When it comes to humans - there is a perfect food. One that supplies more bioavailable vitamins and minerals - one that supplies ample amounts of disease fighting white blood cells, self digesting fats due the presence of the enzyme lipase, and special digestive enzymes. Consuming this substance has been shown to raise IQ levels,
doco-sa-hex’ae-no’ic acid which is a brain enhancer. It prevents obesity, and promotes healthier teeth, eyes, ears, and general well being.
This food is perfect - but when given to the wrong group it creates an iron deficiency and lacks the complex proteins and carbohydrates needed for strength and endurance.
What I’m talking about is human breast milk - it’s perfect for babies - but not for adults. Everyone knows this - but when it comes to spiritual food - too many Christians are stuck drinking from a bottle and never graduate to solid food. Because of this they are deficient, lethargic, vulnerable, and unable to endure the stresses and pressures of the Christian walk.
Conversely, you don’t sit a baby down in front of a big slab of meat and expect them to be able to eat. Baby food is best for babies, adult food is best for adults. The problem with the Hebrews is that they were still so much babies in their understanding of the basics of faith, that they couldn’t chew on or digest, understand or appreciate doctrines they needed for maturity.
The Hebrews thought that going back to the old ways of Judaism was preferable because they were suffering from persecution. Judaism provided a "safe," comfortable place. They knew what to expect with the Law, Moses, and the priestly sacrificial system. It was a mistake. But to explain this to them was hard because they simply hadn’t eaten enough of the solid food of doctrine that God has given us in His Word through the witness of Jesus Christ.
Verses 11 - 14
5:11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
You know - there really is a lot to learn about the Lord and our walk with Him. I’ve talked to people who say they’ve read the Bible, or even gone to Bible school and claim they pretty much know it - they’ve got it down.
Let me tell you - if you ever think you have arrived, you haven’t. But telling someone that is next to impossible if they are confident in their idea of what they know.
The author here says the Hebrews had become "dull of hearing." I have become a little dull of hearing myself - I don’t know if it was from SCUBA diving or from all those rock concerts I went to as a kid - but I’ve lost some of my hearing. It’s not the whole range of sound - in fact it’s in the range of human speech (200Hz to 32.kHz). When there is a lot of ambient noise around I have a hard time picking out conversation. Some of my hearing is really good - almost too good - like super high-pitched sounds drive me crazy.
We can get that way spiritually too. Sometimes we have filled our minds with so much noise - bad doctrine - that we can no longer hear the truth. Or maybe we have focused so much on our pet doctrine that we are really sensitive to that - but not to anything else.
There comes a time when we should be able to understand the basics - and move on to maturity. But it’s as if these people got stuck as baby Christians - perhaps not even Christians at all - so it’s no wonder they hadn’t progressed.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
As he’s been saying - they are missing the basic point that salvation comes by faith and trust in Jesus as the ultimate rest, the only way to move forward. They act as if they are on a diet of steak but in reality they are so infantile in their understanding that they need the easily digested basic doctrines first - just a baby needs a mother’s milk, not a big T-bone until they have matured.
And how does that immaturity come about? Through a lack of understanding of the Bible. "Unskilled in the word of righteousness." That’s another reason why here at Calvary Chapel Newberg we teach verse by verse through the word of righteousness.
In a more basic way too - they were unskilled in the word of the true gospel, thinking that going back to their roots of Judaism was a good thing.
14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. ESV
Adults use their experience and discernment to know that you can’t feed a baby a steak. The inference is that these people can’t distinguish between good doctrine and bad because they are so immature in their understanding.
So what are elementary and baby-like things? He goes into that in Chapter 6.
Chapter 6
Verses 1 - 3
6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.
The idea here is that all the things in verses 1-3 are the gospel - our works are like filthy rags to the Lord, that we are in danger of eternal judgment in hell, that we need to repent, have faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and be baptized. They were stuck there - not even understanding these elementary things.
Now this next paragraph is a difficult one to interpret - but we’ll give it a go.
Verses 4 - 12
On the surface, this section makes it sound as if once you become a Christian and fall away then you cannot be "saved" again and are destined for the fires of Hell. That’s how a lot of people have interpreted this section. There are actually four different interpretations of this section.
The four interpretations are:
1. Believers can lose their salvation
2. This refers to people who were never really Christians but seemed to be
3. This is hypothetical - if it were possible to lose your salvation (not likely given the urgency of the warning)
4. This refers to a specific kind of apostasy - rejecting Jesus as the perfect sacrifice and returning to animal sacrifices for the atonement of sin.
For my opinion - I go with option 2. I want to first remind you of a couple of things that are important for Biblical interpretation.
1. What is the context? Hebrews thinking of going back to Judaism
2. What is the analogy? Tasting food - babies trying to eat grown up food before they are ready
3. What is the picture being painted? Rebellious Israelites who rejected God and didn’t enter the Promised Land but "fell" in the desert.
