw Jesus saw this "great light," but not all of them believed and were saved. Seeing God's light and accepting it are not the same thing. All who hear the gospel are to some extent "enlightened," but not all are saved. That's who is in view here. People who have heard the truth about Jesus but still do not believe.

They "have tasted the heavenly gift" (v. 4b). The Holy Spirit is mentioned next, so this probably refers to Christ and the salvation He brings. But note what is said: not that they have feasted on this "heavenly gift," but only that they "have tasted" or sampled it. It was not received. It was not accepted or lived, only looked at or considered.

They "have become partakers of the Holy Spirit" (v. 4c). To understand the meaning of this statement you must first understand the meaning of "partakers." In the Greek, this word has to do with association, not possession. It has to do with sharing in common associations and events (MacArthur's New Testament Commentary: Hebrews, [Moody Publishers: Chicago, Illinois, 1983], 144).

In this context, it has to do with anyone who has been where the Holy Spirit has been at work. It is possible to be around the work of the Holy Spirit and even share in what He does, yet not be saved. These people have seen the signs, wonders and miracles of the Spirit, yet they still do not believe. Believers, on the other hand, are not only "partakers" of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is within them.

They "have tasted the good word of God" (v. 5a). Again they have "tasted" something—God's word. The usual Greek word for "God's word" is logos. But that is not the word used here. Instead the word rhēma is used. It refers to the parts, not the whole. They heard the words of God preached. They had "tasted" them, sampled them, but they had not eaten. They had been taught about God, perhaps even attended church regularly, but they had not accepted the truth of the gospel of Christ. Paul says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves" (2 Cor. 13:5). If you have only "tasted," it is time to eat.

They "have tasted…the powers of the age to come" (v. 5b). These Hebrews had seen firsthand the miracle "powers of the age to come," yet they did not believe. They still had not responded to the gospel of Christ and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They only "tasted." They did not respond.

As a result, their guilt only increased. To them this stern warning is given: to come that close to Christ and His gift of salvation and then to "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" (v. 6). When you continue to walk away time after time, despite being so close to salvation, you eventually become "dull of hearing" (Heb. 5:11), your heart is hardened, and you make "no" your final answer. It is then that you have passed the point of no return. It is then that you are like the "earth which drinks in the rain" (Heb. 6:7) but produces only "thorns and briers" (v. 8a), "rejected and near to be being cursed, whose end is to be burned" (v. 8b). There is no going in and out of salvation. You either accept it and are saved, or you reject it and are cursed. There is no other choice. Amen.

Move On with Christ

Went to Oklahoma to see my son Tim and to preach a funeral for a friend. Did neither. Became extremely weak; could barely walk. Cut the trip off early and returned home on Thursday. Went to emergency and spent the night in Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Turned out a new med I have been on about six months or so was driving my blood sugar too low. Stopped that med and am home now, and doing better. Enough about me. On to today's Bible Insight.

There are people who adopt a form of Christianity without experiencing its reality. They attend church for years, hearing the gospel preached over and over again, yet they never really make a commitment to Christ. That is the person the writer is speaking to in the opening verses of Hebrews 6. He is speaking to the Jew who has heard the gospel but not yet accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. So the warning applies to anyone who has heard the truth of God's saving grace in Christ, yet has not responded in faith.

These people may have seen the truth of the gospel change the lives of people they know. They may have even made some sort of profession of faith, only to turn around and walk away from full acceptance. To them is given the severest possible warning: when you persist in rejecting Christ time and time again, you may one day find yourself passing the point of no return spiritually. You may one day find that you have lost forever the opportunity of salvation. The one who is indecisive eventually follows his evil heart of unbelief and turns his back forever on the living God.

These are the people Jesus is speaking about when He says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matt. 7:21-23).

To them the writer of Hebrews lays down a challenge: "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment" (Heb. 6:1-2).

The key thoughts are "leaving" (v. 1a) and "go on to perfection" (v. 1b), which are really two parts of the same thought. Together they are the first step these unbelievers have to take to become spiritually mature.

"Leaving" (v. 1a), in the Greek, means to forsake, to put away, let alone, disregard, put off. It refers to total detachment, total separation, from a previous location or condition (MacArthur's New Testament Commentary: Hebrews, [Moody Publishers:  Chicago, Illinois, 1983], 136). It is "the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ" (v. 1a) that he must leave. That is a reference to the types and pictures of Christ in the Old Testament, or the Old Covenant, which has been replaced with the New. So the unbeliever must abandon his former life and all ties with the Old Covenant and accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in order to be saved.

All unbelievers must abandon the old life for the new life of faith in Christ in order to be saved. That is repentance. Then, having accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, "go on to perfection" (v. 1b) with Christ, or move on with Christ to spiritual maturity. We are never to leave the basic principles, the elementary teachings of the gospel, no matter how mature we grow in Christ. The issue here is not that of growing spiritually as a Christian, but of coming into the first stage of Christian maturity as a new believer. It is a matter of putting away that which you have been holding onto, and taking up a whole new life in Christ.

