Hebrews 6 commentary

HEBREWS 6 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary
teachings about Christ and be taken forward to
maturity, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from acts that lead to death,[a] and of
faith in God,
BAR ES, "Therefore - “Since, as was stated in the previous chapter, you ought to
be capable of comprehending the higher doctrines of religion; since those doctrines are
adapted to those who have been for a considerable time professors of Christianity, and
have had opportunities of growing in knowledge and grace - as much as strong meat is
for those of mature years - leave now the elements of Christian doctrine, and go on to
understand its higher mysteries.” The idea is, that to those who had so long been
acquainted with the way of salvation, the elements of Christianity were no more adapted
than milk was for grown persons.
Leaving - Dismissing; intermitting; passing by the consideration of with a view to
advance to something higher. The apostle refers to his discussion of the subject, and also
to their condition. He wished to go on to the contemplation of higher doctrines, and he
desired that they should no longer linger around the mere elements. “Let us advance to a
higher state of knowledge than the mere elements of the subject.” On the sense of the
word “leaving,” or quitting with a view to engage in something else, see Mat_4:20, Mat_
4:22; Mat_5:24.
The principles - Margin: “The word of the beginning of Christ.” Tyndale renders it:
“let us leave the doctrine pertaining to the beginning of a Christian man.” Coverdale, “let
us leave the doctrine pertaining to the beginning of a Christian life.” On the word
“principles” see the note on Heb_5:12. The Greek there, indeed, is not the same as in this
place, but the idea is evidently the same. The reference is to what he regarded as the very
elements of the Christian doctrine; and the meaning is, “let us no longer linger here. We
should go on to higher attainments. We should wholly understand the system. We
should discuss and receive its great principles. You have been long enough converted to
have understood these; but you linger among the very elementary truths of religion. But
you cannot remain here. You must either advance or recede; and if you do not go
forward, you will go back into entire apostasy, when it will be impossible to be renewed.”
The apostle here, therefore, does not refer to his discussion of the points under
consideration as the main thing, but to their state as one of danger; and in writing to
them he was not content to discuss the elements of religion as being alone suited to their
condition, but would have them make higher attainments, and advance to the more
elevated principles of the gospel.

Of the doctrine - Literally, “the word” - λόγον logon - “reason, or doctrine of the
beginning of Christ.” That is, the word or reason that pertains to the elements of his
system; the first principles of Christian doctrine.
Of Christ - Which pertain to the Messiah. Either what he taught, or what is taught of
him and his religion. Most probably it is the latter - what pertains to the Messiah, or to
the Christian revelation. The idea is, that there is a set of truths which may be regarded
as lying at the foundation of Christian doctrine, and those truths they had embraced, but
had not advanced beyond them.
Let us go on - Let us advance to a higher state of knowledge and holiness. The
reference is alike to his discussion of the subject, and to their advancement in piety and
in knowledge. He would not linger around these elements in the discussion, nor would
he have them linger at the threshold of the Christian doctrines.
Unto perfection - compare the notes on Heb_2:10. The word here is used,
evidently, to denote an advanced state of Christian knowledge and piety; or the more
elevated Christian doctrines, and the holier living to which it was their duty to attain. It
does not refer solely to the intention of the apostle to discuss the more elevated doctrines
of Christianity, but to” such an advance as would secure them from the danger of
apostasy.” If it should be said, however, that the word “perfection” is to be understood in
the most absolute and unqualified sense, as denoting entire freedom from sin, it may be
remarked:
(1) That this does not prove that they ever attained to it, nor should this be adduced as
a text to show that such an attainment is ever made. To exhort a man to do a thing
- however reasonable - is no proof in itself that it is ever done.
(2) It is proper to exhort Christians to aim at entire perfection. Even if none have ever
reached that point on earth, that fact does not make it any the less desirable or
proper to aim at it.
(3) There is much in making an honest attempt to be perfectly holy, even though we
should not attain to it in this life. No man accomplishes much who does not aim
high.
Not laying again the foundation - Not laying down - as one does a foundation for
an edifice. The idea is, that they were not to begin and build all this over again. They
were not to make it necessary to lay down again the very cornerstones, and the
foundations of the edifice, but since these were laid already, they were to go on and build
the superstructure and complete the edifice.
Of repentance from dead works - From works that cause death or condemnation;
or that have no vitality or life. The reference may be either to those actions which were
sinful in their nature, or to those which related to the forms of religion, where there was
no spiritual life. This was the character of much of the religion of the Jews; and
conversion to the true religion consisted greatly in repentance for having relied on those
heartless and hollow forms. It is possible that the apostle referred mainly to these, as he
was writing to those who had been Hebrews. When formalists are converted, one of the
first and the main exercises of their minds in conversion, consists in deep and genuine
sorrow for their dependence on those forms. Religion is life; and irreligion is a state of
spiritual death, (compare the notes on Eph_2:1), whether it be in open transgression, or
in false and hollow forms of religion. The apostle has here stated what is the first
element of the Christian religion. It consists in genuine sorrow for sin, and a purpose to
turn from it; see the note on Mat_3:2.
And of faith toward God - see the note on Mar_16:16. This is the second element in

the Christian system. Faith is everywhere required in order to salvation, but it is usually
faith “in the Lord Jesus” that is spoken of; see Act_20:21. Here, however, faith “in God”
is particularly referred to. But there is no essential difference. It is faith in God in regard
to his existence and perfections, and to his plan of saving people. It includes, therefore,
faith in his message and messenger, and thus embraces the plan of salvation by the
Redeemer. There is but one God - “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” and he
who believes in the true God believes in him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the Author
of the plan of redemption, and the Saviour of lost people. No one can believe “in the true
God” who does not believe in the Saviour; compare Joh_5:23; Joh_17:3. He who
supposes that he confides “in any other” God than the Author of the Christian religion,
worships a being of the imagination as really as though he bowed down to a block of
wood or stone. If Christianity is true, there is no such God as the infidel professes to
believe in, any more than the God of the Brahmin has an existence. To believe “in God,”
therefore, is to believe in him as he “actually exists” - as the true God - the Author of the
great plan of salvation by the Redeemer. It is needless to attempt to show that faith in
the true God is essential to salvation. How can he be saved who has no “confidence” in
the God that made him?
CLARKE, "Therefore - Because ye have been so indolent, slow of heart, and have
still so many advantages.
Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ - Ceasing to continue in the
state of babes, who must be fed with milk - with the lowest doctrines of the Gospel, when
ye should be capable of understanding the highest.
Let us go on unto perfection - Let us never rest till we are adult Christians - till we
are saved from all sin, and are filled with the spirit and power of Christ.
The words τον της αρχης· του Χριστου λογον might be translated, The discourse of the
beginning of Christ, as in the margin; that is, the account of his incarnation, and the
different types and ceremonies in the law by which his advent, nature, office, and
miracles were pointed out. The whole law of Moses pointed out Christ, as may be seen at
large in my comment on the Pentateuch; and therefore the words of the apostle may be
understood thus: Leave the law, and come to the Gospel. Cease from Moses, and come to
the Messiah.
Let us go on unto perfection. - The original is very emphatic: Επι την τελειοτητα
φερωµεθα· Let us be carried on to this perfection. God is ever ready by the power of his
Spirit, to carry us forward to every degree of light, life, and love, necessary to prepare us
for an eternal weight of glory. There can be little difficulty in attaining the end of our
faith, the salvation of our souls from all sin, if God carry us forward to it; and this he will
do if we submit to be saved in his own way, and on his own terms. Many make a violent
outcry against the doctrine of perfection, i.e. against the heart being cleansed from all sin
in this life, and filled with love to God and man, because they judge it to be impossible!
Is it too much to say of these that they know neither the Scripture nor the power of God?
Surely the Scripture promises the thing; and the power of God can carry us on to the
possession of it.
Laying again the foundation of repentance - The phrase νεκρα εργα, dead
works, occurs but once more in the sacred writings, and that is in Heb_9:14 of this
epistle; and in both places it seems to signify such works as deserve death - works of

those who were dead in trespasses, and dead in sins; and dead by sentence of the law,
because they had by these works broken the law. Repentance may be properly called the
foundation of the work of God in the soul of man, because by it we forsake sin, and turn
to God to find mercy.
Faith toward God - Is also a foundation, or fundamental principle, without which it
is impossible to please God, and without which we cannot be saved. By repentance we
feel the need of God’s mercy, by faith we find that mercy.
But it is very likely that the apostle refers here to the Levitical law, which, in its painful
observances, and awful denunciations of Divine wrath against every breach of that law,
was well calculated to produce repentance, and make it a grievous and bitter thing to sin
against God. And as to faith in God, that was essentially necessary, in order to see the
end of the commandment; for without faith in him who was to come, all that repentance
was unavailable, and all ritual observances without profit.
GILL, "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,.... The
Gospel is the doctrine of Christ, and is so called, because Christ, as God, is the author of
it; as Mediator, he received it from his Father; as man, he was the preacher of it; and he
is also the sum and substance of it: the principles of this doctrine are either the easier
parts of the Gospel, called milk in the latter part of the preceding chapter; which are not
to be left with dislike and contempt, nor so as to be forgotten, nor so as not to be
recurred to at proper times; but so as not to abide in and stick here, without going
further: or rather the ceremonies of the law, which were the elements of the Jews'
religion, and the beginning, as the word may be here rendered, of the doctrine of Christ;
which were shadowy and typical of Christ, and taught the Jews the truths of the Gospel
concerning Christ: in these the believing Jews were very desirous of sticking, and of
abiding by them, and of continuing them in the Gospel church; whereas they were to be
left, since they had had their use, and had answered what they were designed for, and
were now abolished by Christ.
Let us go on to perfection: in a comparative sense, to a more perfect knowledge of
things, which the clear revelation and ministry of the Gospel lead unto; and which the
rites and ceremonies, types and figures of the law, never could:
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works; the Syriac
version reads this by way of interrogation, "do ye lay again, &c." and makes the third
verse to be an answer to it: the phrase, "not laying again the foundation", is to be read in
connection, not only with this article of repentance, but with each of the other five
articles, the foundation of which is no more to be laid again than this: and not laying it
again, either means not teaching it, and so refers to the apostle, and other ministers of
the word, who should not insist upon the following things, at least not stick there, but go
on to deliver things more sublime and grand; or not hearing it, and so refers to the
Hebrews, who should seek after a more perfect knowledge of evangelic truths than the
following articles exhibited to them: and the several parts of this foundation, which; are
not to be laid again ministerially, by preachers, or attended to by hearers, design either
the first things, with which the Gospel dispensation was ushered in; or rather, and which
I take to be the true sense, the general principles and practices of the Jews under the
former dispensation; for these are not the six principles of the Christian religion, as they
are commonly called, but so many articles of the Jewish creed; some of which were
peculiar to the Jews, and others common to them, with us Christians: thus,