4. What do other Scriptures say in this regard? (more on that in a minute)
4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
The interpretation that believers can lose their salvation says that being "enlightened" means the light of life has shined into their hearts, Jesus - that they have "tasted" the gift of salvation, and have the "Holy Spirit", and have begun to study the "Word of God" and have the power of the Spirit ("the powers of the age to come"). They use 10:26 as further proof.
Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. ESV
We will go over that section in detail when we get there - but there is another way to say that verse: if you keep on in your unredeemed life after hearing about the gospel - what other way of salvation is left to you? None - you have only now to look forward to God’s judgment and hell.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ESV
Is God an abortionist? Having once given birth to a new creature - would He then abort that creature which would then what - revert back to the old creature again? I don’t see that anywhere else in Scripture.
John 10:27-29 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ESV
"no one" would include us, I would think.
Rom 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ESV
I think a better interpretation is that these people represented here are not really Christians. They are what might be called "make believers."
Hebrews 10 uses the term "knowledge of the truth" which can very easily refer to someone who has been told the truth. Once you know the gospel if you refuse it there is no other sacrifice for sins available to you.
So I think here in Chapter 6 - verses 4-6 could also refer this way - especially given the flow of the book, the arguments the author is making and the pictures he is using. Remember Ch 3:1? 1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. They have not reached the rest of salvation - they are not believers.
"Enlightened" could be the same as "knowledge of the truth (in Ch 10)." "Tasted the heavenly gift" could be getting a taste of what it’s like to be redeemed by hanging out with the redeemed community. "Shared in the Holy Spirit" likewise - seeing the work of the Holy Spirit in others. "Tasted the Word …" they heard the words of life - and what God has promised for the coming age.
So if "fall away" means they reject the gospel by going back to Judaism - then it is showing contempt for Jesus - as if crucifying Him all over again because the first death wasn’t enough or correct. This falls into line with the picture of the Israelites at the edge of the Promised Land rejecting God’s promise, rebelling in unbelief, then "falling" or dieing in the wilderness.
It is also consistent with the analogy he is using - "tasting the heavenly gift" goes along with babies trying to eat adult food - they are choking on it because they have not yet fully accepted the milk of the basic doctrine of salvation by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It’s like they are trying to take Psych 304 and they really need to be in the Freshman Seminar!
So - we could be talking about three kinds of people - the ignorant person on the outside of the church, the fleshly person on the inside who is a Christian but doesn’t act like it, and the person who thinks they are a Christian, but really isn’t.
Are there examples in Scripture of these - yes.
Judas Iscariot was very near to Jesus Christ - he would have "tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come" yet he was never a believer and died outside of Christ.
Then there’s Paul’s discussion of someone who tries to build their lives in the Lord through the efforts of the flesh:
1 Corinthians 3:14-15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. ESV
Then there is Thomas in John 20. Thomas was an unbeliever. Jesus appeared to him and said "stop unbelieving" and Thomas then said "my Lord and my God."
Jesus said in Revelation 3:16 that he would rather us be hot or cold - but luke warm will be spit out of His mouth. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 calls is "vain" faith.
The key here is whether the person has put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We can’t necessarily know that - that’s why this warning is very appropriate for everyone.
What matters - as he says in verses 7 and 8 - is what nature you are.
7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
The Word of the gospel falls on us all - but the fruit from those who reject it is "thorns and thistles." The crop of those who believe is "useful." It is useless to go back to the old ways - that way is the way of cursing and death - because no one can obtain righteousness from following the Law (Galatians 2:16).
Am I dogmatic on this? No. I’m just giving you my best take based on what other Scriptures say and what I think is the best context of this passage. Now the author gives some hope:
9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things - things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
"We are hoping that you will accept salvation." He then uses an analogy - "if you are zealous for good works - then have the same zeal to gain assurance of your salvation by coming to faith in Jesus as the only way to heaven."
Conclusions -
What’s your best meal, meat or milk?
Are you a Prodigal Son?
Sometimes Christians make wrong choices - and even doubt themselves as Christians. That is not an entirely bad thing - but does it mean they are no longer sons? Sometimes sons (and daughters) walk away from the family for a long time - but God is diligent about pulling on their heart until they return.
Jesus forgives all sin - but it requires that we repent.
Matt 12:31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ESV
Our salvation depends on our relationship to Jesus - whether we have one or not.
Matt 7:23 And then will I declare to them, ’I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ ESV
To come to know Him you must turn away from your old self to get a new one.
Acts 2:38-39 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." ESV
You can live a life in Christ and sin, but it’s not a good life
Gal 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ESV
Are you a make-believer?
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Don’t play church - believe in Jesus.
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