"Go on to perfection" (v. 1b) is translated in the NIV, "go on to maturity." It is not enough to leave behind your old life. It must be replaced with the new life in Christ. Nothing short of that will do. Turning away from your old life of sin by your own willpower, without turning to Christ and receiving Him as your Lord and Savior won't cut it. Leaving the old life behind and receiving the new hinges on accepting Jesus by faith.

Moving on to maturity involves several things. First, "not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God" (v. 1c). His Hebrew readers were notorious for repenting from evil and turning toward God over and over again, without ever trusting in the Savior. That had to stop. To repent of evil and turn to God was necessary, but it had to be based in faith and acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That is God's only provision for salvation.

Second, "not laying again the foundation… of the doctrine of baptisms" (v. 2a). "Baptisms" (v. 2a) would be better translated "washings," as it is not the word for Christian baptism, but the word for Jewish purification ceremonies or washings. It is these washings that they are told to abandon, because as believers they receive "the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).

Third, the "laying on of hands" (v. 2b) refers to bringing a sacrifice to the temple and laying hands on it to identify with it. Leave those things behind because you are now identified with Jesus Christ. Lay hold of Him. Walk by faith in Him.

Fourth, the "resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment" (v. 2c, NIV) is a doctrine believed by Jews and Christians. Yet the Old Testament is incomplete in its teaching on these subjects. Only in the New Testament is the doctrine expounded on in great detail. An unbeliever has limited knowledge of these things, so he must leave these "elementary principles" (v. 1a) behind and follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. Then he can move on with Christ "to perfection" (v. 1b), or "to maturity" (NIV) in Him. And so the writer adds: "This we will do if God permits" (v. 3). God is the One who gives us the power to turn to Him through faith in Christ, and He is the One who changes us. Amen.

Be Content

The New Testament writers often linked sins of impurity (Heb. 13:4) with sins of covetousness (v. 5). Such is the case here. Hebrews 13:5a says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have." The NIV says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have" (so also the NASB).

The covetous man thinks only of himself and pursues his sin, whether sexual or financial or whatever it is, without regard for anyone else. Everything is selfish, without any regard for others. Even when he shows love to another, it is all about what he can profit. So verse 5 warns against the love of money and urges us to be content with what we have.

Remember, covetousness is an attitude of the heart. You don't have to acquire a lot of things to be covetous. In fact, you don't actually have to collect anything at all. To be covetous has to do with wanting things to the point of longing for them, setting your thoughts and attention on them to the point of becoming completely obsessed with attaining those things whether you actually acquire them or not.

It also has to do with obsessing over things someone else has, desiring to acquire those things at any cost. Hence, the tenth commandment: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's" (Exodus 20:17).

It is a form of the law of diminishing returns: a principle of increasing desire and decreasing satisfaction. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity." The more you acquire, the more you desire. The having never catches up with the wanting.

For the believer, covetousness is needless. Why? Because God has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. "For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'" (Heb. 13:5b). These words point to the reliability of God. He has your back. He has promised to be there for you at all times, meeting your every need. Therefore covetousness in all forms is useless. It is satisfaction with God's provisions that must characterize every believer. Come what may, security comes from God, not material wealth or any other material possession. "Be content with what you have" (v. 5a, NIV).

When we trust God and not material things, "we may boldly say: 'The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" (v. 6). When we have the Lord, we have it all. Nothing else matters. 1 Timothy 6:6-8 says, "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content." Amen.

The Marriage Bond

The writer of Hebrews turns to love within the marriage bond—how we treat our partner. Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." That opening phrase should be understood as a command: "Let marriage be held in honor among all" (NASB). In God's eyes marriage is an honorable estate. He established marriage at creation and has honored it ever since. We should do no less.

Paul warns that in the last days false teachers will "forbid marriage" (1 Tim. 4:3), apparently thinking that celibacy is better, that somehow marriage just gets in the way. Not so says the Lord. Marriage is not only permissible, it is honorable. God established it. Jesus honored it with His first miracle. The Holy Spirit used it as a picture of the church in the New Testament. So we too must honor marriage and hold it in high esteem. And that means keeping "the bed undefiled" (v. 4b).

In 1 Corinthians 6:18 Paul tells us to "flee sexual immorality." "Sexual immorality" means "fornication." It comes from the root word meaning "fornicators" in the Greek, which occurs in Hebrews 13:4. "Fornicators" and "adulterers" do not honor marriage, they tear it down. Those people "God will judge" (v. 4c). We are not to be like them. It is our moral responsibility to be sexually pure, keeping  the "marriage bed undefiled."

Much like today, in the ancient world to remain sexually pure was a novel idea. For them chastity was an unreasonable demand to make. At that time, it was seen by many as a miracle that Christians were able not only to demand such purity, but that they could make it work. As in that day, we too must make it work.

For the Christian, remaining pure and keeping marriage honorable as God designed it is a must. No matter how well we sustain our love for one another and for unbelievers, no matter how much sympathy we show to those in need, if we break down in this area and do not keep ourselves pure, our testimony to those same unbelievers will be destroyed. We cannot afford to let that happen. As Paul said, "Do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints" (Eph. 5:3). Amen.