repentance from dead works, does not intend evangelical repentance, the doctrine
of which is to be ministerially laid, and the grace itself to be exercised over and over
again; but a repentance which arose from, and was signified by the sacrifices of slain
beasts; for by them the Jews were taught the doctrine of repentance, as well as remission
of sin; and in and over them did they confess their iniquities; yea, every beast that was
slain for sacrifice carried in it a conviction of sin, an acknowledgment of guilt; and it was
tacitly owning, that they, for whom the creature was slain, deserved to be treated as that
was, and die as that did. So the Jews (f) say,
"when a man sacrifices a beast, he thinks in his own heart, I am rather a beast than this;
for I am he that hath sinned, and for the sin which I have committed I bring this; and it
is more fitting that the man should be sacrificed rather than the beast; and so it appears
that, ‫יחרט‬ ‫הוא‬ ‫קרבנו‬ ‫ידי‬ ‫,על‬ "by the means of his offering he repents".''
But now, under the Gospel dispensation, believing Jews, as these were to whom the
apostle writes, were not to learn the doctrine of repentance from slain beasts, or to
signify it in this way; since repentance and remission of sins were preached most clearly
to them in the name of Christ: nor were they to lay again another part of this foundation,
or a second article of the Jewish creed,
and of faith towards God; which article is expressed in language agreeable to the
Jewish dispensation; whereas evangelical faith is usually called the faith of Christ, or
faith in Christ, or towards our Lord Jesus Christ; but this respects faith in God, as the
God of Israel: hence says our Lord to his disciples, who were all Jews, "ye believe in
God": ye have been taught, and used to believe in God, as the God of Israel; "believe also
in me", as his Son and the Messiah, and the Mediator between God and man, Joh_14:1,
so that now they were not only to have faith towards God, as the God of Israel, and to
teach and receive that doctrine; but to have faith in Christ as the Saviour of lost sinners,
without the intermediate use of sacrifices.
HE RY, "We have here the apostle's advice to the Hebrews - that they would grow
up from a state of childhood to the fullness of the stature of the new man in Christ. He
declares his readiness to assist them all he could in their spiritual progress; and, for their
greater encouragement, he puts himself with them: Let us go on. Here observe, In order
to their growth, Christians must leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ. How must
they leave them? They must not lose them, they must not despise them, they must not
forget them. They must lay them up in their hearts, and lay them as the foundation of all
their profession and expectation; but they must not rest and stay in them, they must not
be always laying the foundation, they must go on, and build upon it. There must be a
superstructure; for the foundation is laid on purpose to support the building. Here it
may be enquired, Why did the apostle resolve to set strong meat before the Hebrews,
when he knew they were but babes? Answer. 1. Though some of them were but weak, yet
others of them had gained more strength; and they must be provided for suitably. And,
as those who are grown Christians must be willing to hear the plainest truths preached
for the sake of the weak, so the weak must be willing to hear the more difficult and
mysterious truths preached for the sake of those who are strong. 2. He hoped they would
be growing in their spiritual strength and stature, and so be able to digest stronger meat.
I. The apostle mentions several foundation-principles, which must be well laid at first,
and then built upon; neither his time nor theirs must be spent in laying these

foundations over and over again. These foundations are six: -
1. Repentance from dead works, that is, conversion and regeneration, repentance from
a spiritually dead state and course; as if he had said, “Beware of destroying the life of
grace in your souls; your minds were changed by conversion, and so were your lives.
Take care that you return not to sin again, for then you must have the foundation to lay
again; there must be a second conversion a repenting not only of, but fRom. dead
works.” Observe here, (1.) The sins of persons unconverted are dead works; they proceed
from persons spiritually dead, and they tend to death eternal. (2.) Repentance for dead
works, if it be right, is repentance from dead works, a universal change of heart and life.
(3.) Repentance for and from dead works is a foundation-principle, which must not be
laid again, though we must renew our repentance daily.
2. Faith towards God, a firm belief of the existence of God, of his nature, attributes, and
perfections, the trinity of persons in the unity of essence, the whole mind and will of God
as revealed in his word, particularly what relates to the Lord Jesus Christ. We must by
faith acquaint ourselves with these things; we must assent to them, we must approve of
them, and apply all to ourselves with suitable affections and actions. Observe, (1.)
Repentance from dead works, and faith towards God, are connected, and always go
together; they are inseparable twins, the one cannot live without the other. (2.) Both of
these are foundation-principles, which should be once well laid, but never pulled up, so
as to need to be laid over again; we must not relapse into infidelity.
JAMISO , "Heb_6:1-14. Warning against retrograding, which soon leads to
apostasy; Encouragement to steadfastness from God’s faithfulness to His Word and
Oath.
Therefore — Wherefore: seeing that ye ought not now to be still “babes” (Heb_5:11-
14).
leaving — getting further forward than the elementary “principles.” “As in building a
house one must never leave the foundation: yet to be always laboring in ‘laying the
foundation’ would be ridiculous” [Calvin].
the principles of the doctrine — Greek, “the word of the beginning,” that is, the
discussion of the “first principles of Christianity (Heb_5:12).
let us go on — Greek, “let us be borne forward,” or “bear ourselves forward”;
implying active exertion: press on. Paul, in teaching, here classifies himself with the
Hebrew readers, or (as they ought to be) learners, and says, Let us together press
forward.
perfection — the matured knowledge of those who are “of full age” (Heb_5:14) in
Christian attainments.
foundation of — that is, consisting in “repentance.”
repentance from dead works — namely, not springing from the vital principle of
faith and love toward God, and so counted, like their doer, dead before God. This
repentance from dead works is therefore paired with “faith toward God.” The three
pairs of truths enumerated are designedly such as JEWISH believers might in some
degree have known from the Old Testament, but had been taught more clearly when they
became Christians. This accounts for the omission of distinct specification of some
essential first principle of Christian truth. Hence, too, he mentions “faith toward God,”
and not explicitly faith toward Christ (though of course included). Repentance and faith
were the first principles taught under the Gospel.

CALVI , "1.Therefore, leaving, etc. To his reproof he joins this exhortation, — that
leaving first principles they were to PROCEED forward to the goal. For by the
word of beginning he understands the first rudiments, taught to the ignorant when
received into the Church. ow, he bids them to leave these rudiments, not that the
faithful are ever to forget them, but that they are not to remain in them; and this
idea appears more clear from what follows, the comparison of a foundation; for in
building a house we must never leave the foundation; and yet to be always engaged
in laying it, would be ridiculous. For as the foundation is laid for the sake of what is
built on it, he who is occupied in laying it and proceeds not to the superstruction,
wearies himself with foolish and useless labor. In SHORT, as the builder must begin
with the foundation, so must he go on with his work that the house may be built.
Similar is the case as to Christianity; we have the first principles as the foundation,
but the higher doctrine ought immediately to follow which is to complete the
building. They then act most unreasonably who remain in the first elements, for
they propose to themselves no end, as though a builder spent all his labor on the
foundation, and neglected to build up the house. So then he would have our faith to
be at first so founded as afterwards to rise upwards, until by daily progress it be at
length completed. (95)
Of repentance from dead works, etc. He here refers to a catechism commonly used.
It is hence a probable conjecture that this Epistle was written, not immediately after
the promulgation of the Gospel, but when they had some kind of polity established
in the Churches; such as this, that the catechumen made a confession of his faith
before he was admitted to baptism. And there were certain primary points on which
the pastor questioned the catechumen, as it appears from the various testimonies of
the fathers; there was an examination had especially on the creed called the
Apostles’ Creed. This was the first entrance, as it were, into the church to those who
were adults and enlisted under Christ, as they were before alienated from faith in
him. This custom the Apostle mentions, because there was a short time fixed for
catechumens, during which they were taught the doctrine of religion, as a master
instructs his children in the alphabet, in order that he may afterwards advance them
to higher things.
But let us examine what he says. He mentions repentance and faith, which include
the fullness of the Gospel; for what else does Christ command his Apostles to
preach, but repentance and faith? When, therefore, Paul wished to show that he had
faithfully performed his duty, he alleged his care and assiduity in teaching these two
things. It seems then (as it may be said) unreasonable that the Apostle should bid
repentance and faith to be omitted, when we ought to make progress in both
through the whole course of our life. But when he adds, from dead works, he
intimates that he speaks of first repentance; for though every sin is a dead work,
either as it leads to death, or as it proceeds from the spiritual death of the soul; yet
the faithful, already born again of the Spirit of God, cannot be said properly to
repent from dead works. Regeneration is not I DEED made perfect in them; but
because of the seed of new life which is in them, however small it may be, this at

