Paidion,Paidion wrote:I was wondering, John, how you interpret the following passage:
(Heb 6:4-8 ESV)
I understand that Hebrews is addressed to Jewish converts to Christianity. It seems as though they are in danger of turning back to their old ways of following Judaism. The writer of Hebrews spends the first two chapters showing them that Jesus is greater than the angels. Then he shows that Jesus is greater than Moses. He then starts to go into a teaching about the high priesthood of Jesus where he relates Jesus to Melchizedek. At this point, the writer seems to go into a lengthy aside from the main body of his letter to them.
I see this parenthetical section starting at Hebrews 5:11 and concluding at the end of chapter six. He indicates that he would like to explain how Jesus relates to Melchizedek but finds that they are dull of hearing, making it hard to explain to them. The teaching of the high priesthood of Jesus continues in chapter seven.
In between, he explains to them how they have not progressed beyond the basics of the Christian faith (6:1-3).
The portion from 6:4 – 8 seems to be a stern warning to these people to not fall away from the faith and the difficulty that would be faced in restoring one to repentance after falling away. This would be consistent with the idea that these Hebrew readers were indeed struggling with the idea that Jesus and the new covenant are greater than Moses and the law and with the fact that they have not progressed well in their new faith, but remain as mere babes, drinking the milk instead of eating the strong meat of the word. As such, they would be in danger of falling away from a relationship with God that is based on a saving faith in Jesus.
I could go into more detail, but would like to avoid a more lengthy post for the sake of other readers. If this doesn’t explain my position well enough, I would be happy to answer more questions.
John