Bible Commentaries
Hebrews 6

Verse 1

Principles ; elements or first rudiments of religion.

Unto perfection ; maturity in the knowledge and obedience of the gospel. The reference is especially to those deep doctrines concerning the priesthood of Christ which he is preparing to unfold.

The foundation of repentance ; the foundation consisting in the doctrine of repentance, and what follows. Upon this foundation we must always build, but we ought not to be always laying it.

Dead works ; outward forms without spiritual life. Divine grace in the hearts of God’s people is progressive. It leads them to increase in knowledge and piety, till they at last become perfect in Christ Jesus.

Verse 2

Eternal judgment ; judgment eternal in its consequences, having for its result the endless retributions of eternity.

Verse 3

This will we do ; we will go on unto perfection, as he proceeds to do in the seventh and following chapters.

Verse 4

Enlightened ; in the knowledge of the gospel.

The heavenly gift ; that which God bestows upon men in the gospel.

Of the Holy Ghost ; of the gifts which he bestows. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 .

Verse 5

Have tasted the good word of God ; have had experience of its excellency and power.

And the powers of the world to come ; the world to come is probably here, as in chap Hebrews 2:5 , the gospel dispensation, and its powers are those specified in chap Hebrews 2:4 .

Verse 6

Fall away ; renounce Christianity, turn against Christ, and openly apostatize from his religion. If they do this they will perish, because they renounce the only way of salvation, and treat Christ as an imposter, deserving of crucifixion.

Verse 7

Receiveth blessing from God ; he rewards its fruitfulness with his blessing, making it still further fruitful. Compare the Saviour’s words, "He that hath, to him shall be given." Mark 4:25 .

Verse 8

Thorns and briars ; only.

Rejected ; as worthless.

Nigh unto cursing ; being given up to perpetual barrenness; bearing that which is fit only to be burned. So those who renounce Christ, go back to the world, and continue in sin, the Holy Ghost will leave to perpetual barrenness and death.

Verse 9

Persuaded better things ; he was persuaded, from what he had known of them, that in view of the destruction which awaited them should they apostatize, they would, through the grace of God and the use of proper means, persevere in holiness to the end, and so obtain eternal life.

Verse 10

God is not unrighteous ; he would not fail to reward the acts of love which for his sake they had done to his people. Matthew 10:41-42 .

Verse 11

The same diligence ; in the discharge of duty and the manifestation of love to Christ and his people to the end of life.

To the full assurance of hope ; these words express the object which our Christian diligence has in view and which it secures. As those who apostatize, and continue to renounce Christ, will perish with an awfully aggravated destruction, Christians should carefully guard against all approaches towards this sin.

Verse 12

Of them ; Hebrews 11:32-40 . As a knowledge of the destruction which awaits men who renounce the Saviour and continue in sin, is one of the means of preventing Christians from so doing, they should be thankful to him for communicating this knowledge, and for rendering it, with other means, efficacious in leading them to avoid this destruction, and perseveringly to imitate those who through faith and patience and much tribulation are now inheriting the promises.

Verse 13

Made promise to Abraham ; Genesis 22:16-18 .

Verse 15

Obtained the promise ; Genesis 12:1-3 ; Genesis 15:5-21 ; Genesis 17:1-16 ; Genesis 18:10 ; Genesis 21:1-2 .

Verse 16

For confirmation ; to confirm treaties and agreements; the oath gives confidence and puts an end to contention.

Verse 17

Wherein ; in respect to which matter, namely, the ending of all doubt and dispute by an oath.

Heirs of promise ; true believers, to whom God has promised eternal life. John 10:27-30 .

Verse 18

Two immutable things ; his word and oath.

Impossible ; for want not of natural power, but of disposition; on account of his unchangeable faithfulness, truth, and holiness.

Fled for refuge ; to Jesus Christ, by believing on him.

The hope ; of heaven set before us in the gospel.

Verse 19

Which entereth ; it is immaterial whether we understand the hope of the anchor as entering, since the one is a symbol of the other.

Into that within the veil ; into the heavenly holy of holies within the veil, that is, into heaven itself. For here, as elsewhere in this epistle, the earthly tabernacle-in whose inner sanctuary God had his visible dwelling-place between the cherubim that overshadowed the ark, Exodus 25:22 ; Numbers 7:89 ; Psalms 80:1 ; Psalms 99:1 -is considered as a type of the true heavenly tabernacle where God resides. Compare chap Hebrews 8:2 ; Hebrews 9:11-12 ; and especially chap Hebrews 9:24 . Hope has great influence in the salvation of Christians, and the gospel is suited to inspire it. But in order to this, the gospel must be believed. And that hope which arises from true faith tends powerfully to make men holy, and lead them, notwithstanding all trials, to persevere in holiness to the end. Proverbs 10:28 ; Proverbs 11:7 ; 1 John 3:3 .

Verse 20

The forerunner is for us entered ; he has entered into heaven itself as our high-priest, to present his own blood before the throne as the expiation for our sins; and he has entered as our forerunner also, who will in due time bring us into his Father’s presence, and present us faultless before his throne.

Made a high - priest-after the order of Melchisedec ; thus the writer returns to the theme which he had proposed, chap Hebrews 5:11 .