least may be said of them that they cannot be deemed dead before God. The Apostle
then does not include in general the whole of repentance, the practice of which
ought to continue to the end; but he refers only to the BEGI I G of repentance,
when they who were lately and for the first time consecrated to the faith,
commenced a new life. So also the word, faith, means that brief summary of godly
doctrine, commonly called the Articles of Faith.
To these are added, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. These are
some of the highest mysteries of celestial wisdom; nay, the very end of all religion,
which we ought to bear in mind through the whole course of our life. But as the very
same truth is taught in one way to the ignorant, and in another way to those who
have made some proficiency, the Apostle seems here to refer to the common mode of
questioning, “ thou believe the resurrection of the dead? Dost thou believe eternal
life?” These things were suitable to children, and that only once; therefore to turn
back to them again was nothing else but to retrograde.
S L JOH SO , " Last week I mentioned that this is the prime passage of the Arminians
and the cardinal passage of all who believe that it possible to be saved and then lost. This
group includes the Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans, the Church of Christ, and the
Romans Catholic Church and others.
I once heard an evangelists say, "a Methodist knows he has got religion but he is afraid he
may lose it. A Presbyterian knows he can't lose it, but he’s afraid he hasn't got it. " There
is a lot of truth in these two attitudes towards the New Testament.
Philip Mauro, “Since the Epistle to the Hebrews has to do solely with the experiences of
a redeemed people, it follows that certain passages (Heb. 6:4-6 and 10:26-31) which are
sometimes taken as indicating the eternal condemnation of the persons to whom they
refer, cannot have that significance. That the people of God can bring upon themselves
great suffering and loss is clearly set forth in many Scriptures. But it is equally clear that
they cannot themselves be lost. In Hebrews we learn what may befall the sheep in the
wilderness; and it must not be forgotten that the Good Shepherd has Himself declared
concerning them, “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish” (Jn. 10:28).
How could those perish for whom He laid down His Life, and for whom He now
intercedes in resurrection life and power? That could not be; but there is, on the other
hand, the gravest danger that they may, through perversity, disobedience, unbelief, sloth,
or neglect, incur serious loss. It is on this account that the Holy Spirit so earnestly urges
them “to-day,” and so long as it is called “to-day,” to hear His Voice, Who now speaks
from Heaven, in order that, when the crucial hour arrives, that may not befall them, which
befell God’s people of old, who, when the opportunity came for entering into the
possesssion of the promised inheritance, hardened their heart to His Word, provoked His
indignation, and so could not enter in because of unbelief. Those whom God has
redeemed from the bondage of sin and the fear of death can never be lost. Their security
rests upon the finished work accomplished by Christ upon the Cross; and what He has
accomplished stands for ever. But beyond any question there is the possibility that they
may fall after the same example of disobedience, and so may fail to inherit “the blessing.”

And in view of that possibility we are here most solemnly warned that such as draw back
from entering into the reward promised to patience and obedience, cannot be renewed
again unto repentance, that is to say, they cannot be permitted, upon change of mind
(which is the meaning of “repentance”), to enter into that blessing from which they
willfully turned away.
We are prone to slight the warnings of Scripture, and are all too ready to assign them to
others than ourselves-to “the Jewish remnant” for example. Let us be on our guard
against the deceitfulness of our own hearts, as well as against the deceivableness of sin.
We cannot afford to neglect the warnings of Scripture; and there is no room for doubt as
to those for whom the warnings of Hebrews are intended. They are, beyond question, for
those who have been redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ. They are for those on
whose behalf He is gone into Heaven, and for whom now He intercedes. If we apply to
ourselves such passages as “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that has passed
into the Heavens” (Heb. 4:14), we must also of necessity accept the application of the
words that occur in the immediate context, “Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest,
lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (lit., disobedience). It is impossible
to read the warnings contained in this Epistle without perceiving that tremendous
consequences hinge upon the attention given to them.
It being clear then, that the redeemed people of God may fail to obtain “the
promise,” and to secure to themselves “the recompense of the reward,” it becomes a
matter of highest importance for them to give their most earnest and intelligent heed to
the warnings which God, in His faithfulness and kindness, has vouchsafed them; and also
to avail themselves of the provision which His grace extends to meet their need and to
help their infirmities.
The Theology of Hebrews
The Church after Paul saw slow but steady progress. By the last quarter of the first century AD the
Church had made inroads into every major city of the Roman Empire. But something else was
happening at the same time; people were growing impatient. You see, Jesus had said "And he said
to them, "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that
the kingdom of God has come with power" (Mk 9:1).
No matter how this verse in interpreted today, when Jesus spoke these words they understood him
literally. Thus, when the earliest believers began to die the Church began to wonder if the coming
was not imminent. Some of them, quite frankly, gave up hope that He would ever come again.
Many of those who grew disenchanted with Christianity were Jews who had converted in the hope
that the Messiah would quickly return and establish his earthly kingdom. When he did not, they
began to leave the Church, evidently in droves.
The Letter to the Hebrews is written to these Jewish Christians in order to encourage them to
remain faithful to Jesus, "for it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once
been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have
tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen
away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to
contempt" (Hebrews 6).
These believers must hold fast to the faith; for there is no other way by which they can be saved.
So the writer of Hebrews makes every effort to prove that Jesus is superior to anything that
Judaism has to offer. He is better than the angels, Moses, the law, the Prophets, or anything else.
The central idea of the letter is that Jesus is the ultimate gift and the ultimate giver; that is, he is

simultaneously the high priest and the sacrificial victim! Because of his sacrifice the believer can
know God and will become a part of God's rule. But they must beware that it is not their faith that is
the foundation of this kingdom! NO, it is God's gift that is the ground of their faith! This is made
quite clear when the author stresses the death and exaltation of Jesus as he does. Faith in him is
the goal of their lives as well as the ground of their faith. If they forget this, then they will fall away
from Him.
Higher than Moses and higher than the angels, Jesus remains forever the greatest gift which God
has ever given humankind. Cf. 2:17-18; 4:14-16; 5:5-10; 6:20; 7:24-28; 9:11-14; 24-28; 10:12-
14; 19-21. Since he is the gift and the giver, his followers must give ear to him; they must listen to
him or they will hear nothing! So it is neither the law nor an angel they must adhere to- they must
listen to the voice of the priest who gave himself for them.
As these things are said by our anonymous writer standing at our imaginary lectern, the crowd
begins to disperse. From this point onward in the New Testament the voices we hear are not quite
so well heeded as Paul or John. Yet what he has to say is very important; and we should chide our
neighbors for leaving before they hear them out!
COFFMAN, "FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES;
PRESSING ON UNTO PERFECTION;
EXHORTATIONS TO FAITH AND PATIENCE;
THE HOPE THAT IS SET BEFORE US
Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto
perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God, of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of the
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:1-2)
Leaving ... the first principles is not enjoined in the sense of departing from those
fundamental things, but in the sense of progressing beyond them, the overwhelming
importance of the things mentioned being inherent in the fact of their being called "first
principles" and "a foundation." Through use of a pronoun "us," the writer identifies
himself with his readers, as more emphatically in Hebrews 6:3 following; and from this it
should not be presumed that the inspired author of this epistle was himself deficient in the
manner of his readers, nor that he, like them, was guilty of serious fault of omission. Just
why a similar identification of the author with his readers in Hebrews 2:3 should be
hailed as proof that the author was denying his own apostleship has never been explained.
See under "authorship" in the introduction for note on this, also under Hebrews 2:3. What
the writer surely did here, he may have done in Hebrews 2:3; and the basis of dogmatic
affirmations to the contrary, far from being evident, appears forced and unnatural.
The "perfection" in this place refers to a more extensive and thorough knowledge of
Christian principles, as contrasted with the mere acquaintance with the basic
fundamentals. The goal of all Christian endeavor is absolute perfection, even as God is
perfect, for Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect"
(Matthew 5:48). Unattainable in the ultimate sense, perfection is nevertheless the goal of
Christians. All should strive toward it.

THE SIX FUNDAMENTALS
Ironically, ours is an age that has indeed "gone on" to a very fanciful and indefinite kind
of perfection so-called, categorically forsaking and denying the very principles outlined
here as fundamental. For the generation that first received this letter to the Hebrews, a
further stress of the fundamentals was not needed; but for this age, the opposite is true.
Fundamental truth of the most basic nature is openly denied or presumptuously ignored
by an age that seems to feel that it has outgrown such elementary things as these; and,
therefore, we may be thankful indeed for the inspired outline of things which actually
constitute fundamental Christian doctrine. Some study will be given to this extremely
interesting list of the foundation principles of the Christian religion:
repentance from dead works,
faith toward God,
the teaching of baptisms,
the laying on of hands,
the resurrection of the dead,
the eternal judgment.SIZE>
There are two categories here, first the plan of salvation, as it has been called, including
faith, repentance and baptism, and pertaining largely to alien individuals, and secondly,
certain doctrines that concern all people collectively. Some make a triple division,
grouping the three successive pairs to represent man's personal relations, his social
relations, and his connection with the unseen world.[1]
Objection to the view that the primary steps of Christian obedience, faith, repentance and
baptism, are intended here springs from two things: (1) the order of their being mentioned
(repentance first), and (2) the mention of plural baptisms. We shall note each of these.
The order of faith and repentance in the steps of obedience does not depend on any word
list, even of the apostles, for it is impossible for them to be reversed. No unbeliever in the
history of the world ever repented; and the mention of repentance first in this sequence
cannot possibly imply any priority of its appearance in the sinner's heart. The scriptures
supply another example of clearly related actions being mentioned out of their natural
sequence. Peter said of the crucifixion of Christ that it was he "whom they slew and
hanged on a tree" (Acts 5:30), thus reversing the chronological sequence.
The use of the plural "baptisms" doubtless sprang from the fact that no less than seven
baptisms are mentioned in the New Testament, these being: (1) the baptism of the Holy
Spirit (Matthew 3:11); (2) the baptism of fire (Matthew 3:11); (3) the baptism of John
(Matthew 3:16); (4) the baptism unto Moses (1 Corinthians 10:2); (5) the baptism of
suffering (Luke 15:30); (6) the baptism for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29); and (7) the
baptism of the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The seventh of these is beyond
question the "one" baptism of Ephesians 4:5; and the knowledge of these things was most

