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.]

Verses 9-12:

^.9but we were persuaded² concerning you, loved-people¹, also having the stronger-things of salvation, since also thus we utter-forth, ^.10for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love¹ which you pointed-out into His name having ministered and ministering to the holy-people, ^.11but we intensely-yearn each of you to point-out the same earnest-diligence towards the full-assurance of the hope continuously-until completion, ^.12in order that you may not become sluggish-people but imitators of the (people) inheriting the promises by means of belief and patience;

We (myself and those with me) were persuaded and we are still persuaded concerning you (convinced about you)…

loved¹ people (beloved, truly you are loved by God and by myself with God’s kind of love),

…also having the stronger-things of salvation (you are already saved and hold the things that are comparatively more forceful with exerted-power which pertain-to and belong-to the standing and state of being saved, safety from sins and their consequences, from destruction, made-safe to/with God and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ),

since it is also in this manner that we speak (as detailed throughout this writing, the Book of Hebrews; refer to Hebrews 1:14, 2:3 and 10, 5:9, 9:28),

…for God is not unrighteous to forget (He is not unjust by causing Himself to forget upon, to willingly escape to place notice resting or based on, to cease to pay attention to, to disregard)…

your work (the work you do, your productive activity) and
the love¹ which you pointed-out into His name (the Godly-love that you indicated as with a finger for His name, you displayed it regarding God’s name which incorporates the fullness of everything involved with Him, all that He is and will continue to be, all of His authoritative-power, ability, workings, etc, His distinguishing and distinctive constitution, character, and quality)
- having previously ministered and you are presently ministering (serving to bestow benefit, actively doing work to bring profit, you are carrying-out your day-by-day ministerial duties, your duties of service pertaining to God and the things of God)…
  - to the holy-people (the sanctified people, Christians, saints, others who have also received holy spirit-life and therefore have become children of the only true God).

The word "love¹" or the verb "to love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor, or towards anyone else. God tells His children today (all who have the spirit of Christ within us) how to Godly-love by means of His previously-revealed written Word and also via our holy spirit-life whereby we receive information from Him regarding how to love in different specific situations. It is the carrying out of God's commandments, His Word, which is the correct usage or way to manifest God's kind of love according to His will (refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3). It is not the same as the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual kind of love.

Paul continues: but we intensely-yearn each of you (we lust, here used in the good sense, we fix or attach strong-desire upon each one of you – by using the word “each” instead of “all” Paul emphasizes each holy-person individually, particularly, singly, distinctly – we intensely yearn each of you) to point-out the same earnest-diligence (to indicate as with a finger, to display the same speedy application or performance, the same assiduity)…

towards the full-assurance (the full carriage or carrying capacity, that-which has been brought and filled-up to the measure and so having the full contents of assurance, conviction and confidence)…
- of the hope (pertaining to the expectation that we have of the future events coming to pass; refer to Hebrews 3:6, 6:18 below, 7:19, 10:23)
continuously until completion (the complete-thing, ending-issue, the fulfillment of what Christ will do bringing everything to its complete, perfect state; refer to Hebrews 3:13 and 14, and I Corinthians 15:24).

The hope that we holy-people have is Christ’s coming to gather us all together with him in the air and receiving everything that God has promised us in Christ, and then he will continue to carry-out God’s intention and we will be with him. Christ is the hope of glory. For further details on future events, you may read my studies on I Thessalonians chapter 4, II Thessalonians, chapter 15 of I Corinthians, and the Book of Revelation.

We intensely-yearn each of you to point-out the same earnest-diligence towards the full-assurance of the hope continuously-until completion. Why should each one of you do this?

For the purpose and result that you may not become sluggish-people (slow in movement or response, lazy people; refer to Hebrews 5:11)
- but imitators (mimics, followers) of the people inheriting the promises (the holy-people who are presently being inheritors, heirs of the assigned lot, the allotted portion of the proclamations, the declarations of the messages of God’s intention)
- – behaving themselves how? – by means of (through)…
  - belief (faith, trust relative to God and the things of God, the information that God makes known to have confidence-in with assured certainty and surety) and
  - patience (long-suffering, long-forbearance, long-temperedness).

