Hebrews 6:1-3 “The Basics of Christianity”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 27 Jan. 2019

Hebrews 6:1 starts with “Therefore” [Διὸ]. What’s the “therefore” there for?

• Since (5:11) y’all are so lazy that the message is too much for you

• Since (5:12-13) y’all need someone to teach the beginning of God’s messages all over again (i.e. you need milk because you’re immature in the message of salvation)

• Since (5:14) solid food is for the mature whose senses are trained in distinguishing good from bad.

MAIN VERB: let us be carried up to maturity [ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα φερώμεθα]
a) after having left the beginning message of the Anointed One [ἀφέντες τὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγον]
b) not striking down [laying?] again the foundation [μὴ πάλιν θεμέλιον καταβαλλόμενοι]

• I’ve struggled long and hard with what this means.

  • Most English translations frame Heb. 6:1 such that “leaving the beginning messages” of salvation is a good thing, but “laying again a foundation” of repentance and faith is a bad thing, yet, in 5:12, the apostle says that this church needs to be taught this “beginning message,” and in v.3, the apostle says he’s “going to do” it. Why would he waffle on this point?

  • Furthermore, it doesn’t fit with other scripture to be going back and forth about whether to review basic principles of Christianity. For instance Paul wrote in Philippians 3:1b “...For me to write the same things to you all is not troublesome to me, but to you all it is secure.” (SVH) Why wouldn’t we want security for the Hebrews?

  • Another problem I have with this interpretation is that I have a hard time accepting that an apostle would exhort a church to “leave... Christ” or once they “have left” Him not to build upon Him as a “foundation again.” The word “Christ/Anointed One” and the word “foundation” are parallel in the two participial phrases: a) “leaving...the message of the Anointed One” and b) “not laying again the foundation.” Indeed, “foundation” is often a word used as a synonym for Jesus:

    • Isaiah 28:16 "...I laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a foundation of foundations. The believer will not hurry.” (NAW) That’s the Messiah Jesus! Jesus also compared belief in Himself to having a rock-solid foundation in:

    • Luke 6:48-49 “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” (NKJV) And if you need to hear it stated explicitly, look no further than...

    • 1 Cor. 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise architect, I laid a foundation and another is building upon [it]. But let each look to how he is building upon [it], for no one is able to lay another foundation besides the one which is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (NAW) Now, if we’re not even able to lay another foundation, why exhort people not to try to lay the only right one again if they had left it?

  • It also doesn’t make sense for Hebrews to say at the end of chapter 5 that solid food is too “much” for these people and is not what they “need,” and then to turn around and say that they have already “moved on” [perfect tense] from the “beginning message” of the gospel.

• As I grappled with this and searched for a solution, I did a word study on the verb, kataballw, translated “laid” in practically every English translation, and I was a bit shocked at what I found. This verb is never used of anything positive in the Bible.

  • In the Greek translation of the O.T., kataballw (which literally means “throw down”) is always - without exception - used of “cutting down” trees, “tearing down” walls, or “slaying” persons¹, never of constructing anything,

  • and in the one other instance of this verb in the N.T. it is also negative: 2 Corinthians 4:9 “we are persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (NKJV).

  • The thought occurred to me, “What if I translate these two participles according to what they literally mean (‘leave’ and ‘throw down’) and consider them as describing the present condition of the Hebrew church in contrast to, rather than in parallel to, the goal of maturity?

    • If I do that, then the first participle can be a temporal condition: “having left the beginning message of the Christ.” Does that fit the description in the first chapters of Hebrews of that church? The context paints a picture of a church that wasn’t so sure it believed that Christ was truly God, wasn’t so sure that Christ became truly man, and wasn’t so sure how He could act as priest and make man right with God. “Having left the beginning message of the Christ” seems to be a very accurate description of the problem that triggered the writing of this epistle, and this epistle clearly returns them to the “beginning of the message about the Messiah.”