certainly part of the elementary things that one had to know in order to become a
Christian. Able scholars have rejected this view, Bruce, for example, insisting that
"baptisms" in this place has no reference whatever to that Christian ordinance that stands
at the gateway of the church; but in matters of this kind, one must be on guard against the
natural bias that flows from the theological position of the commentator. Just how anyone
can rule out Christian baptism as being included in "baptisms," especially when it stands
in a list of fundamental Christian doctrines, must ever appear as a mystery indeed.
Westcott, an incomparable MASTER OF the Greek text, allows the obvious meaning of
the word to stand, stating that
The plural and peculiar form (of the term "baptisms") seems to be used to include
Christian baptism with other lustral rites. The "teaching" would naturally be directed to
show their essential difference.[2]
Repentance from dead works. Repentance is basic to salvation, on the part of both aliens
and Christians, being a constant duty of all who would enter into life. It is an invariable
condition of forgiveness of any sin whatsoever (Luke 13:3). "From dead works" is a
reference to the class of deeds from which the conscience requires to be cleansed, as
evidenced by the same description of them in Hebrews 9:14. All works are dead, in the
sense intended here, except the ones motivated by faith and love of God. The works of
human righteousness, the works of the flesh, the works of mortal achievement, and even
the works of the Law of Moses, must all be included in the "dead works" mentioned here.
And faith toward God. Faith as a fundamental is affirmed not only here but in Hebrews
11:6, and throughout the New Testament (Mark 16:15,16). It is rather strange that faith
which has been elevated to a super-status by most of Protestantism should be revealed
here among the simplicities, a rudimentary, fundamental, basic thing, which one is
admonished to leave and go on unto perfection! What a contrast is between this and the
view of the creeds which make it the "sole" basis of salvation. Nevertheless, it would be
difficult indeed to overstress the importance of faith, without which no man can please
God. It is a "sine qua non" of redemption.
And the teaching of baptisms. This was noted above, but a few more thoughts are in
order. Plainly, baptism is made to be in this verse a part of the fundamental teaching of
Christianity; and therefore, it simply cannot be that baptism is in any sense an optional,
non-essential, elective, or superficial duty; but it is a genuine obligation, as should already
have been expected from the proclamation of it on so many solemn occasions as a
commandment to be heeded by all people. See the accounts of the great commission in
Matthew 28:18ff and Mark 16:15ff, and also the first sermon of the gospel age (Acts
2:38ff). As regards faith and baptism, the theology of the Protestant era has exaggerated
faith and diminished baptism; but in the index of Christian fundamentals, one finds them
securely embedded side by side in the foundation of the Christian theology. Seeing then
that the Holy Spirit has made them to be among the coordinates, it must be sinful indeed
to disturb the place that either of them has in God's marvelous system of salvation. Let
those who hail baptism as non-essential, or some superfluous accessory of the true faith,
behold here its proper place in the foundation.
Baptism is the burial in water of a believing, penitent candidate, and the raising up again

to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12); only those who believe and
repent can receive Christian baptism. The purpose of baptism is to bring the believer into
Christ (Galatians 3:27; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 6:3). The necessity of baptism lies
in the mandate of Christ who commanded all people of all nations of all times to receive
it and submit to it (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15,16; Acts 2:38ff). The responsibility
for being baptized rests upon every individual ever born into the world. Peter commanded
his hearers to "repent and have yourselves baptized."[3] Baptism is a precondition of
forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16); it corresponds to the marriage ceremony as applied
to Christ and his bride, the church (Ephesians 5:25-27); it is the initiatory rite by which
one is admitted to the church which is the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Although
the scriptures declare that we are saved by baptism (1 Peter 3:21), it is not baptism alone
that saves. Baptism without faith, or without repentance, or without the newness of life
following, is no baptism. Baptism is "for" the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), and for the
purpose of being saved (Mark 16:15,16); and it is to be administered in the sacred name
"of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:18-20). Therefore, let
every man ask himself if this sacred and holy commandment has anything to do with him!
The laying on of hands would seem at first glance to be misplaced in this list, but not at
all. Absolutely essential to an understanding of the limitation upon the appearance in the
early history of the church of truly inspired men who could do miracles and speak with
divine authority in the church is the knowledge of the fact that such abilities came to
those men through the laying on of the apostles' hands (Acts 8:18), and from no other
source whatsoever. Out of such knowledge flow epic deductions which are of the utmost
consequence to Christianity. The cessation of miracles and of directly-inspired teachers,
and the closing up of the sacred canon of the New Testament, and such information as
refutes the notion of any so-called apostolic succession - all these and many other truths
of a most crucial kind are directly dependent upon just one little fact, namely, that it was
through laying on of "the apostles' hands" that those wonderful gifts came to the church,
and that that power was not hereditary, or transferable, by any other means whatever.
Plenary power of a kind like that delegated to an ambassador is never transferable, but
every new holder of it must be commissioned at the original source. Even the sorcerer
understood this basic point (Acts 8:18ff); and the possession of that information by such a
person as Simon, after such a brief contact with the faith, proves both the fundamental or
elementary nature of the doctrine, and its basic simplicity as well. It was in view of that
knowledge that Simon tried to buy the gift, not from Philip who had baptized him and
who also had the power, and who was personally known to Simon, but from Peter, an
apostle!
The resurrection of the dead is another fundamental sadly shunted aside in the
materialistic age through which people are passing. This old fundamental doctrine should
be hauled out of the cellar and presented anew to the secular and unbelieving society! An
apostle once said, "If in this life only we have hope, we are of all men most pitiable" (1
Corinthians 15:19). The whole teaching of Christ was founded squarely on the premise of
a resurrection of the bad and good alike, indeed of all people. He said,
Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his
voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and

they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28,29).
Christianity's most successful missionary, the apostle Paul, never failed to stress this
doctrine. On land or on sea, at home or abroad, in villages or in great cities, his message
was always and constantly that of the resurrection of the dead. The importance of this
fundamental teaching to the onward sweep of Christianity in the early centuries was
marked by Gibbon in his epic history of the decline and fall of the ancient Roman empire.
He wrote,
Our curiosity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained
so remarkable a victory over the established religions of earth. To this inquiry an obvious
but satisfactory answer may be returned; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of
the doctrine itself, and to the ruling providence of its great Author.
Gibbon then went on to list the factors which he called "the five following causes" which
favored the rapid spread of Christianity; and the second on the list is "the doctrine of a
future life, improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and
efficacy to that important truth."[4] Without the doctrine of the resurrection, the whole
fabric of Christian thought dissolves into emptiness and worthlessness. No marvel then
that it is listed as fundamental.
And of eternal judgment. This doctrine too, in these days, is more honored by its neglect
than by its faithful proclamation. The whole concept of an eternal judgment, alas, has
dropped out of the theological firmament, and from its rightful emphasis by gospel
preachers. And why? Is not this also a part of the fundamental sub-structure of
Christianity? Of course it is. The doctrine of the eternal judgment is taught in the Old
Testament (Daniel 12:2); but it is in the New Testament that the magnificent scope and
importance of it most vividly appear. Christ plainly stated that all nations would appear
simultaneously before him in judgment, that he should sit upon the throne of God and
separate the wicked from the righteous as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats
(Matthew 25:31ff). He taught that all nations would appear simultaneously with that
current generation in judgment, and that the citizens of Nineveh (Matthew 12:41) and the
queen of the south (Matthew 12:42), separated by centuries of time, would appear in
judgment with the contemporaries of Jesus. Efforts to spiritualize the resurrection and
judgment (the two go together) by making "our age" the judgment day, or "the day of
death" the judgment, or "every day" to be judgment day, or such things as "historical
rejections of prior social wrongs" to be the judgment mentioned in scripture is nonsense.
All such devices utterly fail in the light of the concise and dramatic statements in the
word of God, one of them in this epistle. "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after
this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). And as for the delusion that the second coming of
Christ, accompanied by the general resurrection and final judgment, will all be realized in
some vague spiritual sense such as a glorious era of world peace, social justice, and
universal felicity among people, forget it. To be sure, all people would delightfully hail
such a "judgment day" and such a coming of Christ; but the word of God details the
second advent of our Lord in terms of a cataclysmic event of worldwide terror and
destruction, an event that will not be, in any sense, "good news" for the great majority of
Adam's race; for the Saviour himself said that "Then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on THE CLOUDS of heaven with
power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30).

Great and terrible as the concept of eternal judgment admittedly is, the most profound
necessity for it is evident. Most of the truly difficult problems connected with the life of
faith, and with reference to the entire system of Christianity, are directly related to the
doctrine of eternal judgment. Heaven, hell, eternal punishment, eternal joy, Satan, and the
problem of evil - all these things pivot in the last analysis upon the scriptural teaching of
the judgment. All of the problems, great and small, eventually fade into insignificance
before the pressing question, "Is this universe just?" The underlying assumption of
revealed religion as set forth in both the Old Testament and the New Testament is the
concept of a just universe; and time and time again it is unequivocably declared to be just
(Psalms 45:6,7). The father of the faithful, Abraham, idiomatically inferred it when he
asked, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" (Genesis 18:25). The existence of
laws in the natural realm, the moral law within people, and the sacred revelation all alike
proclaim the justice of the universe; and if it is not so, life indeed becomes "a tale told by
an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" (Macbeth, Act V). Sanity in any true
sense turns upon the question of justice in the cosmos. If the righteousness and justice of
God do indeed establish his throne and undergird all things, then WE ARE SAFE; and
every man shall receive the reward of the deeds done in the body (2 Corinthians 5:10); if
not, then any true SECURITY of the soul is a fool's dream, and man himself is but an
infant crying in the night with no language but a cry!
But if the universe is just; if the righteous shall be rewarded and the wicked punished, AN
ETERNAL JUDGMENT IS REQUIRED, a judgment in which all inequities and
injustices shall be corrected, an eternal judgment presided over by infinite justice,
wisdom, mercy, and love - in short, the judgment revealed upon every page of the sacred
scriptures, or if not revealed, then certainly implied. The widespread neglect and apparent
disbelief of this doctrine suggests that it is true of our generation, as it was of those to
whom this epistle was first addressed, that we "have need again that someone teach us the
rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God" (Hebrews 5:12)
A foundation as applied to these six crucial teachings suggests some facts regarding
foundations. No less than four foundations of Christianity are mentioned in the New
Testament, and these are: (1) the foundation fact that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the
living God (Matthew 16:13-19; 1 Corinthians 3:11); (2) the foundation authority, namely
the sayings of Jesus Christ, called by him "these sayings of mine" (Matthew 7:24-27),
"whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:20); (3) the foundation personnel, the
apostles and prophets of the New Testament (Ephesians 2:19); and (4) the foundation
teachings as set forth in the place before us. The multiple nature of the foundation should
not be confusing, since foundations, even of almost any building, are comprised of
several different things. The eternal city that comes down from God out of heaven is said
to have twelve foundations! (Revelation 21:19).
[1] Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965), p. 143.
[2] Ibid., p. 146.