There are many holy-people (Christians) today, all of whom are inheriting the promises – but not all of us are behaving ourselves during everyday living in a manner that is by means of belief and patience.

[Reference: Genesis 3:15; Acts 2:33 and 39; Romans 3:5, 15:25; I Corinthians 4:16, 11:1, 13:4, 15:20-28 and 58; II Corinthians 1:20, 5:10, 6:6; Galatians 3:28 and 29, 5:22; Ephesians 1:13, 4:1-6; Colossians 1:11 and 12, 3:12; I Thessalonians 1:6, 5:14; I Timothy 4:8; II Timothy 3:10, 4:2; Hebrews 1:14, 2:3 and 10, 3:6 and 14, 4:1, 5:9 and 11, 7:6 and 19, 8:6, 9:15 and 28, 10:23, 11:17; 13:7; James 5:7 and 8.]

Verses 13-20:

^.13for God, having promised to Abraham, since He used-to-have not-one greater to swear down-on, swore down-on Himself ^.14saying, “If indeed blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you”, ^.15and thus having been patient He attained the promise; ^.16for men swear down-on the greater and the oath (is) an end of all contradiction with them into firmness, ^.17in which God deliberately-determining a more-exceeding (thing, which was) to point-upon the unchangeableness of His deliberate-determination to the inheritors of the promise, mediated with an oath ^.18in order that, because-of two unchangeable matters in which (matters it is) not-able (for) God to lie, we the (people) having fled-down (towards Him for refuge) may have strong encouragement to strongly-hold the hope lying-before (us) ^.19which we have as an anchor of the soul both safe and firm and going into the interior of the veil ^.20where a forerunner on behalf of us went-into – Jesus, having become chief-priest according to the arrangement of Melchisedek into the age.

In truth, God – when He had already proclaimed (previously declared) to Abraham the message of His intention, since He didn’t have any greater (no spirit or person or thing comparatively larger in magnitude, rank, importance, depth, etc) to swear down-on – swore down-on Himself saying, “If indeed (surely, certainly, definitely)…

blessing I will bless you (emphatically I am speaking words that are good/well to you now, and the effects of what I speak will come to pass and increase to/for you in the future; what God says comes to pass and here God said that the recipient, Abraham, will receive the blessing; what was spoken by God would happen to Abraham which would be good for him) and
multiplying I will multiply you” (emphatically I am filling you into fullness now, and the effects of the multiplication will come to pass and increase to/for you in the future)…

…and it was in this manner, having been patient (long-suffering, long-tempered, having had long-forbearance), that He attained the promise. God hit-the-mark that He intended to reach, He achieved His goal, which was the fulfillment of this promise to Abraham (see Romans chapter 4 and Galatians chapter 3). God attained the promise that He made to Abraham. Abraham has not received the promise yet because he died long before Jesus Christ was born. Currently Abraham is still dead – but when he will be resurrected to eternal life in the future then he will receive it.

To ‘swear’ means: to affirm or deny using an oath, making the outcome of what you say dependent upon the sworn oath. An oath was used to prove something as being undeniable, like a fence that fences-in what is spoken, a confinement, restraint, enclosure of a promise or declaration regarding what you will do, or what is true, etc. The usage of the word “if” in the phrase “If indeed…” comes from the Hebrew indicating that what is spoken is in the context of an oath. Both words “If indeed” indicate the positive surety that this will definitely come to pass by the speaker – under penalty of the speaker receiving the consequences of any non-performance from the one on-whom the oath was named as the witness and on whose authority and ability it is bound to come to pass. Here, God swore down-on Himself. This occurred at the time recorded in Genesis 22:16 and 17.

