Jesus is Better - Hebrews 6
This week's lesson
involves one of the most difficult texts in Hebrews. Hebrews 5:11-6:12 addresses the issue of spiritual immaturity and ultimately spiritual apostasy. Now, apostasy
is a weird word that many people may not know. Here is the definition:
Apostasy: the renunciation
or abandonment of a religious belief. It means to leave the faith.
The main issue this this raises for Christians who study this text is,
“Can Christians lose their salvation if they commit apostasy?”
Have you, somewhere along the way in your
Christian faith, changed?
Have you forgotten Who you are called to serve?
Have you forgotten the mission of Christ?
Hebrews
5:11-6:12
11 About this we
have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of
hearing. 12 For though by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone
to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk,
not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of
righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for
those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to
distinguish good from evil.
6:1 Therefore, let
us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying
again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and
of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the
dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 4 For it is
impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have
tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted
the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then
have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are
crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to
contempt. 7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it and
produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a
blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and
near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. 9 Though we speak in this
way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things — things that
belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and
the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still
do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the
full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but
imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 5:11-6:12.
Study
Notes
WEEK 6 NOTES:
Hebrews 5:11-6:12
Hebrews 5:11-6:12 is
the strongest warning in the entire epistle. The author of Hebrews is writing
to a population who hasn’t taken their relationship with Jesus and their faith
in God seriously. Evidently, the people receiving this letter had a reputation
for being spiritual babies, and many of them ended up leaving the faith
altogether. The author of Hebrews sees this as a spiritual travesty.
The spiritual
immaturity and spiritual faithlessness prevent the author from even continuing
on in instruction.
11 About this we
have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of
hearing.
This verse is in
reference to the previous section about the superiority of Christ’s priesthood.
The author stops teaching about the priesthood of Christ because he realizes
the population he is addressing is too spiritually dull to even appreciate it.
So, the author stops instructions and commences with a warning. This section of
Hebrews is a warning about spiritual immaturity and spiritual apostasy.
A Warning
to the Spiritually Immature
The first problem
the author points out is that many of the Hebrews are spiritually immature.
They have evidently been around the Christian faith for some time, but instead
of growing and maturing in their walk with God they’re still spiritual babies
who demand a great deal of spiritual care and are not able to participate in
spiritual work. Notice what the author has to say. (1.) They require spiritual
care. “You need milk, not solid food…” Who drinks milk? Babies! Moreover,
babies don’t feed themselves milk. They need someone else to take care of them.
That’s the status of the Hebrews. They should be able to care for their own
souls, but no, they need constant spiritual nurture. The mark of spiritual
immaturity is a person unable to pursue spiritual growth on their own. (2.)
They are unable to help feed others. “By this time, you ought to be teachers…”
It is every Christian’s responsibility to help grow younger believers and
witness to lost people. This is the kingdom work we’re called to. The Hebrews
were unable to participate in this kingdom work because they hadn’t grown
enough to help themselves, much less others.
Spiritual
immaturity may not seem like that big of a deal. However, the author of Hebrews
takes spiritual immaturity seriously for two reasons.
1. You should not
presume you will always have the chance to grow in your spiritual walk.
V. 3 says “This we
will do if God permits.” In other words, God is the One who gives growth. To
neglect every opportunity for spiritual growth because you assume God will
always give you another chance is the height of spiritual foolishness. We need
to take every opportunity to grow spiritually, because we don’t know when those
opportunities will run out.
2. Staying in
spiritual immaturity is the pathway to spiritual apostasy.
The structure of
this passage goes from one warning straight into the next. The passage flows
from immaturity to apostasy because it’s easiest for those who don’t take their
faith seriously to abandon it in the first place.
A Warning
Against Apostasy
Verses
4-8 form a warning to those who have shared in the faith and tasted the
goodness of God but then turn their back on God and leave the faith. The result of such apostasy is that it’s impossible to restore such a
person to faith. This is a serious warning! Who are these people who have
turned away and can no longer be restored?
There are three
interpretive options to consider:
1. These were real
Christians who were GENUINELY saved, united with Jesus, and then they turned
back on their faith and LOST their salvation.
If option one is correct,
then this passage is a warning to Christians to never turn away. Option one is
not a legitimate reading though because the best way to interpret scripture is
with other scripture. Thus, we cannot ignore the numerous passages in the Bible
that teach eternal security.
2. This is a
hypothetical warning to believers.
If option two is correct,
then this passage is a way to motivate believers with a warning that is
hypothetical and cannot actually happen. The problem with this option is that
Hebrews does not seem to believe this is hypothetical. From the very beginning
of the letter the author is concerned with people drifting away from Jesus.
Option two is not legitimate.
3. This is a
warning to people with apparently genuine faith who have not sincerely
submitted to Jesus as Lord.
Option three is the
most faithful view of this text. This interpretation then serves as a warning
to believers to make sure their submission to Christ and relationship with
Christ is real. Evidently, there is an association with Jesus which many people
enter that isn’t in fact saving. This association gets you close enough to
understand the facts of the gospel. It even lets you taste the goodness of God!
However, it’s not an association where the person sincerely and genuinely
sought Jesus as Savior and Lord. This is the association of Judas, one that
finds Jesus useful for a season and then abandons Him for personal purposes.
A Better
Aim
The author of
Hebrews doesn’t leave us with just warnings. Instead, he provides a better
target for mature Christians to shoot for. Mature Christians should pursue the
things of salvation. We should pursue Jesus with earnestness and seek to
imitate those who have gone before us in the faith.
The Point:
Genuine
faith never stops growing.
QUESTIONS
FOR DISCUSSION
How do we totally
trust in Christ to save us yet take seriously the command to grow in our faith
and never turn back?
What are some
intentional steps we can take to grow in our faith?
What does it mean
to imitate those who have gone before us? Who are some people you seek to
imitate?
What does it mean
to “eat solid food” as a Christian? Why do we sometimes settle for “milk”
instead?
Have you ever seen
someone abandon their faith? How did that process start?
END
