Lesson 10: Hebrews 6:4-20
We Are Confident of Better Things in Your Case
For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.
Even though we speak in this way, beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute. In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
This section of the sermon falls into two distinct but connected parts.
- The preacher says (6:4-12), “It is impossible to restore again . . . [those who] have fallen away . . . [but] we are confident of better things in your case . . . to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end.”
- The preacher says (6:13-20), “When God made a promise to Abraham . . . he swore by himself . . . [because] God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose . . . [Therefore] we have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor . . . Jesus . . . having become a high priest forever.”
The first part (Hebrews 6:4-12) both warns us about the danger of apostacy and encourages us to cultivate good fruit in our lives. The second part (Hebrews 6:13-20) assures us that God’s purpose and promise remains secure. To embrace the full assurance of hope, we must trust in God’s unshakable purpose in God’s promise to Abraham and its realization in Jesus the Messiah, our high priest. Trusting that promise, we imitate those heirs who faithfully endured the wilderness of life and did not fall away.
One of the more difficult sentences in Hebrews is the opening line of this text: “It is impossible to restore again to repentance . . . [those who] have fallen away.” Some doubt true believers can fall away, and others think “impossible” means one is permanently excluded and without any hope.
Who are these who have fallen away for whom it is “impossible” to renew again to repentance? Were they authentic believers? Or did they only appear to be believers but proved otherwise through the trials of life. As if to give an emphatic stamp of their authenticity, the preacher describes them in four phrases, the latter three are expositions or characerizations of the first one.
- Enlightened
- Tasted the heavenly gift
- Shared in the Holy Spirit
- Tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come
The preacher piles one characteristic on top of another as if to say, “Yes, these were real believers; they were shared in our life together, and they were truly connected to God and our community.” Enlightenment is another way of describing conversion, which is apparent from Hebrews 10:32. They tasted (experienced) the “heavenly gift” or grace of God. Heavenly describes, of course, what belongs to Mt. Zion, the city of the living in Hebrew 12:22 and the goal of faithful pilgrimage in Hebrews 11:16. To “taste” is not to get a sip but to fully experience something as when Jesus tasted death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). They were partakers of the Holy Spirit, that is, they shared communion with and partnered with the Holy Spirit (see the use of the word in Hebrews 3:1, 14). These believers not only experienced the goodness of God’s promises but also the presence of the future in their lives. They knew the power of the age to come through their own experiences as believers.
But they fell away. They no longer experience this reality because they no longer continued in faith. But this is no mere weak faith or simply a lack of faith. Rather, it was hostile turn that is characterized as recrucifying the Son of God and treating him with contempt. This is the result of their “falling away,” which is no mere drift or neglect but a rejection of the Messiah and God’s promises. “Crucifying again” and “holding him up” are present tense participles that modify the impossibility of repentance. Some suggest, though many dispute, that the participles have the meaning of “as long as they continue to recrucify Jesus and hold him in contempt, it is impossible to restore them to repentance.” In that case the impossibility lies not in some kind of metaphysical incapacity but rather in the ongoing rejection of the Messiah. That is one possible way to read the language—it impossible for them to repent because they are still engaged in crucifying the Messiah. Whatever the case, their definitive and public rejection of the Messiah makes their repentance “impossible.”
This “falling away” is real. They were once true believers in full communion with God, but now they are hostile enemies recrucifying Jesus by their rejection of him. As long as they remain in this state, it is impossible to restore them. In other words, this is a practical impossibility rather than an ontological or metaphysical one. Given the circumstances, it is impossible. Might those circumstances change? Yes, though I think the strength of the language suggests it is unlikely or that it is “practically impossible” (it would be quite unexpected) to renew their faith in the Messiah. They have rejected God’s anointed.
It is important to notice that the preacher speaks in the third person about those who have fallen away. The group he is addressing, where he typically uses “you” or “we,” is not part of the group that has fallen away. They may be in danger of that, particularly if they continue their regression and neglect the salvation God has offered in Jesus. But, at the moment, the preacher is confident that his audience/readers will persevere and following the path of previous faithful believeers.
