This week we continue in Hebrews starting in verse nine. This is the only   time in this letter that Paul addresses the people as beloved and it comes after a stern warning in verses 4-8. We all have heard of or perhaps experienced “tough love”. It is far better to speak the truth than being hurt by not doing so. It is even more important to love so strongly that you take a risk to protect those things and people you love. We need to note here that the writer is not speaking to a mass or even grouping them together, he is in his love for them expressing a desire that as individuals they hear the truth. The writer sees them as individuals of worth and worthy of God’s love.  There is a message here that applies to all of us. There are times the fire burns low, we began to fall away. Maybe the church services aren’t speaking to us, we are not receptive to the Sunday school teachings and maybe the music does not speak to us, in such times we have two alternatives. We can give up our worship and service and risk being lost and without hope, or the other alternative is to continue on in our service and faith because christian values and habits will return the joy to us once more.

Here we find something wonderful and important to the faith. Paul tells us to imitate those who have passed this way before us, noting that their faith and patience enabled them to inherit the blessings and rewards of faith. Scripture tells us of others and the results of such behavior of those,“before you and they have won.” We, you and I are to be an example to others. They are not treading a path where no others have been, they and we are treading a path where saints have tread. These next verses 13-20 concern the promise God made to Abraham. God made many promises to Abraham but one he made, followed by an oath is of great importance to the church today. From the DBS we find this: “the promise was to the Christian Church, for the Church was the true Israel and the true seed of Abraham.”  Just as Abraham never wavered from his hope and trust in God’s promises, we also must be of patient and trust in God. The writer of Hebrews lays out a path of hope and presents the underlying foundation that we as Christians processes the greatest hope in the world. There was a time that only certain people could pass that veil into the presence of God, but because of what Jesus did God became assessable to all who called upon the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.

This brings us to the end of chapter six and ends on a reference to the high priest Melchizedek. In the future we will look at Melchizedek in an expanded study. Next we move on to other things, join us here in the Pew as we continue to share a layman’s view of the Scripture. Hope to see you here next week.

Life is Good

jk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the Pew, open your bibles to Hebrews 6:4, we start our study with these next few verses. Some have the opinion that these verses, (4-8) should be considered as one of  the most terrible passages in scripture. Who can possibly say that another person is beyond the forgiveness of God? That is one of the challenges of the verses we will read through this week. We will add a new word to our layman’s vocabulary, apostate, look at the word enlightened from a New Testament perspective and read words of warning that are surrounded by hope.

There is a pattern here familiar to Hebrews: a stern warning vv. 4-8, followed by words of encouragement and hope, vv. 9-12. One commentary notes an unusual point in that in the preceding unit vv. 1-3 there are words of encouragement. This produces the effect of a warning surrounded by positive and affirming words, which in this context makes vv. 4-8 stand out even more. To add to the difficulty of these verses they are not to taken as a description of the current condition of those to whom this is being addressed; if it were, these people would not be able any longer to hear it. The intention is that would be their fate should they turn their backs on the faith.

We must not let the word impossible become the center of the message being given here. There is an alternative here to not let the enlightenment of baptism be taken from us by the sins of the world. There is a list of good things that this enlightenment brings to a Christian life. Christians have the free gift of the forgiveness of God, they have the Holy Spirit, whose presence and power will guide and enable them to be good stewards of the Gift. In God’s word they have found the truth and meaning of life. They remind us that Christians are having the opportunity to experience now the blessings of living in a faith centered world, they have been given a foretaste of the joys of eternity. Then, without warning comes the warning … there are those who will reject all this and in times of hardship, they will become Apostates, those who rejected the faith and will find it impossible to renew their repentance. These verses lay upon the heart the unbelievable possibility that those who have fallen away, can never find their way back to God’s all forgiving love. Many of the commentaries I have read about these verses try to find a way around this word impossible. Erasmus, a Dutch reformer preferred the sense that it should be taken as being difficult almost to the point of impossibility. Then we have the writing of the German scholar Johannes Bengel, that what might seem impossible for us was possible for God’s mercy and grace. Bible and scripture study always leads us to the footprints of history left by those who walked in the day. It is an historical fact that this was written in an age of persecution and therefore apostasy would be the supreme sin. There is another thought that is disturbing also here in these verses. Throughout all history and in times of persecution people have always denied or turned away from something to save their lives, even to the point of denying Christ. To bring this a little closer to home, how many times have we denied or let slide our Christian values and faith because of relationships in family, job or just those around us? Could we as has been suggested, counted our lives and comfort dearer to us than Jesus Christ?

