Commentary - Hebrews 6:1-8

Bird's-eye view

This passage in Hebrews contains one of the most severe and sobering warnings in all of Scripture. After chiding his readers for their spiritual immaturity, the author urges them to press on beyond the foundational elements of the Christian faith. He then undergirds this exhortation with a terrifying description of those who have been deeply involved in the life of the covenant community, who have experienced many profound blessings of God, and who then fall away. For such persons, he says, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. The reason given is that by their apostasy, they are publicly siding with the enemies of Christ, re-crucifying Him, and holding Him up to contempt. The passage concludes with an agricultural metaphor: land that receives rain and produces a useful crop is blessed, but land that receives the same rain and produces only thorns is cursed and destined for burning. This is a covenantal warning, addressed to the visible church, and it is meant to drive true believers to persevere in faith and to warn those on the fringes that proximity to blessing is not the same as possession of salvation.

The central thrust is a call to maturity, grounded in a stark warning against apostasy. The author is not trying to make genuine believers doubt their salvation; rather, he is using the very real danger of falling away to provoke them to diligence. He is telling them not to be spiritual infants forever, constantly re-laying the foundation, but to build upon that foundation. The privileges listed are real covenantal blessings experienced by all within the visible church, elect and non-elect alike. But these blessings come with responsibilities. To receive such light and grace and then to turn away is a sin of the highest order, a public repudiation of the Son of God that puts one outside the realm of repentance.

Outline

Context In Hebrews

This passage flows directly out of the author's rebuke in the previous chapter. In Hebrews 5:11-14, he called his readers "dull of hearing" and lamented that they still needed milk when they ought to be eating solid food and even teaching others. Chapter 6 is his answer to this problem: "Therefore, let us press on." The warning here is one of several such solemn admonitions in the book (cf. Heb 2:1-4; 3:7-19; 10:26-31; 12:25-29). The entire epistle is addressed to a community of Jewish Christians who were being tempted to abandon Christ and return to the old covenant system of Judaism, a system that was about to be rendered obsolete in the most dramatic fashion with the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. This warning, therefore, is not a hypothetical exercise. It addresses a real and present danger. To leave Christ and go back to the temple sacrifices would be to publicly declare that Jesus' sacrifice was insufficient. It would be to side with those who crucified Him. This is the specific historical apostasy that the author has in mind, and it gives the warning its sharp and terrifying edge.

Key Issues

Let Us Go On

The Christian life is a race, a journey, a building project. It is never static. The command here is to move forward, to press on to maturity. The word for maturity, teleiotēs, means completeness or perfection. It's the same root used to describe Christ being made a "perfect" high priest. We are to leave the "elementary teaching," not in the sense of forgetting it or discarding it, but in the sense that a builder leaves the foundation once it is properly laid. You don't keep digging up the foundation to inspect it every day. You build on it. The author is concerned that his readers are stuck in a state of perpetual spiritual infancy, constantly revisiting the basics without ever building the superstructure of a mature Christian life. This immaturity makes them vulnerable to the temptation to fall away, which is why the exhortation to grow is immediately followed by the stark warning against apostasy. The two are inextricably linked. The best defense against falling away is pressing forward.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

The "therefore" links this command directly to the rebuke for immaturity in chapter 5. Because you are still infants, it is time to grow up. The phrase "leaving the elementary teaching" means graduating from the kindergarten of the faith. These foundational truths are essential, but they are the beginning, not the end. He lists some of these foundational elements. The first pair is repentance from dead works and faith toward God. This is the essence of conversion. "Dead works" are not just sinful acts, but any acts, even religious ones, performed apart from faith in Christ in an attempt to earn God's favor. Repentance is turning from that self-salvation project, and faith is turning toward God through Christ. This is the foundation, the concrete slab upon which everything else is built. You don't keep pouring the slab over and over again.

2 of teaching about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

He continues the list of foundational truths. "Washings" likely refers not just to Christian baptism but to the whole category of ceremonial washings, both Jewish and Christian, and the instruction about their significance in the new covenant. "Laying on of hands" was a practice used for imparting a blessing, commissioning for service, or for healing. These were basic practices in the early church. The final pair of foundational doctrines is the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. These are basic eschatological realities that every believer must affirm. There will be a final resurrection of all people, both the just and the unjust, and this will be followed by an eternal judgment that settles everyone's destiny. These are the ABCs. The author's point is not that these things are unimportant, but that his readers should have mastered them and be ready for more.

