"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God," Heb. 6:1
I don't understand. So does this mean that we should not lay the foundation of repentance on the faith toward God????
Comments
I think this scripture means: Do not return to evil ways. Go forward in righteousness leaving bad habits behind forever. Build a new firm foundation by following the example of Jesus Christ when he was on earth. Learn about the Holy work that he did: Baptism, laying on of hands, raising people from the dead etc.
Perfection is Christian maturity which is the result of spiritual growth. Dead works are done without God's grace and without faith. Works of the Law are dead to those who know the New Covenant. Good works are done in faith towards God.
The context of the chapter is about those people who have apostatized (those after being baptized, have rejected Christ and His Saving Work). Tertullian, the Montanists and other ancient schismatics believed there wasn't any repentance from apostasy. The Church teaches apostates may be able to repent and be brought back to the Church after a period of repentance (see Canons 8,10,14 of Ist council of Nicea). However, such "second conversions" are difficult and very rare.
Remember, the main context here is about repentance from apostacy. Thus St. Paul means being re-baptized and confessing the Faith again after 're-converting" to the Faith. It would seem to be dead works for the ex-apostate or a waste of time.
pray for me
joe
[glow=red,2,300]In the Name of the Father+ and of the Son+ and of the Holy Spirit+, the One True God. Amen.[/glow]
Perfection is Christian maturity which is the result of spiritual growth. Dead works are done without God's grace and without faith. Works of the Law are dead to those who know the New Covenant. Good works are done in faith towards God.
The context of the chapter is about those people who have apostatized (those after being baptized, have rejected Christ and His Saving Work). Tertullian, the Montanists and other ancient schismatics believed there wasn't any repentance from apostasy. The Church teaches apostates may be able to repent and be brought back to the Church after a period of repentance (see Canons 8,10,14 of Ist council of Nicea). However, such "second conversions" are difficult and very rare.
As you said, salvation isn't a one shot event after baptism. Its a lifelong journey that starts with baptism and is sustained through partaking of the Eucharist. But, if one stops these sacraments, could they be in fear of losing their salvation? What happens?
I know so many people that got baptised so that they could be saved, but unless its followed daily by bible reading, prayer, repentance and regular partaking of the Eucharist, well.. could u lose being saved?
Thanks
True, apostasy is a very real part of the context. But in this introductory verse, the apostle is not addressing apostasy.
Instead, he chastises them for not having gone on to a mature faith. He wants to move on to a deeper subject (i.e., Melchizedek), but he feels hampered by their lack of in depth knowledge. But having said so, he now simply says, "Alright, brethren, I'm not going to repeat the basics about repentance from dead works. You already know about this stuff, so I'm not going to lay out this foundational teaching again."
But before he goes on to discuss Melchizedek, he gives yet another warning to those who would make shipwreck of their faith, with the strongest statement in 6:4-6, which some suggest is a clear declaration that true apostasy can never be remedied: for it is impossible for [them] to renew themselves again to repentance, seeing they they would be crucifying Christ anew.
pray for me
joe
"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God," Heb. 6:1
I don't understand. So does this mean that we should not lay the foundation of repentance on the faith toward God????
Anba Bishoy, I really did not understand the explanations given to the verse you had trouble with.Did you? Can you enlighten me in simple words? How do we know the verse is targeted at apostates or which context clarifies that? The chapter gets even more difficult when it states "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame"
What does this mean? Sins of those already enlightened will not be forgiven, if they fall? This one is tough to grasp.
[quote author=Anba Bishoy link=topic=6769.msg90872#msg90872 date=1213635873]
"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God," Heb. 6:1
I don't understand. So does this mean that we should not lay the foundation of repentance on the faith toward God????
Anba Bishoy, I really did not understand the explanations given to the verse you had trouble with.Did you? Can you enlighten me in simple words? How do we know the verse is targeted at apostates or which context clarifies that? The chapter gets even more difficult when it states "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame"
What does this mean? Sins of those already enlightened will not be forgiven, if they fall? This one is tough to grasp.
Mozes,
I think this verse can be compared to Satan's judgement. Lucifer was exalted, an Angel of Light! Earthly Saints long to be as close to God as Lucifer was, but what did Lucifer do? he showed contempt for the heavenly gifts all Christians and Saints long for and is cast out to Hell, never to return to Heaven and be a part of it's gifts again. And that is the reward for any who choose to follow Satan's ways.