    • That leaves the second participial phrase in Hebrews 6:1 to describe the resulting shambles of their theology after they left the initial word of Christ. These Jewish folks had heard the Gospel preached in Jerusalem by Peter and the other apostles, but now the Essene Zealots had talked them out of believing that Jesus is really the Messiah, so the foundation of their faith had been “struck down” by false teaching, it had been knocked out from under them, and they had no foundation any more for being right with God.

    • The solution then is for them to be re-taught the gospel basics about Christ Jesus and then to stop “leaving” and “tearing down” that foundation, thus they will build on it and grow to maturity.

  • I realize that I am going against the tradition of every English translation, so it is with some hesitancy that I apply it this way, but this the only way I can make sense of it and preserve the plain meaning of the words.

  • The main difficulty I see with my interpretation is the first person plural “let us be carried up,” which could be construed to imply that the writer of Hebrews himself had left the foundation of the message of Christ and needed to mature too,

    • but it’s clear from the end of chapter 5 that the people with the problem were second plural “y’all,” so I think that the “we” in chapter 6 vs. 1&3 is a way of leading them as gently and inoffensively as possible in order to win them over by saying, “All right now, let’s do this thing! We’re going to get it right!”

    • And, there could still be some of the apostle’s own person in the “we,” because the depth of teaching which he brings to bear on this subject of Christology clearly indicates he himself had gone through his own struggles of disentangling Christianity from Judaism, and he may be humbly admitting he could stand to mature further himself in this.

• Now, all this does not substantially undermine the meaning of the standard English translations, because everybody agrees that the goal is maturity².

  • A common element of pride has crept into renewal movements throughout church history where Christians who are trying to move beyond the basics tend to lose touch with the Gospel, get sidetracked with secondary issues, and then lose the faith of the next generation. I see that as a real danger. The solution, then is to hold fast to the foundations and not get carried away from them as we grow.

  • My thesis is that the Christian maturity sketched at the end of Hebrews 5 is consciously built upon the foundation of the six principles listed at the beginning of Hebrews 6, and not in isolation from them.

  • Although Phillip Hughes followed the traditional English translation of verse 1 in his commentary on Hebrews, he nevertheless made the same point: “To leave the elementary doctrines does not mean to despise or abandon them any more than a pupil who has learned the ABC’s can then dispense with the alphabet. The letters of the alphabet are indispensable in the formulation and communication of the most advanced learning; for progress to maturity is always cumulative. So also, the first principles of Christian truth are basic to every stage of development and are no less essential at the end than they are at the beginning. The point is that the beginning is not a stopping-place; it is the door to progress...”

• But what are the building-blocks of Christianity which we should not leave behind or cut out from under us, but upon which we can grow to maturity? Hebrews 6:1-2 lists six of them...

1) Of repentance from dead works - μετανοίας ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων

• The word “dead” in Greek is plural, matching the plural word for “works,” which is why it is used an an adjective - “dead works” - in most English versions.³ These works therefore, do not merely “lead to death” (as the NIV renders it) but ARE dead themselves.

• The phrase “dead works” only occurs in only one⁴ other place in the Bible, and that is in Heb. 9:14 “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (NKJ)

  • This indicates that “dead works” are things done in service to someone other than the living God,

  • and that “dead works” create guilt,

  • and that the blood of Christ can cleanse our consciences from dead works - like nothing else can.

• 2 Timothy 2:25-26 tells who that “other person” is that dead works are done in service to (until a person repents): “...God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may... escape the snare of the Devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” It’s ultimately the Devil for whom dead works are done, whether or not a spiritually-dead person realizes it. And it’s ultimately God who “grants” us the ability to repent.

• These “dead works” can be corroborated with the “works of the flesh” from Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (NKJV)

• Coming back to Heb. 6:1, “dead works” are to be “repented” of. The Greek word for “repent” (meta-noia) contains two root-words: one for “change” and the other for “thinking.” Repentance is a “change of thinking” granted by God to make a clean break from doing the will of Satan.

• The symbol of John the Baptizer was a “baptism of repentance,” and what did recipients do? Matthew 3:6-11 “[T]hey were being baptized in the Jordan River by him as they confessed their sins... and he said to them, ‘...Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And stop thinking about saying among yourselves, “We have Abraham (for) a father...”'” This clearly links “confession of sins” with “repentance” and strongly correlates “dead works” with “sins.”