3 And this we will do, if God permits.

This is a simple but profound statement of dependence on God. We will press on to maturity, but only as God enables us. All our spiritual progress is a gift of His grace. It is not something we can achieve in our own strength. This phrase, if God permits, acknowledges God's sovereignty over our sanctification. It also carries a subtle warning. God may not permit some to go on to maturity, namely, those who are not truly His and are in danger of falling away, as the next verses describe.

4 For in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

Here begins the terrifying description of the apostate. Notice the language used. This is not describing someone who merely attended a church service once. These are profound spiritual experiences. To be enlightened is to have the truth of the gospel intellectually grasp you. To have tasted of the heavenly gift means to have experienced the blessings of salvation, perhaps forgiveness or peace. To have become partakers of the Holy Spirit means to have been involved in the life and ministry of the Spirit-filled community. These are not experiences exclusive to the elect. These are covenantal blessings that fall on everyone within the visible church, like the rain that falls on both good and bad soil.

5 and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

The list of privileges continues. They have tasted the good word of God, meaning they have heard faithful preaching and have seen its goodness. They have experienced the powers of the age to come. This refers to the miraculous works of the Holy Spirit, healings, prophecies, and so on, which are a foretaste of the full power of God's coming kingdom. The person described has been immersed in the full-orbed life of the new covenant community. He has seen it all, tasted it all, and been a part of it all. This is what makes his subsequent falling away so heinous.

6 and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

And then, after all that privilege, they have fallen away. This is not a momentary stumble into sin; this is a deliberate, decisive turning away from Christ. And for such a person, the author says it is impossible to bring them back to repentance. Why? Because of what their apostasy signifies. They are, in effect, re-crucifying Christ. The original crucifixion was done by His enemies. By abandoning Christ and siding with His enemies, the apostate says, "They were right to kill Him. He deserved it." They are publicly shaming Him, declaring that He is not the glorious Son of God, but a criminal worthy of contempt. To do this after having been so enlightened is to commit a sin for which there is no further remedy. They have rejected the only sacrifice for sins there is.

7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

Now comes the agricultural illustration that clarifies the warning. The "ground" represents people in the covenant community. The "rain" represents the blessings of God just listed in verses 4-5, the preaching of the word, the work of the Spirit, the fellowship of the saints. This rain falls generously and often. The first type of ground responds to this rain by producing a useful crop. This represents the true believer, whose life bears the fruit of genuine faith and repentance. This person, this ground, receives a blessing from God. The blessings received result in more blessing.

8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is unfit and close to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

This is the alternative. The second type of ground receives the very same rain, the same blessings, the same opportunities. But instead of fruit, it produces thorns and thistles. This is the apostate. His life produces the works of the flesh, culminating in his rejection of Christ. This ground is declared "unfit" or worthless. It is "close to being cursed," and its final destiny, its end, is to be burned. This is the language of final judgment. The warning is stark: receiving covenant blessings is not enough. The question is, what do those blessings produce in you? Fruit or thorns?

Application

So what do we do with a passage like this? First, we must not explain it away. The warning is real. It is possible for people who are deeply embedded in the life of the church to fall away and perish. We have all seen it happen. This should produce in us a holy fear and a diligent watchfulness over our own souls. It should kill any notion of cheap grace or "easy-believism."

Second, this passage should drive us to Christ for assurance, not to morbid introspection. The author is not trying to make his readers look inside themselves for some past experience to cling to. He is telling them to look forward and press on. True assurance is found not by dissecting our past conversion, but by actively trusting and obeying Christ in the present. As the author says just a few verses later, "we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end" (Heb 6:11). Assurance comes from diligent perseverance.

Finally, this passage teaches us to take the means of grace seriously. The rain of God's blessing is falling on us every Lord's Day through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. Are we drinking it in? Is it producing fruit in our lives, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness? Or is it merely watering the thorns of our pride, bitterness, and unbelief? The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. The same gospel that is an aroma of life to some is an aroma of death to others. Let us therefore hear this warning with the gravity it deserves, and by God's grace, press on to maturity, bearing fruit worthy of the One who saved us.