Hebrews 6:1-20

Hebrews 6:1-8:

^6:1On-which-account having left the word of the beginning of Christ let us carry-ourselves on the completeness – not again throwing-down a foundation of repentance from dead works and belief on God, ^.2a teaching of baptisms and putting-on of hands, and resurrection of dead-people and agelong judgment – ^.3and we will do this if-ever-indeed God may permit;

^.4for (it is) not-able (for) the (holy-people) – once having been lightened, and having tasted also of the free-gift, the heavenly (free-gift), and having been caused-to-become sharers of holy spirit, ^.5and having tasted (the) beautiful spoken-matter of God and abilities of (the) age being about to (come), ^.6and having fallen-aside – again to new-up into repentance crucifying-up the son of God for themselves and pointing-out-against (him);

^.7for the earth having drank the rain coming often on it and bringing-forth well-put feeding for those-people because-of whom it was also tilled receives a blessing from God, ^.8but (the earth) carrying-out thorns and thistles (is) unapproved and near a curse which (has) the completion into burning;

On account of this (the information written in ‘chapter 5’), having let-go of the word of the beginning of Christ (the account spoken containing the start, the original ruling information pertaining to the Christ), let us carry ourselves on the completeness….

This is a polite command or a very strong suggestion advising the writer himself and all the holy-people reading or hearing this writing to bring (move) ourselves in motion down upon the completeness (the perfectness, that-which has ultimately arrived at its state of completeness, its ending-issue). This is referring to our sharing of the solid nourishment for complete-people, not the milk for infants mentioned in Hebrews 5:11-14. Letting go of the word of the beginning of Christ does not mean that we do away with it so that it’s not there anymore, but we are to move onwards progressively maturing in our behavior.

Paul explains that carrying ourselves on the completeness means:

• not again throwing-down (casting down)
  • a foundation (that-which is put, placed, laid, set being fundamental, like the foundation of a building whereby the rest of the building stands on top of it and is supported by it) consisting of…
    • repentance from dead works (a change of mind away from deeds, from actions that produce effects lacking life, to what is good in God’s viewpoint; repentance emphasizes the mind’s change after re-thinking the matter having heard God’s words; refer to Hebrews 9:14)
    • and belief on God (faith, trust upon God; refer to Hebrews 10:38 and 39, chapter 11, and 12:2),
  • a teaching (authoritative instruction, the contents of what is taught, doctrine) consisting of…
    • baptisms (washings in the context of cleaning; referring to the washings available and described throughout the old covenant writings which were prior to the giving of the gift of holy spirit; refer to Hebrews 9:10; this Greek word ‘baptismos’ is used here, Mark 7:4, Colossians 2:12, and Hebrews 9:10 referring to the old washings)
    • and putting-on of hands (referring to the placing or setting one’s hands on an animal, etc, in the context of sacrifices and offerings; refer to Exodus chapter 29, Leviticus 1:4, chapters 3 and 4, 16:21, etc),
    • and resurrection of dead-people (the standing-up alive of people who have died and remain dead until they are resurrected; refer to Matthew 22:29-32, Acts 4:33, 24:15 and 21, 26:23, Romans 1:4, I Corinthians 15:12-49)
    • and agelong judgment (the decision made or arrived-at issuing from the judging process and which remains in effect for the duration of the age, the lifelong sentence passed or pronounced. The word "agelong" is the Greek word aionios and may be translated “eternal” or “agelong” depending on the context. Here it refers to the agelong judgment that will begin following the gathering together of all holy-people with the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to be with him; all remaining people on earth will receive judgment throughout that age and will end when the sentences have been carried-out; refer to Matthew chapters 24 and 25; Acts 24:25, Romans 2:2 and 3, 5:16, Revelation chapters 1-20)…

…and we will do this if-ever-indeed God may permit (from now on we will carry ourselves on the completeness if indeed it would ever happen that God would allow us). We are dependent upon God’s graciousness, etc.

All of the above bullets refer to truths that God had spoken about and taught people ever since Genesis 3:15 as they awaited the coming of the Christ. We holy-people (Christians) should be walking, behaving ourselves, conducting our lives upon the completeness of all that God has already accomplished by means of our Lord Jesus Christ, and looking forward to all that God has promised us in Christ to come to pass at a future time. We should not be going backwards in our thinking and behavior.

In truth, it is not-able (unable, not possible, there is no capability) for the holy-people – who already at a past time…