• Jesus also linked “repentance” to turning away from sin in His teaching ministry: Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance…. 15:7 ...there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents... 24:47 "repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations...” (NKJ)

• This repentance then is a foundational part of our salvation experience: 2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation...” (NKJ)

• Confessing to God that we have done particular actions against His will and that we are sorry and don’t want to do those things any more and instead want to obey Him - that is part of the “beginning of the word of Christ” and is something that forms a continuing “foundation” in our relationship with Him. Every time a Christian commits a sin, we repent of it. There is a solid foundation for maturity.

• This leads us to the second basic of the Gospel message, for the exhortation to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” includes trusting Jesus to save us from the coming judgment against our sins.

2) And of faith/trust upon God - καὶ πίστεως ἐπὶ⁵ Θεόν

• “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’" (Mark 1:14-15, NKJV) Repentance and faith go together, (Indeed, ‘faith without works is dead!’ ~James 2:17), and they are continuous exercises for the Christian – the command Jesus gave here is in the present tense in Greek, indicating, not a one-time trust event, but a lifetime commitment to the lifeline He offers: “keep repenting and keep believing.”

• In Acts 16:31, the Apostle Paul said, "Start trusting on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, you and your household." (NAW)

• Romans 4:24-25 “… righteousness... shall be imputed to us who believe [another continuous present tense] in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”

• Believing/Trusting God – through Jesus and His death on the cross – to save you from punishment for your sins which you repented of, and continuing to trust Him to make you right as He gives His righteousness to you, is foundational to being a Christian. That is what maturity can build on!

• Moving on to v.2, the next foundations of the faith are the subject of some debate:

3) the doctrine/teaching of baptisms - βαπτισμῶν διδαχῆς,

• This is controversial because:

  • Why on earth is baptism plural? Doesn’t it say in Ephesians 4:5 that there is only “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism”?

  • I suspect that’s why some English translations rendered this word “washings” or “cleansing rites” instead of baptisms. But then the question must be asked, “Why on earth would we say that washing and cleansing rites are foundational to Christianity?”

• The word baptismos occurs three other times in the Bible, so perhaps that can enlighten us:

  • The first time is in Mark 7:4, where the Apostle comments that the Jews of his day and place had “...many [traditions]... like the washing/[baptizing] of cups, pitchers [etc.]...” (NKJ)

    • So it appears that the Bible admits of a kind of baptism/washing which is merely traditional and is not required by God, although it may be a good idea for sanitation.

    • Jesus taught about that. In Mark 7:9 He said to the Pharisees, "...you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.” (NKJ) They needed instruction that keeping man-made traditions were not what made them right with God.

  • The second time this word baptismos appears is in Col. 2:11-12 “In Him you were also circumcised... putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, bur­ied with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith...” (NKJ)

    • Well, here is a very Christian form of baptism! It’s not a man-made tradition to be downplayed like the last one.

    • Some interpret this to mean water baptism; others interpret it to mean the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I lean toward the latter, but the Bible does call both “baptism,” which means that here is yet another distinction to be taught about baptism!

    • John the Baptizer did some teaching of his own on this: Mark 1:8 “I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Two different baptisms; and you need both of them!

    • In Acts 2:38, Peter said, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” There’s water baptism first, followed by Holy Spirit baptism. But later, in Acts 10:47, the baptism of the Holy Spirit came first, and the same Apostle Peter said, "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

    • The Apostle Paul elaborated in 1 Corinthians 12:13 “for in one Spirit also we ourselves were all baptized into one body...” (NAW)

    • Christians are commanded to “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 5:18) and Christians are commanded to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to keep all of whatever I commanded...” (Matt. 28:19-20, NAW) Clearly this kind of stuff on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and Christian water baptism needs to be taught Christians from the beginning.