These verses are perhaps a condemnation of those who love life more than they do Christ. Most all writings concerning these verses agree that they were not intended to be built up into a doctrine that professes no forgiveness for post-baptismal sin. It should make us aware of the serious nature and intent of baptism, an enlightenment that says we choose loyalty to Christ over those things of this world. These first few verses presents an impossibility, There are three others in this letter to the Hebrews. Next week we will read through verses 9-12. It is impossible for God not to love, forgive and have mercy on you…. But without faith it is impossible to believe.

Come back next week,

Life is Good

jk

We pick up this week in Hebrews 6 1:1-3. People were coming to the church from all different directions. There were those that believed in one of the many deities of the day, some who had no religious affiliation of any kind and baptism was the means of reception into the Church and confession of faith. There was a book of instruction written about AD 100 called Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. It contained instructions about living a Christian faith and Christian life. This is written about baptism, I am inserting those written remarks here. 

‘Concerning Baptism, baptize in this way. When you have instructed the candidate in all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in running water. If you do not have running water, baptize in any other kind of water. If you cannot baptize in cold water, baptize in warm. If both of these are unobtainable, pour water three times upon the head of the candidate in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Before baptism, let him who is to baptize and him who is to be baptized fast, and let any others who can do so do the same. You must bid him who is to be baptized to fast for two or three days before the ceremony.’

Using this early writing we see that baptism in the early church, if possible, was by immersion. It shows that there was a period of instruction and indicates that those who wished to become part of the church have been instructed in the way of Christian faith and life. It also sets forth alternatives should total immersion not be possible. There is a period of personal preparation that is to be considered. There is another interesting thing here. In the early days of the church no one, in the words of one commentary “ no one slipped into the Church without knowing what they were doing.”  In some ways I think we don’t communicate the importance and the responsibilities of living a Christian faith and life and the fact that it is a bit more than just church membership. You must now go on to build a stronger life based on your faith in Christ. As we noted last week you must go on to perfection, having a firm foundation never look back, press on in the faith. Another point of interest was the practice of the laying on of hands and in the early church it always accompanied the baptism as the way the Holy Spirit was conveyed to those just baptized. Christianity has always dealt with immortality and righteous living, thus there is the resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, a reason to live a Christ like life. You could say that as a Christian your life from the day you accepted Christ has been one of Christian judgement. Christian judgement will never let us forget that the day will come that we at the end of this life must face God. The judgement of God is far more important than what other people think of us.

Next week we will move on to verses 4-8 in Hebrews 6. Please read these verses and prayerfully consider their meaning. See you in the Pew next week.

Life is Good

jk

We start the new year off with Chapter 6 of Hebrews and a reminder that we have a responsibility as people of the Faith to grow and learn that which we are charged by our Lord and Savior to do. There must be progress in the Christian life. Just as a builder lays a good foundation, he moves on to other aspects of the build to ensure its completion. The word used by the writer of Hebrews translates from the Greek to perfection.

‘Philo. … 50 CE), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo used philosophical allegory to harmonize Jewish scripture, mainly the Torah, with Greek philosophy.’  (*1)

Philo divided his students into three groups. There were those just beginning, those who were making progress and those beginning to reach maturity. This is often referred to as going on to perfection. We must not allow ourselves to be mislead by this use of the word perfection. We know or should be aware of the fact that we will never reach perfection in this life. Most commentaries agree that what the writer is more concerned with here is the aspect of maturity, giving us two things to consider.

-He equates it to something to do with the mind. As we grow older we should have by this time thought out some things in life and be better able to articulate our faith in Jesus and why we believe he is the Son of God. We should have a deeper understanding of the importance and significance of the Christian faith and living as a disciple of Christ.

-He means it has something to do with life. Our lives should reflect Christ more and more as we seek to remove the spiritual faults and striving for a more virtuous life. There should be in our lives a spiritual peace that can be seen by those around us. We must continue to build upon the foundation of faith and share that faith with a maturity gained in reflective study of God’s word.

We are only into the first three verses of this chapter and the intensity of the writer can be experienced in the words he puts to the paper. There are some basic teachings of the early Church revealed in these verses. The repentance of sins is a major event in the early christian life. Putting aside those things that separate us from Christ, a literal change to how we live life. There is a faith that looks to God. Our actions are determined not by the actions of others but by the will of God as  given by the discernment of the Holy Spirit. Then there is the teachings about washings. Simply put, Christians must know what baptism really means. I am going to stop here and pick up next week with some things about baptism that are extremely interesting concerning the many different methods employed in the Christian church today. We will look at the biblical explanation of this very important step on our journey to perfection. Please join us in the Pew next week.

Life is Good

jk

Sources .   (*1) Wikipedia      DBS/Barclay