Hebrews 6:1-3

[complete]

'Therefore -
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation
.. of repentance from dead works,
..... and of faith toward God,
...... of the doctrine of baptisms,
........ and of laying on of hands,
.......... and of resurrection of the dead,
............ and of eternal judgment.
And this will we do,
if God permit.'
(Heb 6:1-3)

Hello there,

Am I correct in thinking that this list of doctrines which the writer is saying the Hebrew believers were to 'leave' and 'not lay (-ing) again', were themselves 'foundational', and, 'the principles of the doctrine of Christ'?

Looking at them, the list includes:-
a) Repentance
b) Faith
c) Baptisms
d) Laying on of hands
e) Resurrection
f) judgment everlasting

'Repentance' and 'Faith' are internal and doctrinal.
'Baptisms' and 'Laying on of hands' are external.
'Resurrection' and 'Judgment everlasting' are future.

* Looking at the majority of threads which occupy the forums I have visited, these categories, in various forms, are what occupy the subject matter of most threads in the Bible study sections. Does this mean that the majority of believers attending are content to remain babes, do they not want to go on unto 'perfection' or full growth?

* Each of these subjects require careful consideration, and cannot be dismissed until an understanding of them is firmly established: and it would seem that 'going on,' is subject to God's permission for the believers to whom this epistle was originally sent (v.3): and If you read on, in Hebrews 6, you will understand why?

* Does anyone have anything to say concerning this passage of Scripture?

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris

 

[Butch5]

'Therefore -
leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection;
not laying again the foundation
.. of repentance from dead works,
..... and of faith toward God,
...... of the doctrine of baptisms,
........ and of laying on of hands,
.......... and of resurrection of the dead,
............ and of eternal judgment.
And this will we do,
if God permit.'
(Heb 6:1-3)

Hello there,

Am I correct in thinking that this list of doctrines which the writer is saying the Hebrew believers were to 'leave' and 'not lay (-ing) again', were themselves 'foundational', and, 'the principles of the doctrine of Christ'?

Looking at them, the list includes:-
a) Repentance
b) Faith
c) Baptisms
d) Laying on of hands
e) Resurrection
f) judgment everlasting

'Repentance' and 'Faith' are internal and doctrinal.
'Baptisms' and 'Laying on of hands' are external.
'Resurrection' and 'Judgment everlasting' are future.

* Looking at the majority of threads which occupy the forums I have visited, these categories, in various forms, are what occupy the subject matter of most threads in the Bible study sections. Does this mean that the majority of believers attending are content to remain babes, do they not want to go on unto 'perfection' or full growth?

* Each of these subjects require careful consideration, and cannot be dismissed until an understanding of them is firmly established: and it would seem that 'going on,' is subject to God's permission for the believers to whom this epistle was originally sent (v.3): and If you read on, in Hebrews 6, you will understand why?

* Does anyone have anything to say concerning this passage of Scripture?

Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris

Hi Chris, I think you pretty much nailed it. He is chastising them for not moving on in the Faith. These Hebrews had been raised under the Law, so their natural inclination would be to follow the same in the New Covenant. Paul admonishes them to move on in the faith and grow to a complete man. He does the same in Ephesians. I believe that today the vast majority are babes in Christ. Not so much of desire to stay there but rather from the conflating of the Godpel with non Biblical ideas. These have caused many to hold unbiblical doctrines. Thus, they don't grow in the Faith. There is so much error in Christianity today that it takes a lot of time to root through all of erroneous teaching to get back to what is real. We've had almost 2000 years of people putting their twist on the Scriptures. People giving their own interpretations of Scriotures.

What happens is people change something a little here and a little there and it goes unnoticed or unchallenged and over many years these small change become big changes. A lot of people reject the idea when I say that what is taught as Christianity today is not what was taught originally. That's because they believe what they were taught and many simply assume that millions of people couldn't all be wrong. So they conclude that what is believed today is Christianity. However, all one needs to do is to do a very elementary study of early church history to see that that is not the case. Much of what is accepted as Christianity today was considered heresy in the early Church and was vehemently opposed. The main tennets of Calvinisn were vehemently opposed and refuted by the earliest Christians. Today many Christians see no problem with serving in the military or as law enforcement, yet the earliest Christians would have no part in either. Actually, if one joined the military they were excommunicated from the Church. To them, turn the other cheek wasn't a figure of speech. It was literal. They wouldn't even defend their own lives with force. Their thinking was along this line. They were Christians and knew their destiny. Obviously if someone was trying to kill them that person was not a Christian. They deemed it better to die, and let the criminal live giving him further opportunity to come to Christ at some point than to kill that person and end any chance of him coming to Christ.

The earliest Christians also believed in the doctrine of the "Two Kingdoms". They literally believed there were two kingdoms. They were a part of God's kingdom, not the kingdoms of the world. As such they would not participate in worldly things. They didn't participate in politics. They didn't serve in political office. They avoided the theaters, etc. Tell a modern Christian, as a Christian he can't go to the movies, and watch his reaction. The earliest Christians were so drastically different than the world around them that one of the Roman writers called them enemies of the human race.

Does that sound like the majority of Christians today? I don't think so. It's been my experience that apart from going to church you can't really tell the Christians from the non Christians.

To sum it up, those early Christians were much more focused and on target than we are today. And yet, here is Paul telling them to move on from the basics. If they needed to move on, how much more so do we Christians today need to move on toward maturity?