• have been lightened (who have had light caused to shine on them, light was poured on them, light was given to them and thereby they received the opportunity to see God’s light),
• and have tasted also of the free-gift (in the sense that they have experienced the effects of the free-gift),
  • emphatically and specifically the heavenly free-gift (the present given to them that is ‘heavenly’; ‘heavenly’ literally refers to anywhere above the earth, but here it is used metaphorically referring to God's spirit realm; the free-gift that is upon and pertains to the heavenly realm, heaven – God. The word translated "free-gift" emphasizes the fact that the gift is freely given, even though the actual gift is a valuable quality item. This free-gift encompasses the fullness of all that is available to be received spiritually by people from God in Christ both now and in the future. Holy-people have not received everything yet, but have tasted it. There is so much grace, mercy, peace, righteousness, etc, involved in this heavenly free-gift, including eternal life),
• and have been caused to become sharers of holy spirit (become partners, those who are partakers in association with one-another of the object which is holy spirit, the spirit that is sanctified, it separates those who have received it apart from those who do-not have it – it is the spirit of Christ, the spirit of the new covenant; this holy spirit-life is the token or deposit to assure all holy-people that we will definitely receive the fullness of our salvation at a future time),
• and have tasted (who have experienced)  
  • the beautiful spoken-matter of God (the saying spoken by God that has a manifested decorous, harmonious and acceptable goodness from God’s viewpoint; the beautiful speech that is only a portion of the whole Word of God but in itself contains the specific discourse necessary for the particular situation or circumstance, here referring to the spoken-matter concerning the redemption and salvation made available by means of the Lord Jesus Christ),
  • and abilities of the age being about to come (the able-powers, capabilities pertaining-to and belonging-to the duration of life that is on the point of taking-place, presently and actively in the process of arriving),
• and have fallen-aside (who have fallen from the truth of God’s Word, actively gone aside from what is right and from what they should do) –

…– again to new-up into repentance (to make new with an upward motion, to actively renew a second time with a view to, directed to, regarding repentance, a change of mind from bad to good, emphasizing the mind’s change after re-thinking the matter)…

• which would be crucifying-up the son of God for themselves and pointing-out against him (they would be crucifying Jesus again up on the stake on their own behalf and pointing him out as with a finger making an example of him, in the sense of causing him to be a public spectacle, a sample or specimen shown to be a public disgrace). It is NOT possible for holy-people to do this.

This verb “to new-up" emphasizes being newly-made and different from what was previously in effect, new because it is different from that which had been formerly, new because it replaces the old, new compared to what was there previously. These holy-people previously repented and therefore became sons of the only true God by receiving the gift of holy spirit. It is not possible for them to do it a second time because what’s done is done and cannot be undone and then redone again – as though what God and the Lord Jesus Christ did regarding redemption and salvation was incomplete and needed redoing.

Paul continues to explain:

For the earth, after it drinks the rain that comes often on it…

• and bringing-forth well-put feeding (producing plants for eating, as grass in a pasture for grazing that is placed in a good location at the right season) for those-people on account of whom it was also tilled (cultivated)
  • receives a blessing from God (takes, participates of what is given to it by God which is a blessing, the well-spoken word happens, the good words spoken by God pertaining to that situation come to pass, and the earth receives the thing that is well which is what God said He would do, in company and association with others, such as the tiller and then all the others who also partake of what is brought forth by this earth),

…but the earth (after it drinks the rain that comes often on it just the same as the previous example)…

• carrying-out (bringing out, producing) thorns and thistles
  • is unapproved (not approved, not passing God’s test when examined and thus is disapproved) and near a curse (close to receiving the effects of a curse) which has the completion into burning (the ending-issue, the complete-thing, the fulfillment of this curse is into, with a view to, directed to, and resulting in this earth being burned).

A ‘curse’ refers to what is spoken against another that would be harmful to the recipient if/when it would come to pass. It can be a judgment pronounced by God down against a person, thing, or situation who/which would violate what He says – or for men, an imprecation made against another, prayer or supplication for something to come to pass against some person, thing, or situation, invoking something against another that would be harmful to the recipient if/when it would happen. (Refer to Genesis 3:14-19, and 12:3; Numbers 22:12, 23:8, 24:9; Deuteronomy 11:26-28, and 30:19; Matthew 25:41; Luke 6:28; Romans 12:14.)

All holy-people have already believingly accepted what God has given us to believe concerning Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Like the earth in the first example, we have already been blessed and we remain blessed spiritually (refer to Ephesians chapter 1).This truth relative to the spirit category cannot be changed or become un-done or be re-done.

[Reference: Genesis 1:11 and 12, 3:17 and 18; Matthew 3:11 and 12, 7:2, 16 and 19, 12:32 and 33, 22:29-32, 13:30 and 40-42, 25:41, 27:29; Mark 7:4; John 4:10-14; Acts 2:4 and 38, 4:33, 5:20 and 32, 8:18, 10:44 and 45, 11:16, 24:15, 21 and 25, 26:23; Romans 1:4, 2:2 and 3, 5:5 and 15-17, 10:8-17, 14:17, 15:13 and 16; I Corinthians 3:6-15, 12:3-14, 15:12-49, 16:7; II Corinthians 4:6, 6:6, 9:15; Galatians 3:2-29; Ephesians 1:3, 13, 14 and 18-23, 2:6 and 20, 3:7-9, 4:7, 5:26, 6:17; Colossians 2:12, 3:14; I Timothy 4:14; II Timothy 1:6, 7, 10 and 14, 2:6, 4:1; Hebrews 1:3 and 9, 2:4 and 5, 3:1, 6 and 14, 5:14, 9:10 and 14, 10:14, 29 and 32, 11:3 and 39; II Peter 3:7; Revelation 20:11-15, 21:8.]

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