Paul continues to explain: …for men swear down-on the greater and the oath is an end of all contradiction with them (an oath is a termination or extremity of every speech anti/against each other, all their opposing words) into, with a view to, and resulting in firmness (steadiness, sureness, definite, as a guarantee in legal terms).

Similarly, God…

deliberately determining a more-exceeding thing (purposefully willing after careful consideration something more abundant, comparatively more than above the number or measure already attained, in excess of the promise He had previously made with Abraham) – this more-exceeding thing was
- to point-upon the unchangeableness of His deliberate-determination (to exhibit as pointing out with His finger the lack of metathesis of His purposed will, to display that no part of it will be put or placed in a different position, that His promise will not be altered)
  - to the inheritors of the promise (to/for the heirs, the people who have the inheritance, the assigned lot, the allotted portion pertaining to the promise)

…mediated with an oath (He placed an oath between the two parties, He put it in the middle of Himself and the inheritors of the promise ensuring that He will do what He says, and so there would be peace and unity between the parties regarding this) for the purpose and result that…

on account of two unchangeable matters (the promise and the oath) in which it is not-able for God to lie (it is not possible, there is no capability, no ability for God to speak a lie, to commit a falsehood, to show a lying statement for the purpose of misleading, to communicate false evidence from Himself to us),

…we holy-people, who are the people who have fled-down towards God for refuge, would have strong encouragement (physically strong exhortation, as God having called us beside Himself like a concerned father or mother would invite their children close to them to help them to do what is right) – to do what? – to strongly-hold the hope lying-before us (to exert our forceful-strength to hold what God has given us to expect to come to pass in the future, to strongly keep hold of His firm-anticipation concerning our future that is presently lying before us, our hope is set in front of us, it lies ahead of us)

which hope we have
- as an anchor of the soul (in comparison to an anchor that keeps a ship from moving away from where it is supposed to be located, an anchor of our soul-life which is the life of the physical body evidenced by breathing, as an anchor relative-to our living in the physical category including our character and disposition) – both
  - safe (it affords safety, gives surety, certainty, it cannot be tripped-up or thrown-down and thereby fall from its correct position)
  - and firm (steady, it retains or keeps us in a sure and secure manner)
- and presently going into the interior of the veil (it is progressing in motion into the area more within it, inside the veil, here referring to being in God’s presence; this is similar to the old physical Jerusalem temple where the veil used to separate the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple area, that veil was the heavy curtain at the entrance/access into the innermost part of God’s temple where the only true God's presence was to be manifested-forth; refer to Matthew 27:50 and 51, Hebrews 9:3 and 10:20)
  - where a forerunner on behalf of us went-into (one person came into the area inside the veil into God’s presence on our behalf before us, a precursor in our interests, he went there ahead of the rest of us who will follow, he went into that place in advance of us who will also enter into God’s presence) – and who is the forerunner? –
  - Jesus, having become chief priest according to the arrangement of Melchisedek (Jesus was allowed to go inside the veil, into the Holy of Holies, into God’s presence after he became high priest in accordance, conformity, and proportion to/with the arrangement of Melchisedek; an ‘arrangement’ is what is arranged in ordered sequence, the rank as in the military sense, the arranged class or group of Melchisedek) – for how long? –
into the age (for the duration of life, lifetime, for/throughout the age, referring to the specific age that began when God resurrected him and placed him at His right-hand side in His presence; this age will not end because God caused His son to be ‘chief-priest’ and the son will remain the chief-priest in God’s presence).

[Reference: Genesis 3:15, 14:18, 22:16-18; Exodus 26:31-33; Psalm 110:4; Matthew 27:50 and 51; Luke 18:7; Acts 7:5; Romans 2:4, chapter 4, 9:22, 11:7; Galatians chapter 3; Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 1:5; Titus 3:7; Hebrews 3:1, 4:12 and 14-16, 5:6 and 10, 9:3 and 24, 10:20; II Peter 3:9 and 15. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

Hebrews Chapter 7