"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God," Heb. 6:1
I don't understand. So does this mean that we should not lay the foundation of repentance on the faith toward God????Anba Bishoy, I really did not understand the explanations given to the verse you had trouble with.Did you? Can you enlighten me in simple words? How do we know the verse is targeted at apostates or which context clarifies that? The chapter gets even more difficult when it states "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame"
What does this mean? Sins of those already enlightened will not be forgiven, if they fall? This one is tough to grasp.
Hello Moses::
You have asked me in another thread to share what I think these verses mean. To be honest, I am not going to add much than what was already said specially by Boricua_Orthodox , and also Shoyen ,Elsa and all others.I will only attempt to expand a bit more.
First things first: Hebrews was not written by St Paul. No body knows the writer and in the words of St Clement, 'Only God knows'. Secondly, when reading the epistles, it is always important to understand to whom the letters are being written.The receipient , the audiance or the readers must be identified,in order to understand what the writer is trying to communicate. Although Hebrews is written to all, but as the title already suggests,it is specifically addressed to the Jewish believers.As we will see,the writer had a reason to do so. Now to the verses: Christ has come, died and resurrected. In other words, Faith's foundation had been laid and the readers were to build their lives on that foundation. In order to understand this verse,a paraphrase of the passge (Heb 6:4-6) helps us grasp the point better.He writes:
[b]For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame"[/b]
This verse was already taken out of context by heretics to give it a complete different meaning.But its message is clear. The writer challenges his readers who want to go back to the old era by asking them a hypothetical question. What would you want to do? How then would you ever be restored - you who have been elightened,tasted the heavenly gift,shared in the Holy Spirit and known the power of resurrection ? Do you want to crucify Jesus all over again ( he means it literally) and thru a new scarifice be brought back to repentance? Folks,how impossible! What a disgrace that Jesus work for us was not enough. So,the warning is clear, anyone who abandons hope in Christ abandons all hope.Jesus has been crucified for us and this ultimate expression of God's love will not be repeated (Just as Baptism is only once).
Hebrews then goes on to deal with the question of how the OT and the NT relate. But why does he does so?
Hebrews was written at a time when it was tough to be a christian. In the letter ,there are sections which tell us that persecution against Christians had began.If you go towards the end of the letter, you will note that some christians had been in prison. Timoty is mentioned as one of those who had been imprisoned and released. It was a time when Nero assumed power and the situation for christians had changed considerably since the time of Paul's letter to the Romans.Nero's rule was was a time for great suffering for the church.
Now, the author had a reason to address his letter to the Jewish believers.The Jewish believers had a way of escaping from suffering that was not open to the Gentile believers.The Jewish believer could get out of trouble by going back to the synagogue. At this time,Christianity was illegal, but Judaism was still legal with Synagogue officially registered and approved. The church was an underground church just like it was in Russia and still is some parts of the Muslim world today. So the Jewish beleivers could return (apostosy) to the synagogue and so take their families out of persecution and suffering. They could even claim to be going back to the same God. But the cost of doing it or the only way for them to get back into the Jewish Synagogue was to publicly deny their faith in the risen Christ. It was a great dilemma.They have heard about Jesus and believed he was the Messiah. But having joined the church,they now found out they are being persecuted.They knew,if they took their families back to the Synagogue, they would be safe.But they would have to say infront of the synagogue :'I deny that Jesus is the Messih':.So the letter was penned to Jewish beleivers against the back ground of persecution.
The writer appeals to them, warns them. He uses every argument he can,because he fears they will lose their salvation if they go back to Judaism. Remember, that most of his arguments are taken from the OT which was the only scripture they had.So those arguments were easily accepted by the Jewish believers.The writer is drawing a sharp contrast between the OT and the NT, between Juadisim and Christianity, between the servants of God and the son of God.In Chapter 1-6, he argues that having the son of God is so many times better than having servants of God , meaning Christianity is the way to Salvation and not Judaism.
Hope this helps.
"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God," Heb. 6:1
I don't understand. So does this mean that we should not lay the foundation of repentance on the faith toward God????
The Holy Spirit, The Father and The Son.
I am getting a better understanding of this verse;
St. Paul is exhorting us to finally 'graduate' from 'elementary' school when it comes to the knowledge of God through Christ and move on to Highschool, College and University in aquiring the knowledge of God so we can be perfect in our worship and life.
As God's holy people we should not try and build holy things on an unholy foundation, eg.Do not try to build a holy marriage on watching of porn, karma sutra, heretical teachings which are not of God and are dead. Of course a holy structure should be built on a holy foundation.......on the wisdom and knowledge of God through Christ our Savior.