The agricultural metaphor in Hebrews 6:7-8 suggests how one might discern the condition of the field, that is, the lives of people. Nourished by rain, some soil produces a useful cultivated crop of food, which God blesses, but other soil produces worthless “thorns and thistles” whose end is the fire. Rather than producing fruit, it now produces thorns and thistles. The question, then, is what are you cultivating in our lives? What is the fruit of your life—a useful crop or worthless “thorns and thistles”? This suggests, it seems to me, that one discerns the current state of their spiritual journey, at least in part, by noticing the fruit the soil of our hearts have produced in our lives.
How do I know if I am one of those who have fallen away? Have I sinned in such a way that it is impossible for me to return? We look at the fruit of our hearts. Do we want to return? Or, have we firmly and finally rejected the Messiah? A weak faith is not a rebellious faith. The desire to return or the struggle to stay means that we have not reached a point of no return or impossibility. If we are struggling to endure or seeking to believe, we have not reached any stage of “impossibility to return” (whatever that may mean). If faith is struggling, it is alive; it is a living faith though struggling and perhaps weak but faith nonetheless.
This is some harsh and disturbing language. In the wake of the preacher’s complaint that his audience was “dull of hearing” and should have been more mature than they are, the preacher might anticipate that he is discouraging them rather than warning them. While he does lay a serious warning at their feet, he also immediately offers an encouraging word. While some fall into the category he has just described, he does not believe his audience is there. He is, in fact, confident of better things in their future.
The preacher expresses this confidence within the framework of his love for them. He calls them, “Beloved” (agapetoi). He earnestly seeks to persuade them to endure through the perseverance of their faith that will yield good fruit, just as it has done in the past and still does in the present. He is hopeful for them even though he warns them about the potential for a frightful future.
God knows their past faithfulness. They have served “the saints” through their good works and love, and they still do. It is not only a past faithfulness but a present one. Though some have drifted away and others have not matured as they might be expected to do, the preacher wants them to continue to serve and to do so with diligence or earnestness (or zeal) that translates into a full assurance of hope. In other words, continue to persevere in faith (along with its good works and loving service to others) in imitation of those who have preceded you. Imitate the perseverance and endurance (or patience) of those who inherit the promises.
The word “promise” in Hebrews 6:12 is the second time it appears in Hebrews. The first time was in Hebrews 4:1 referring to the promise to enter God’s rest. Its appearance here provides an opportunity to ground God’s unchangeable purpose in God’s own character and to specify a particular promise God made to Abraham: “I will surely bless you and multiply you” (Genesis 22:16-17).
In that text, God swears by his own being, “By myself I have sworn,” says Genesis 22:16. God swore this oath to Abraham. God’s promise is unalterable and immutable. God’s purpose is certified by the oath, and the promise is fully trustworthy. God will do what God promised. It is guaranteed. God’s word is faithful, and God’s sworn oath is even more so—these are the two immutable realities that ground the promise.
That immutability is, therefore, grounded in God’s own immutable character. It is impossible for God to lie, that is, God’s statements will not prove false, and God cannot swear by anything greater than God’s own name or life. It is impossible that God could have lied; God speaks truth. That truth is the ground of our hope.
Yet, what is the promise that the preacher has in mind. Clearly, he thinks of God’s sworn oath to Abraham is a promise God has kept and will keep. God will not break covenant with Abraham. Though this illustration of a sworn oath is important and meaningful, it is not the focus of the preacher. Rather, another oath that God swore grounds the hope of his audience. It is a further development of God’s blessing of Israel, that is, God swore an oath that the Messiah would be a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. With that point, the preacher returns to where he left off in Hebrews 5:5-10 before his digression about his audience’s immaturity.
Because of God’s oath to the Messiah, therefore, “we have this hope” which is an anchor for the soul in the storms of life. Jesus the Messiah has passed through the heavens and entered the Holy of Holies behind the curtain to function as our “high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Because God swore it in God’s own name, it is an immutable promise. We have a high priest forever! That will not change, and it is the basis of our hope, an anchor for our souls in the storms of life. Consequently, our hope gives us confidence and empowers our perseverance.
In both Hebrews 5:10 and Hebrews 6:20, based on Psalm 110:4, the preacher identifies Jesus as a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. God’s own oath has made it so. And now, finally, the preacher will begin to explain what is “hard to explain,” that is, how Jesus can be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek, and why that order rather than the Levitical order enjoined in the Torah.