Today’s passage: Hebrews 6:1-8
Helpful thoughts:
- Remember while reading this passage: The original audience was Hebrew people who had lived under the Old Covenant who now needed to transition to the New Covenant.
- The people of God in the Old Covenant looked FORWARD to the coming of Christ.
- The people of God in the New Covenant believe in the Christ who CAME, died, was buried, who rose again…and is coming again.
- Therefore, remaining under the Old Covenant is not an option. Choosing to remain is disobedience to God.
- The Hebrew people who were being taught about Jesus Christ and declaring Him to be a false Messiah, were condemning Him to death all over again (“Crucifying again”).
- If Jesus was not the Messiah and He claimed to be the Son of God, it would have been right to declare and punish His guilt. But if He truly is the Messiah, to reject Him is to reject God!
- These Jewish people had been part of the people of God (The visible Israel) prior to Christ’s coming, but if they rejected Christ, they would not be a part of the people of God (The Church) in the New Covenant.
- This is how they could be “in” and then “out.” Those Jews who live in the time of Christ and then rejected Him as their Lord would have enjoyed the benefits of God’s blessings on His people (The “rains”) but then never bore the fruit (“Thorns and thistles”). – Verses 7-8
- This means those Jews who rejected Christ were taught the truth about God (They had been “enlightened” – verse 4), but they never truly surrendered and believed.
Questions to consider:
- How do Jesus’ words of rebuke to the Pharisees in John 5:36-47 help us to better understand this passage today? Were the Pharisees ever truly believers? What did Jesus say?
- Why then is it wrong to view this passage as saying that Christians can lose their salvation? Who is the original audience? What/When is the occasion for the writing? What does the text actually mean?
- With all this being said, what is it that we are to do with the truth of God’s Word? How does one move on from “elementary doctrines?”