  • What about the other time that the word baptismos appears in the Bible? It is used in Hebrews 9 to describe the way temple worship an animal sacrifices were handled:

    • rinsed off after gutting them, before putting them on the altar as per Leviticus 1:9,

    • and how the altar and the people were sprinkled with the blood of those animals (Lev. 1:5, Ex. 24:8), and

    • how ceremonially-unclean people were sprinkled with lye-water in Num. 9:17-18.

    • These are all called baptismos in Hebrews 9:6-14 “...priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services… 10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings[baptisms], and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come… For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

    • Could I point out that this instance of baptismos is specifically attached to the act of sprinkling, whereas other Old Testament purification rites also involved partial immersion or pouring, and I see this as evidence of a wide range of meaning of this word baptismos in the Bible – a range of meaning and practice that calls for teaching!

    • Do you think that the Jews needed instruction about the relationship between these ceremonial rites commanded by God in the Old Testament and how they were fulfilled in Christ? Absolutely! That’s what a lot of the book of Hebrews is about! There needs to be teaching about the relationship between the Old Testament sacrificial system and the New Testament Gospel and how the one pointed to - and was replaced by - the other.

• So when we look at these four uses of the word for “baptism” it becomes clear that the Bible really does talk of more than one kind of baptism: There are 1) man-made traditions, 2) Christian water-baptism, 3) the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and 4) temporary Old Testament ceremonies designed by God to illustrate truths about Jesus’ salvation.

• New Christians need to know that they have the Holy Spirit, they need to be water-baptized, and they need to know about the difference between following man-made traditions and walking by the Spirit of Christ, and how the Law points to the Gospel. That’s all very foundational, even if it takes a lifetime to plumb the theological depths of it!

• Now, I think we can agree that baptism is pretty basic, but our next foundational principle seems a little out-there:

4) laying on of hands - ἐπιθέσεώς τε χειρῶν,

• There are only three other places in the Greek Bible which use this phrase:

  • Acts 8:18 “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money” (NKJV)

  • 1 Timothy 4:14 “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.” (NKJV)

  • and 2 Timothy 1:6 “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (NKJV)

  • In both of the Timothy passages, “the gift” appears to mean that of teaching, since the immediate contexts of both include public “reading” of the Bible, “exhorting,” teaching “doctrine” (1Tim 4:13), “testifying,” preaching the “gospel,” speaking “sound words,” etc. (2 Tim 1). So it appears to be a commissioning procedure for teacher in the church.

• If we expand our search for this phrase in the New Testament to include verb forms of epitithemi instead of just noun forms of it, we get:

  • Another instance of the visible filling of the Holy Spirit after an apostle shared the gospel in Ephesus (Acts 19:6),

  • Three more commissioning services: one for deacons (Acts 6:6), one for elders (1 Tim. 5:22), and one for missionaries (Acts 13:3),

  • We also get Jesus’ blessing of the children (Matthew 19:13) and 6 descriptions of supernatural healings (Mark 5:23, 6:5, 8:25, and 16:18, Luke 13:13, and Acts 28:8), but, while I think it is good for Christians to know that they can lay hands on others and pray for God to bless - and even to heal, I suspect that, in this case, the focus of the teaching about laying on of hands is upon the appointment of church leadership.

• In the New Testament, maverick Christianity is never encouraged.

  • Everywhere there was a church, spiritual leadership was set up (Acts 14:23). Wherever there were new Christian converts, there was the laying on of hands to appoint certain ones as elders, so that accountability was always present in the body of Christ.

  • It’s also in Hebrews 13:17 “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.” This was clearly important to the author of Hebrews to teach.

  • The Apostle James added in his epistle (5:14) that you should “call for the elders” of your church to pray over you when you are sick or struggling with sin.

  • Also, if you want to become an elder, that’s a “good thing:” 1 Timothy chapter 3 lays out the qualifications, and 1 Timothy 4 explains that it is by the laying on of hands by other elders that a qualified candidate becomes an elder.

  • The awareness of accountability to others within God’s church is a basic principle that new Christians need to know about. It needs to be taught to them.

  • Another basic principle that needs to be taught is...

5) the resurrection of the dead ἀναστάσεώς τε νεκρῶν,

• One thing that should help with understanding the meaning of this phrase is that the Greek word for “dead” is plural, indicating not just the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but the resurrection of ALL our bodies from the dead.

