Hebrews 6

Chapter 6 falls in the earlier part of the thirteen chapters of Hebrews. At the end of Hebrews 5, the author rebuked the readers for still being like infants who need milk. Chapter 6 follows that rebuke with exhortation and warning, and it serves as a bridge to the discussion of Melchizedek in chapter 7.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 urge the readers not to lay again the "foundation" of elementary teachings (repentance, faith toward God, baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment) but to go on to perfection.
• Verses 4–6 warn that those who were once enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and then fell away, cannot be renewed again to repentance.
• Verses 7–8 offer an analogy: land that drinks in the rain and brings forth herbs receives a blessing, while land that bears thorns and briers is rejected.
• Verses 9–12 express confidence that the readers possess better things that accompany salvation. The author says that God will not forget their ministry to the saints, and he urges them to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
• Verses 13–18 state that because God could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself to Abraham. The promise and the oath, "two immutable things," are presented as the ground of hope.
• Verses 19–20 describe this hope as an anchor of the soul that enters within the veil, where Jesus has gone before as a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Key Verses

• Hebrews 6:1, "let us go on unto perfection": expresses the chapter's theme of moving from foundational faith to maturity.
• Hebrews 6:4–6, "If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance": one of the most debated warning passages in the New Testament.
• Hebrews 6:19, "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast": compares the certainty of hope to an anchor.

People and Places

• Abraham: the man to whom God promised blessing by an oath. Verse 14 quotes Genesis 22:17.
• Jesus Christ: presented as the eternal high priest who has entered within the veil ahead of us on our behalf.
• Melchizedek: the figure who defines the "order" (line or rank) according to which Jesus holds His high priesthood. The fuller discussion continues in Hebrews 7.
• Within the veil: refers to the Most Holy Place of the temple and tabernacle, which only the high priest entered.

Points for Reflection

• The interpretation of verses 4–6 varies among traditions. Calvinism and Presbyterianism read the passage in light of the perseverance of the saints (the doctrine that truly regenerate believers persevere in faith to the end). Accordingly, they take it to refer to people who outwardly tasted grace but were never truly born again, or they understand it as a warning that serves to rouse believers. Methodists, Holiness churches, and others in the tradition of Arminianism and Wesleyan theology read it as showing that genuine believers can abandon the faith and fall away. In the early church as well, this passage was cited in debates over whether those who committed grave sin after baptism could repent again.
• The word "baptisms" in verse 2 is plural. For this reason, some interpreters see it as instruction distinguishing the various Jewish purification rites from Christian baptism.
• A similar warning appears in Hebrews 10:26–31. Verses 13–15 connect to the oath scene in Genesis 22:12–14.