[3] Vine's Greek Dictionary (Westwood, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company,
1962), p. 97.
[4] Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(Philadelphia: H. T. Coates and Company), Vol. I, p. 508.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Foundation-stones
I.
HERE IS A STATEMENT MADE WITH REGARD TO THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF
THE RELIGION WE PROFESS. He tells where they are revealed, and what they are.
And, first, he would have his readers to understand that the principles of the doctrine of
Christ are the “first principles of the oracles of God”; he uses the two expressions
interchangeably, as if they both meant the same thing. His immediate object was to
assert that the “ doctrine of Christ,” at which the Hebrews stumbled, was in reality no
fresh revelation, but that all its rudiments had been taught in their own Mosaic
Scriptures. A deep truth was contained in the saying of the ancient Church, “There were
Christians on earth before there were Jews.” Even from Paradise to Patmos, “the
principles of the doctrine of Christ” have been taught with increasing gradations of
development, as “the first principles of the oracles of God”—old, as well as new. This
being established, Paul proceeds to enumerate these principles; and he appears to state
them miscellaneously, without reference to their natural station or logical order.
1. And, first, “Repentance from dead works.” Dead works are works performed by
one whose life is separated from the life of God. Thus separated, men may have the
quality of manliness, but not of godliness; towards one another there may be melting
love, heroic daring, unbending justice, most magnificent generosity; but whatever
they may be with regard to men, with regard to God they are dead. Alienated from
His life, even good works are dead works; dead while they live; dead as the dead
leaves on the dead bough, parted from its parent stem. It is the doctrine of a merely
human religion, that while we should repent of our evil works, we should trust in our
righteous works for heaven. But it is the doctrine of Christ that we should repent of
all the works wrought while our souls were dead in sin; and when we feel the
quickening thrills of a new life, this repentance will take place.
2. But, secondly, turning from sin implies turning to God. We shall have no
disposition to renounce our dead works until, united to the living God by faith, we
are partakers of His life. Faith towards God, therefore, is another elementary
principle of the oracles. To have “faith towards God “ is to feel able to say, “I think, I
will, I speak, I act as I do, because I have faith towards God”; it is to feel His Spirit
touch us, to have the most affecting sense of His society, to act as under His
inspection, to be alive to His presence as the most intense of all realities, giving the
zest to every pleasure, the light to every beauty, the soul to every scene; to trust Him
for the food, and raiment, and home, both of our mortal and immortal nature; to
make Him the confidant of every weakness, and want, and woe; to revive beneath the
sun-burst of His smile, and to mourn at the hiding of His face.
3. But we shall never bare faith towards God, or approach Him in the way that has
been just described, until our infected spirits have applied to a fountain of cleansing.
So another essential principle is “the doctrine of baptisms.” Those baptisms told not
only of sin, but of a fountain opened for sin; and we know where that precious

fountain flows. Rejoice to think that it is a fountain, and not a scanty supply.
4. But the doctrine, or the true meaning of the laying on of hands, was another
principle of the doctrine of Christ. It conveyed a doctrine, and the doctrine was that
he who would be saved must, by b is own personal act and deed appropriate the work
of Him who is our Saviour by being our substitute,
5. The resurrection of the dead is another essential article of faith, and one, like the
rest, peculiar to inspired revelation. Nature does not teach it. It never dawned on the
proud thoughts of philosophy. Even those beautiful mysteries of the spring, which
are sometimes thought to teach, inferentially, the doctrine of a resurrection, convey
no teaching sufficiently defined to still the agonies of doubt or sorrow. The changes
they witness and the charms they show are revivals, not resurrections. But in the
oracles of God all the great problems that affect the destiny of man receive a full
solution, and all the questions that come from his breaking heart meet with a distinct
response. The resurrection of the dead is a “doctrine of Christ.” The Emperor
Theodosius having, on a great occasion, opened all the prisons and released his
prisoners, is reported to have said, “And now, would to God I could open all the
tombs and give life to the dead!” But there is no limit to the mighty power and royal
grace of Jesus. He opens the prisons of justice and the prisons of death with equal
and infinite ease: He redeems not the soul only, but the body. From the hour of the
“laying on of hands,” the entire man has been saved.
6. But, once more: the eternal judgment has ever been a primary article of
revelation. Though analogy, intuition, and universal opinion rosy have furnished
grounds to justify belief in it as a probable event, only the “oracles of God” could
unfold its principles, or announce its absolute certainty. This they have ever done.
He, through whose sacrifice our souls have received a “baptism”—He who has
become our substitute by “the laying on of bands,” bearing all the pressure of our
responsibility, and binding Himself to be answerable for us at the judgment-day—
will be Himself our Judge. But there are some of you who have no right to these
anticipations. You have not made provision for the great hereafter. By that
tremendous phrase, “eternal judgment,” consider your ways and be wise!
II. And now, passing from the doctrinal statement, let us give attention, to THE
PRACTICAL APPEAL.
1. “Not laying again the foundation.” The teacher, in this phrase, at once indicates
the course he intends to adopt in his own instructions, and the conduct he would
prescribe to those who study them. “Not laying again the foundation.” God will not
lay it again in His purposes; you are not to be for ever laying it again your mind and
memory; as it is settled in the heavens, so let it be settled here as new. This being
established, Paul proceeds to enumerate these principles; and he appears to state
them miscellaneously, without reference to their natural station or logical order.
1. And, first, “Repentance from dead works.” Dead works are works performed by
one whose life is separated from the life of God. Thus separated, men may have the
quality of manliness, but not of godliness; towards one another there may be melting
love, heroic daring, unbending justice, most magnificent generosity; but whatever
they may be with regard to men, with regard to God they are dead. Alienated from
His life, even good works are dead works; dead while they live; dead as the dead
leaves on the dead bough, parted from its parent stem. It is the doctrine of a merely
human religion, that while we should repent of our evil works, we should trust in our
righteous works for heaven. But it is the doctrine of Christ that we should repent of

all the works wrought while our souls were dead in sin; and when we feel the
quickening thrills of a new life, this repentance will take place.
2. But, secondly, turning from sin implies turning to God. We shall have no
disposition to renounce our dead works until, united to the living God by faith, we
are partakers of His life. Faith towards God, therefore, is another elementary
principle of the oracles. To have “faith towards God” is to feel able to say, “I think, I
will, I speak, I act as I do, because I have faith towards God”; it is to feel His Spirit
touch us, to have the most affecting sense of His society, to act as under Hits
inspection, to be alive to His presence as the most intense of all realities, giving the
zest to every pleasure, the light to every beauty, the soul to every scene; to trust Him
for the food, and raiment, and home, both of our mortal and immortal nature; to
make Him the confidant of every weakness, and want, and woe; to revive beneath the
sun-burst of His smile, and to mourn at the hiding of His face.
3. But we shall never have faith towards God, or approach Him in the way that has
been just described, until our infected spirits have applied to a fountain of cleansing.
So another essential principle is “the doctrine of baptisms.” Those baptisms told not
only of sin, but of a fountain opened for sin; and we know where that precious
fountain flows. Rejoice to think that it is a fountain, and not a scanty supply.
4. But the doctrine, or the true meaning of the laying on of hands, was another
principle of the doctrine of Christ. It conveyed a doctrine, and the doctrine was that
he who would be saved must, by his own personal act and deed appropriate the work
of Him who is our Saviour by being our substitute.
5. The resurrection of the dead is another essential article of faith, and one, like the
rest, peculiar to inspired revelation. Nature does not teach it. It never dawned on the
proud thoughts of philosophy. Even those beautiful mysteries of the spring, which
are sometimes thought to teach, inferentially, the doctrine of a resurrection, convey
no teaching sufficiently defined to still the agonies of doubt or sorrow. The changes
they witness and the charms they show are revivals, not resurrections. But in the
oracles of God all the great problems that affect the destiny of man receive a full
solution, and all the questions that come from his breaking heart meet with a distinct
response. The resurrection of the dead is a “doctrine of Christ.” The Emperor
Theodosius having, on a great occasion, opened all the prisons and released his
prisoners, is reported to have said, “And now, would to God I could open all the
tombs and give life to the dead!” But there is no limit to the mighty power and royal
grace of Jesus. He opens the prisons of justice and the prisons of death with equal
and infinite ease: He redeems not the soul only, but the body. From the hour of the
“laying on of hands,” the entire man has been saved.
6. But, once more: the eternal judgment has ever been a primary article of
revelation. Though analogy, intuition, and universal opinion rosy have furnished
grounds to justify belief in it as a probable event, only the “oracles of God” could
unfold its principles, or announce its absolute certainty. This they have ever done.
He, through whose sacrifice our souls have received a” baptism”—He who has
become our substitute by “the laying on of hands,” bearing all the pressure of our
responsibility, and binding Himself to be answerable for us at the judgment-day—
will be Himself our Judge. But there are some of you who have no right to these
anticipations. You have not made provision for the great hereafter. By that
tremendous phrase, “eternal judgment,” consider your ways and be wise!
II. And now, passing from the doctrinal statement, let us give attention, to THE