• Jesus saw the importance of teaching about the resurrection. He exegeted Exodus 3:6 and said, “God is not the God of the dead, but rather of the living” (Matt. 22:32, NAW).

• When the apostles preached, “they bore witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus...” (Acts 4:33, KJV).

• The resurrection is one of the four essential points of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, so it is worthy of inclusion among the basics of Christianity.

• The doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is important because it means:

  • We have a savior: Because Jesus came to life from the dead, He ascended to heaven to be there for us to reconcile us to God and prepare a place for us. (1 Cor 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is also empty, and your faith is empty.” ~NAW)

  • The resurrection also means it’s worthwhile to suffer for our faith in this world, because we will be rewarded with a better life in the hereafter.

    • Hebrews 11:35b “...Some [believers] were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.” (ESV)

    • 1 Cor. 15:19&32 “If we are only existing in this life, having hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiful of all men! ... If dead [men] are not being raised; let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (NAW)

    • NO, says David in Psalm 23:6 “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (KJV)

  • The resurrection also means that all our physical bodies (both of the righteous and of the wicked – John 5:28-29, Acts 24:15) will be resurrected and made eternal for the world to come, and in that body, we will either experience punishment in hell forever, or blessing with God forever.

    • 1 Cor. 15:20-21 “But now, Christ has been raised out of the dead – the firstfruit of the ones who have been sleeping. For since, on account of a man, there is death, also, on account of a man, there is resurrection of dead [men]… 52 in the final bugle-call... the dead will be raised imperishable… (NAW)

    • 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (NKJV)

• Knowing about the doctrine of resurrection from the dead gives Christians confidence in Jesus, courage to face persecution, and hope for the future, so it must be taught and remembered as a foundation for our faith. The final fundamental is...

6) eternal justice καὶ κρίματος αἰωνίου

• This is the fulfillment of the great messianic promise to David and Solomon of a king who would establish “justice forever” (1 Ki. 10:9, 1 Chr. 28:7, 2 Chr. 9:8, Isa. 9:6).

• It’s not so much speaking of the punishment of the wicked, as it is about how happy the people of God will be to finally see justice consummated:

  • Isaiah 1:27 “For her captives shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy.” (Brenton)

  • Ps. 119:52 “I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and was comforted.” (Brenton)

  • Hosea 2:19 “And I will betroth thee to myself for ever; yea, I will betroth thee to myself in righteousness, and in judgment, and in mercy, and in tender compassions” (Brenton)

• Make no mistake, the punishment of the wicked is part of “eternal justice:”

  • God did say in Deuteronomy 32:41 “I will sharpen my sword like lightning, and my hand shall take hold of judgment; and I will render judgment to my enemies, and will recompense them that hate me.” (Brenton)

  • And in Rev 21:3-8, while God says that for “His people… there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying,” it is at the same time that “the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone…” (NKJV)

  • And Jesus said that “fire will not be quenched” (Mark 9:44b, NKJV)

  • So it is entirely appropriate to put the fear of God into unbelievers with warnings of God’s justice, just as the Apostle Paul did with Felix (Acts 24:25).

• But it is an important comfort (^{1 Thess. 4:16-18}) to Christians to know that Jesus is going to return and establish a “new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13) - where there will never again be war or crime or death or sickness – forever! (Rev. 21).

CONCLUSION: v.3 We will do this if God permits

• I take this to parallel the other first person main verb in verse 1 – “we will be carried up to maturity... v.3 we will if God allows it.” As I mentioned in my last sermon, everything hinges on God, and all glory goes to Him if anything good happens in terms of our progress!

• But anything good is going to be built on these foundational truths – which are strikingly similar to the list in the Apostle’s creed: “repentance from dead works, trust upon God, teaching about baptisms, also of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of those who are dead, and of eternal justice,” so stay attached to these fundamentals, and you will have a good foundation to grow on as a Christian.

APPENDIX: Side-by-side Greek Text and English Versions of Hebrews 5:11-6:3^A