Today we continue on to Hebrews 6:

1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And God permitting, we will do so.

4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

7Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

9Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation. 10God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

The Certainty of God’s Promise

13When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” 15And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
16Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Curious little contradiction between the two passages - on the one hand a very protestant work ethic approach to discipleship, including the remonstration that people cannot be rescued from “backsliding”. On the other hand, a reminder of the fact that God makes oaths to his people that will never be broken, as with the promise to Abraham. Curiouser and curiouser.

I am finding that Hebrews has a very different “feel” to a lot of the other books. I find it quite dense. However, once again, context enlightens for an epistle written to Jewish Christians who were in danger of abandoning christianity to return to the more familiar and less risky judaism. And so, perhaps we should read this as directed to those that debark from the safe christianity of our heritage and begin to grapple with something a little different. Backsliding is not an option. We can’t coast into this new enlightenment, we need to want to embrace it. And throughout all of our struggle doubt and the criticism or scepticism we might otherwise face, we should recall that God keeps his promises.

Just a thought. What do you think?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 10:24 am by dan and is filed under NT for Lent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.