PRACTICAL APPEAL,
1. “Not laying again the foundation.” The teacher, in this phrase, at once indicates
the course he intends to adopt in his own instructions, and the conduct he would
prescribe to those who study them. “Not laying again the foundation.” God will not
lay it again in His purposes; you are not to be for ever laying it again in your mind
and memory; as it is settled in the heavens, so let it be settled here. “Not laying again
the foundation.” You are not to forget it, so as to have to learn it again; you ale not to
doubt it, so as to need to be convinced of it again; you are not to forsake it, so as to
have to return to it again. “Not laying again the foundation.” You are not to be like an
insane or unskilful builder, who excavates the foundation of his work, tears it from
its place, and takes it to pieces, being doubtful of its materials, or uncertain of its
sufficiency to sustain the superincumbent weight; and who, always engaged in
destroying the foundation, and laying it again, makes no progress with his building.
2. “Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ.” At first sight the meaning of this
clause is not obvious, and it seems to clash with those connected with it. There are
different ways of leaving an object his fathers house, never to return We may leave it
as the spendthrift son leaves we may leave it as the deserter leaves the shield which
he is “vilely east away”; we may leave it as education and refinement leave ignorance
and rusticity; but not so ale we to leave these first principles of our faith. We are to
leave them as the scholar leaves the letters of the alphabet—leaving them only to use
them; leaving them that he may bring clot all their powers, and employ them in
startling combinations, as the instrument for acquiring or diffusing thought. We are
to leave them as the plant leaves its root, when it towers into a majestic tree, leaving
it only that it may the more depend upon it; and, day by day, drawing from it those
fresh supplies of vital sap which it pours into the fresh leaves, fresh boughs, ever
fresh and ever beautiful formations of that life which refreshes the hungry with its
clusters, or the weary with its shade. We are to leave them as the builder leaves his
foundation, that he may carry up the building, stone above stone, story above story,
tower above tower, from the dusky basement to the sun-lit pinnacle; always leaving
the foundation, yet always on it, and on it with the most massive pressure, and the
most complete dependence, when most he leaves it.
3. “Let us go on unto perfection.” It is obvious that there can be no reference, in this
a word “perfection,” to the justifying work of Christ on our behalf. That is perfect
from the first moment we believe. At once we receive perfect forgiveness, and a
perfect title to the “inheritance in light.” But, although justification is complete,
sanctification has yet to be carried on. To borrow the idea of a transatlantic writer:
“A perfect title to a piece of property puts a man in possession of it just as absolutely
on the first day when it was given as twenty years after. When a man gives a flower, it
is a perfect gift; but the gift of grace is rather the gift of a flower seed.” It contains
within it all the Divine germs necessary for growth. And we are asked to cherish it,
that it may go on unto perfection, as the seed goes on to the perfection of a full-
blown flower.
4. The word employed to indicate the manner of arriving at this end is richly
significant. “Let us go on to perfection,” should rather be rendered, “Let us be carried
on.” “The word is emphatical, intimating such a kind of progress as a ship makes
when it is under sail. ‘ Let us be carried on ‘ with the full bent of our minds and
affections, with the utmost endeavours of our whole souls. We have abode long
enough by the shore; let us now hoist our sails, and launch into the deep.” Perhaps
we feel discouraged by the labour, and alarmed by the very glory of our calling. The

one may seem too much for us to exercise, and the other too great for us to hope for.
Almost despairing of our ability to go forward, we may even now be thinking of going
back. But if we are unable to go on, we are surely able to be carried on to perfection.
And the Eternal Almightiness is even now at our side. (C. Stanford, D. D.)
Leaving first principles
We must leave these first principles as the pupil leaves the alphabet when he is brought
to the process of combining letters into syllables, and syllables into words, and of words
constructing sentences, and of sentences making a discourse. We must leave them as the
architect leaves the foundation, and proceeds to erect upon it his superstructure. We
must leave them as the mathematician leaves his axioms, and proceeds to the
construction of his demonstration. To what purpose would the pupil have learned the
elements of ‘language if he should rest in them? Where the use of continuing to con them
over without proceeding any further? What benefit would result from the labour and
expense of laying the best foundation if it remain unappropriated—if no building be
reared upon it? How long might the mathematician occupy himself in ascertaining the
axioms of the science without coming at a single valuable result? And what advantage
will accrue to us, or the world, from our acquiring the mere elements of Christianity
without reducing them to practice, pushing them out to their ulterior results, and
connecting them with the higher principles of a spiritual life? (Geo. Peck, D. D.)
Passing from elementary principles
How? Not casting it for ever behind our backs: suffering it quite to slip out of our
memories. We must remember even the principles of religion to our dying day; but we
must not insist in those, and set down our staff here, but as good travellers go on
forward. As if one should say to a grammar scholar, “Leave thy grammar, and go to logic,
rhetoric, philosophy, to more profound points of learning,” his meaning is not that he
should leave his grammar quite, and never think of it any more, but that he should pass
from that to greater matters. As if one should say to a traveller going to London, that sits
eating and drinking at Colchester, “Leave Colchester, and go on to London,” so leave this
doctrine of the beginning of Christianity, leave your A B C, be not always beginners, but
proceed till ye come to some maturity. (W. Jones, D. D.)
Let us go on
Forward
I. THE NECESSITY FOR THIS EXHORTATION. Do not old habits, which Christian
earnestness should have obliterated, begin to creep into the light again? Do not sins and
temptations, which you thought you had mastered, rise up and gain power over you once
more?
II. THE MEANING OF THIS EXHORTATION. Having taken Christ, we must not merely
receive His pardon, but we must live upon Him.
III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECTING THIS EXHORTATION. If we do not
yield up all to Christ we shall easily drift away from Him. We must go forward, or we
shall fall farther away, till we sink into irremediable ruin. The awful solemnity of this

passage (Heb_6:4-6) we cannot possibly exaggerate (H Phillips, B. A.)
Progress in Divine knowledge
Progression marks all God’s works. In nature there is no perfect rest. There is change in
everything—change which partakes of the character of progress; for even that which we
regard as decay is but part of a new creative process. This universal law of progression
holds good in the realm of truth; there is a going on, a climbing higher and yet higher in
knowledge even of the divinest kind. Indeed we may say that, the more exalted the
subject, the more absolute is the necessity that knowledge should ever be progressive—
the more impossible it is that we can quickly and at once attain to the fulness of perfect
wisdom.
I. THERE ARE MANY THINGS CONNECTED WITH CHRIST AND HIS TRUTH
WHICH ARE NOT COMMUNICATED TO THE SOUL IN CONVERSION, BUT WHICH
MUST BE ACQUIRED FROM TIME TO TIME THROUGHOUT OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Great truths always come one by one. They are not discovered but by those who
diligently search for them, and they are often the product of laborious toil. The apostolic
injunction bids us do something more than” strike out blindly.” It bids us intelligently
and deliberately leave the elements of Wisdom, and “strike out” towards the perfection
of knowledge. It bids us break away, as it were, from our state of pupilage, and go on to
the fulness of the knowledge of Christ. It lifts a corner of the veil which hides from us the
infinitude of Divine wisdom, and urges us to press onward until our whole soul is filled
with His love and grace.
II. In this “ going on unto perfection “ it is desirable that we should clearly recognise the
fact that GOD IS A TEACHER WHO USES MANY BOOKS. To the observing eye and to
the teachable heart God is manifested everywhere. In complying, then, with this counsel
to the Hebrews, let us seek for the fuller revelation of spiritual truths wherever God has
written them. Let us regard the Bible, not merely as a fruitful field where we can quickly
thrust in the sickle and reap upon the surface, but also as a rich mine, in whose deep
recesses lie hidden many a costly gem, which our labour and our study, under the Divine
blessing, may bring to the light. Let us look at the letter as the case which encloses the
spirit—remembering that while “the letter killeth, it is the Spirit that giveth life.” Let us
also look for and discover truths of deep spiritual meaning in the incidents of daily
human experience.
III. It should also be duly borne in mind that ALL TRUTHS POSSESS A MUTUAL
RELATIONSHIP, and that each has its influence in the work of perfecting the Christian
character Truth is one, though it may possess many branches. Walking by a wide river,
bearing on its bosom the mightiest navies of the earth, it would be interesting to
speculate concerning the numerous rills and brooklets which, miles away, in different
counties, contributed to that expanse of water. From mountain, moor, and glen those
waters have been flowing day after day, meeting and mingling with others, ever growing
and gathering strength, until the result is that which we see at our feet So are truths
gathered from different sources, mingling their powers to influence the soul and bear it
to the ocean of perfect wisdom and eternal love.
IV. THIS PROGRESS IN DIVINE KNOWLEDGE IS SOMETHING QUITE DISTINCT
FROM CHANGEABLENESS IN DOCTRINE. To leave the principles, or first elements, of
the doctrine of Christ is not to depart from the soundness of the faith. It is to leave the
first few miles of the road behind as we press forward towards the end of our journey. It

is to leave the foundation which has been laid firmly in the ground, in order that the
building may rise higher and higher in beauty and majesty, until the topmost stone is
laid in its place. It is to lay aside the alphabet of the language that we rosy devote
ourselves to the riches of its literature, and add to our supply of knowledge from the
ample stores of learning of which that alphabet is the key.
V. PROGRESS IN DIVINE KNOWLEDGE IS ESSENTIAL TO THE FULL ENJOYMENT
OF THE PRIVILLEGES OF THE CHRIST’S LIFE. In other words, spiritual knowledge is
essential to spiritual health. Digging deep into the riches of spiritual truth, we discover
that which not only stays the anxious throbbing of the heart, but which lifts the soul
nearer and nearer to the Source of truth—to God Himself. As among men the possession
of knowledge operates for the most part so as to elevate and refine the tastes, so to drink
deeper at the stream of heavenly wisdom is to become in spirit more heavenly, and in
character more Divine. It is said of Christ, that “in Him dwelt all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily,” and that He was “the express image of the Father’s person.” What
Jesus was in an infinite degree, the Christian who is full of Divine wisdom and rich in
knowledge is also in his degree. Be, too, reflects the image of the heavenly. He, too, gives
forth rays of reflected but Divine light. The life that is in the soul of him who is going on
unto perfection is Divine in its influence as well as its nature. It is of that man the world
takes knowledge that he has been with Jesus, and that he has sat at His feet and been
taught in His school. (F. Wagstaff.)
The soul’s true progress
I. THE STARTING-PIECE.
1. Evangelical repentance.
2. Godward faith.
3. Spiritual chansing.
4. Reliance on Christ.
5. A future state.
6. Eternal retribution.
II. THE RESTING-PLACE. “Perfection.”
1. Accuracy of Divine knowledge.
2. Conformity to the Divine will, so far as known.
3. The prospects of an ever-brightening future. (Homilist.)
Ever onward
It is an interesting thing to watch an ocean ship get out from London docks. How
helpless she is! She cannot use her machinery. Her sails are furled. She is pushed
forward and backward. She is pulled along by puffing tugs. She stops to let other vessels
pass. She waits through weary hours. She moves on again. But she is hindered and
limited and retarded. But some progress is rewarding her perseverance. She is getting
more room. She begins to ply her engines. But she must go slowly. She must be cautious.
Then there is more liberty; there are fewer obstructions and fewer conditions. The liver

is wider. The city is being left behind, with its din and its sin. The fresh air revives the
sailor. He unfurls his canvas. He moves steadily on to the line where river fades into sea.
He hears the music of the surf beating upon the sand. He sees the white-caps marching
across the blue prairies of ocean. And at last the gallant ship, emancipated, seems to
stretch herself and expand herself, and swell and sway and bow in ecstasy, as she speeds
her way over the billowy fields of her native heath and boundless home. Thus it is with
the soul that is escaping from the trammels of the flesh, and the limitations and the
conditions imposed upon it by the world. How slow its progress is at first! How it is
pushed forward and falls backward! How crippled is the soul’s splendid machinery! How
awkward its movements! Its sails are furled. It must submit to be helped by things
smaller than itself—by trivial rules and puerile helps. It stops; it waits. It stands to for
obstructions. But it moves on. It makes a little progress. The channel is getting wider.
The shores of earth are getting further away. There is more room, more freedom. The
engines move. The sails are thrown out. The fresh air of grace gladdens the sailor, and
tells him that the city of sin is fading in the distance. The ocean of liberty is reached at
last. The Lord takes the helm. The Spirit of God fills the sails, and then, emancipated and
free, unloosed from the devil’s imprisonment, unshackled from the habits and slavery of
flesh, unlimited and unconditioned by the world’s conventionalities, the glad soul
rejoices on the bosom of God, which is the soul’s ocean, which is the soul’s home. (R.
S.Barrett.)
A “Dissatisfaction Meeting”
At Chicago Mr. Moody held a “Dissatisfaction Meeting “for pastors and their flocks who
were not satisfied with their spiritual condition. It was said to be overshadowed with the
presence of God as few assemblies have been since the day of Pentecost. (King’s
Highway.)
Perfection
On apostolic perfection
Here we may see the germ of what afterwards became at Alexandria and elsewhere the
catechetical system of the primitive Church. Wherever converts to Christianity were the
rule, it was necessary to protect the sacrament of baptism against unworthy reception by
a graduated system of preparation and teaching, each stage of which represented an
advance in moral and intellectual truth. Hence the several classes of catechumens or
hearers, who were allowed to listen to the Scriptures and to sermons in church; kneelers
who might stay and join in certain parts of the divine service; and the elected or
enlightened who were taught the Lord’s prayer, the language of the regenerate, and the
creed, the sacred trust committed to the regenerate saints. They were now on the point
of being admitted by baptism into the body of Christ. Then at last as the Τετέλεστει or the
Perfect they entered on the full privileges of believers, they learned in all their bearings
the great doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the Eucharist. They
were thus placed in possession of the truths and motives which shaped must powerfully
Christian thought and life. The Christians who are receiving elementary instruction are
termed babes. They cannot understand, much less can they utter, the discourse of
righteousness. The Christians who have received the higher instruction are perfect. They
can digest the solid food of Christian doctrine. Their spiritual senses have been trained

by habit to appreciate the distinction between the good and the evil, which in this
connection are other names for the true and the false. Therefore leaving the principles or
the first discourse about Christ, let us go or be borne on unto perfection. “Perfection.”
What does he mean by it? Certainly not here moral perfection, the attainment in general
character and conduct of conformity to the will of God, for this would be no such
contrast to the first principles of the doctrine of Christ as the sentence of itself implies.
The perfection itself must be in some sense doctrinal perfection; in other words, the
attainment of the complete or perfect truth about Christ, as distinct from its first
principles: of these first or foundation principles six are enumerated, and they are
selected it would seem for the practical reason that they were especially nee, led by
candidates for baptism: the two sides of the great inward change implied in conversion
to Christ, repentance from dead works—dead, because destitute of religious motive—and
faith resting upon God as revealed in His Son; the two roads whereby the converted soul
enters upon the privilege of full communion with Christ, the doctrine about baptism,
which distinguish-s the Christian sacrament from the mere symbols of purification
insisted upon for proselytes by the Baptist and by the law, and the laying on of hands
which we now call confirmation; and finally the two tremendous motives which from the
first cast their shadow across the light of the believer—the coming resurrection, and the
judgment, whose issues are eternal. These three pairs of truths are precisely what the
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews meant by the first principles of the doctrine of
Christ, and therefore by perfection he must have meant something beyond these truths.
He meant, no doubt, a great deal else, but specifically and in particular he meant the
doctrine of Christ’s Melchisedekian priesthood, in its majestic contrast to the temporal
and relatively inefficient priesthood of Aaron, and with its vast issues in the mediatorial
work, whether of atonement or of sanctification as carried out, the latter to the very end
of time, by the great High Priest of Christendom. Now the point on which the text insists
is the going forward from the first principles to the truths beyond. The apostolic writer
does not say, “Let us go on unto perfection.” He does say, “Let us be borne on” θερώµεθα.
He does not say, “Be courageous, be logical, push your premises well till you have
reached their conclusions.” He does say, “Let us all”—teachers and taught—“let us all
yield ourselves to the impulse of such truth as we already hold” θερώµεθα. It will carry us
on, as we try to make it really our own, it wilt lead us to fresh truths which extend, which
expand, which support it. We cannot select one bit of this organic whole, baptize it by
some such names as “primary,” or “fundamental,” and then say, “This, and this only,
shall be my creed.” If the metaphor be permitted, the truck, all of whose limbs are cut off
thus arbitrarily, will bleed to death. Where everything depends upon spiritual activity,
non progredi est regredi. They who shrink from apostolic perfection will forfeit their
hold sooner or later on apostolic first principles. Let us trace this somewhat more in
detail. We have seen what were the first principles insisted upon among the first readers
of the Epistle to the Hebrews. They belong to a disciplinary system of the Apostolical
Church. They were selected on practical rather than on theological grounds. But what
would probably be the first principles of an inquirer feeling his way upwards towards the
light, under the circumstances of our own day? What would be the truths that would
greet him on the threshold of faith, as the catechumen of our times, whom conscience
and thought are training with hope for the full inheritance of the believer? They would
be, in all probability, first, belief in a moral God. It is something, no doubt, to believe in a
Cause who is the cause of all besides Himself it is more to believe in aa Intelligence who
is the parent of all created intelligences. But religion, properly speaking, begins when
man bows down in his secret heart before One who, being boundless in power and
infinite in wisdom, is also justice, sanctity, love. And thus, perhaps, simultaneously, the

modern catechumen would be arrested by the character of Jesus Christ as it lies on the
surface of the Gospels. These, we will suppose, are the catechumen’s two first principles.
They are now beyond controversy, at least for him. They seem to be all that he needs,
and he says to himself that a simple faith like this is also a working faith. He can at least
limit, or try to limit, and leave the spheres of abstract and metaphysical discussion to
those who will explore them but alter all this, a time will come when he finds that he
must go forward, if he is not to fall back. For he observes, first of all, that this world, the
scene of so much wickedness and so much suffering, is hard indeed to reconcile with the
idea of a God all-goodness and all-powerful, if, indeed, He has left, or is leaving, it to
itself. If He is all-good, He surely will unveil Himself further to His reasonable creatures.
Nay, He will do something more. His revelation will be, in some sort of sense, an
efficacious cure. Exactly proportioned to the belief in the morality of God is the felt
strength of this presumption in favour of a divine intervention of some kind, and the
modern catechumen asks himself if the Epicurean deities themselves would not do
almost as well as some moral God, who yet, in the plenitude of His power, should leave
creatures trained by Himself to think and to struggle, without the light, without the aid,
they so sorely need. This is the first observation, and the second is that the character of
Jesus Christ, if attentively studied, implies that His life cannot be supposed to fall
entirely within the limits, or under the laws, of what we call “ Nature.” Fur if anything is
certain about Him, this is certain, that He invited men to love Him, to trust Him, to obey
Him, even to death; and in terms which would be intolerable if, after all, He were merely
human. Had He been crucified and then had rotted in an undistinguished or in a
celebrated grave, the human conscience would have known what to say of Him. It would
have traced over His sepulchre the legend, “Failure.” It would have forthwith struck a
significant balance between the attractive elements of His character, and the utterly
unwarranted exaggeration of His pretensions. But, our modern catechumen’s reflections
should not end here, for the character of God, and of Jesus Christ, in the Gospels is, in
one respect, like the old Mosaic Law, which provokes a sense of guilt in man by its
revelation of what righteousness really is. The more we really know about God and His
Son, the less can we be satisfied with ourselves. It is not possible for a man whose moral
sense is not dead, to admire Jesus Christ, as if He were some exquisite creation of
human art—a painting in a gallery, or a statue in a museum of antiquities—and without
the thought. “What do His perfections say to me?” For Jesus Christ shows us what
human nature has been, what it might be, and in showing us this, He reveals us as none
other, He reveals us individually to ourselves. Of His character, we may say what St. Paul
says of the law, that “it is the schoolmaster to bring us to Himself,” for it makes us
profoundly dissatisfied with self—if anything can possibly do so—it forces us to
recognise the worthlessness and the poverty of our natural resources, it throws a true,
though it may be an unwelcome, light upon the history of our past existence, and thus it
disposes us to listen anxiously and attentively for any fresh disclosures of the Divine
mind that may be still in store for us, or already within our reach. And thus it is that the
first principles which we have been attributing to our catechumen prepare him for the
truths beyond these, that Divine goodness, those perfections of the character of Christ,
which bear the soul onwards and upwards, towards acceptance of Christ’s true Divinity,
and, as a consequence, of the atoning virtue of His death upon the Cross. These
momentous realities rest, indeed, on other bases, but they bring satisfaction, repose, and
relief to souls who have attentively considered what is involved in the truths which were
at first accepted. They proclaim that God has not left man to Himself, that God does not
despise the work of His own hands, they unfold His heart of tenderness for man, they
justify by the language which Jesus Christ used about Himself and about His claims, the
faith and the obedience of mankind, and they enable us to bear the revelation of personal

sin in which His character makes within each separate conscience that understands it,
because we now know that “ He was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” But does the advance towards
perfection stop at this point? Surely not. Where so much has been done, there is a
presumption in favour of something more, if more be needed. The Divine Christ has died
upon the Cross, the victim for the sins of men. What is He doing now? The past has been
forgiven, but has no provision been made for the future may not recovery itself be almost
a dubious boon if it be followed by an almost inevitable relapse? And thus it is that the
soul makes a further stage in its advance to perfection. The work of the Holy Spirit in
conveying to men the gift of the now humanity exhibited by the perfect Christ, and this,
mainly through the Christian sacraments, opens at this point before the believer’s eye. It
is by a sequence as natural as that from Christ’s character to His divinity and atonement,
that we pass on from His atonement to the sacramental aspect of His mediatorial work.
The new life which He gives in baptism, “As many as have been baptized into Christ,
have put on Christ”—the new life which He strengthens in the Eucharist, “He that eateth
Me, even he shall live by Me”—these great gifts are but an expansion of what is already
latent in the recognised perfection of His human character; awed the apostolic ministry,
the channel and the guarantee of their reality, is not less a part of that perfection of truth
to which intelligent faith conducts the soul. And the Christian creed has not said its last
word to the soul of man until, besides assuring his reconciliation and peace with God, it
has satisfied his desire for union with the Source of life. Who—let me say it once more—
who does not see that our Lord’s human character can only be described as perfect, if
His right to draw the attention of men in terms which befit only a superhuman person,
be frankly conceded? Who does not know that the existence of a moral God, the Maker
and Ruler of this universe, is more clearly and forcibly contested by a large class of
influential writers than any subordinate or derived truths whatever—that whatever may
have been the case in the last century, atheism is even more earnest in rejecting, in our
own day, the specific doctrines and the creed which comes from Jesus Christ? Surely,
then, it is our wisdom, as Christian believers, while the day of life lasts, to make the
most, and not the least, of such religious truths as we know. What must not He, who is
their object, think—and surely He is thinking on the subject now—what must He not
think of those many magnificent intellects which He has endowed so richly, unto which
He has granted such opportunities of exercise and development, who yet know almost as
little about Him as the children in our national schools, and who make no effort to know
more; but have studied, with eager enthusiasm, all forms of created life, all the resources
of nature, all the intricacies of the laws of human thought, while He, the Author of all,
He, who is the Infinite and the Everlasting, is, as it would seem, forgotten. It is not much
to ask of a serious Christian to endeavour to make his own, each day, some little portion
-f that knowledge which will one day seem incomparably more precious than any other.
Half an hour a day costs something in a busy life; but it will not be held to have involved
a very great sacrifice when hereafter we are face to face with the unchanging realities,
and know in very deed what is meant by perfection. (Canon Liddon.)
Christian perfection
We have two things here alluded to—progress and attainment. The progress is a walk, a
journey, a contest. The attainment is a complete state of Christian character. This is to be
our ideal at which we are to aim.
I. THE NATURE OF THE PERFECTION HERE ALLUDED TO.

1. The elements of the Christian life are not to absorb our attention and interest. The
alphabet of Christianity is all wry beautiful and necessary. If a professing Christian
were to leave off at faith, he would be but a poor Christian indeed.
2. The high-r elements of Christian virtue are to be assiduously cultivated. We know
that these are not natural to the human mind. Complete control over the evil passion
of the heart, holiness of life, restrained temper, perfect forgiveness, perfect love to
man and God, are not easy to be acquired.
II. SOME PARTICULARS OF THE STEPS TO BE TAKEN IN ATTAINING THIS
CONDITION.
1. An increase of faith.
2. An accession of light. Without more light, there is no possibility of progress.
3. An increase of knowledge.
III. NOW, TO ARRIVE AT THIS STARE OF PROGRESSION, THERE MUST BE
1. An unwearied practice of the details of Divine truth.
2. A. constant dependence on the Holy Spirit.
3. An unceasing study of the character of Christ.
4. Continuous prayer. (Preacher’s Analyst.)
On progress to perfection
Man is endowed with a capacity of intellectual, religious, moral improvement; and to
cultivate knowledge, piety, and virtue is the chief end of his being. In each stage of the
awful mysterious career of human existence every Christian may conceive his Creator
addressing him as He did an ancient patriarch, “I am the Almighty God: walk before Me,
and be thou perfect.” Progress towards perfection, it is next to be noticed, will conduce
much to our honour and our happiness. Reflect, Christians, how favourable your lot is to
improvement, compared with that of those who lived in days of pagan darkness, or at a
period less remote. On you the glorious light of revelation shines. Are you desirous to
exalt your views, to elevate your affections, to ennoble your characters? Respect and
attend the public institutions of religion, for they are powerful means of human
improvement. Further, let us make progress in virtue. Flourishing like the palm-tree,
human nature, in its career of intellectual, religious, and moral improvement, adorns the
terrestrial globe. “Sin is a reproach to any people, while righteousness exalteth a nation.”
Christians, “let us go on to perfection”; for it is highly conducive to our delight as well as
to our dignity. Does not every one feel himself happier as he grows wiser and better? A
passion for knowledge has added much indeed to the felicity of many a life spent in
security, far from the bustle of the world, and with little solicitude about literary fame.
The love of virtue is no less productive of happiness. “Blessed are they who do His
commandments.” Again, to prompt you to rise by progressive steps to higher and higher
degrees of virtue, think frequently of those venerable men who persevered in the paths
of rectitude, and have now received a crown of life. When we recollect the graces of the
faithful, let us study also to act a consistent part, and give the enemies of the gospel no
cause to remark, that though our principles may be orthodox, our conduct is wrong; that
we glow with benevolence when nothing is to be given, and are only captivated with
virtue when at a distance from temptation. Further, to animate our progress towards

perfection, let us think of them who are to succeed us in the scene of life. Will not
posterity record with delight those characters which excellence adorned? Therefore let
them never see guilt like a malignant demon, sitting in triumph over the ruins of their
fathers’ virtues. As an additional motive to comply with the exhortation which the text
contains, reflect that the spirits in glory will mark your progress with gladness and
applause. “Never did refined Athens exult more in diffusing learning and the liberal arts
through a savage world, never did generous Rome please herself more with the view of
order established by her victorious arms,” than the hosts of heaven will rejoice at the
improvement of men. Finally, I beseech, you to make progress, for behold the angel of
death is approaching to strike the blow which shall terminate your days. (T. Laurie, D.
D.)
Go on unto perfection
I. FORM A JUST NOTION OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. View it as
delineated by the inspired writers, and learn from them what the Christian ought to be.
They speak of him as the child of God; not only as “born of God,” but as “bearing the
image of his heavenly Father.” But not confining themselves to these general
representations, the inspired writers descend to enumerate the various excellences in
temper and conduct, which combine to form the character of the Christian. He is one
who has “laid aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil
speakings.” He has “put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
long-suffering”; he is filled with the fruits of the Spirit, which are “love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”
II. GUARD AGAINST LOSING ANY ATTAINMENTS YOU MAY HAVE ALREADY
MADE. Sinful habits once laid aside, and again resumed, adhere more closely than ever,
and will baffle all ordinary efforts to throw them off. If you now exercise any grace, or
practise any duty in which you were formerly deficient, let no consideration tempt you to
relinquish it.
III. TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO EXERCISE THE GRACES AND VIRTUES
WHICH YOU DO IN ANY DEGREE POSSESS. Are yon conscious of devout and
reverential feelings towards God? Cherish and strengthen these feelings by habituating
yourselves to these exercises of devotion. In your dealings with mankind are you just and
honest? Do men fail in what is their duty towards you? Let that be your opportunity of
cultivating the meek and quiet spirit, and of practising patience and gentleness towards
them.
IV. FREQUENTLY REVIEW YOUR CHARACTER, AND EXAMINE WHAT PROGRESS
YOU ARE MAKING IN THE GRACES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
1. For our aid and direction in acquiring these graces we have set before us the
character of God, the conduct of Jesus Christ, the laws and precepts of the gospel.
2. It will be of great use to compare your character as it now is with what you
recollect it formerly to have been.
V. Let all your efforts after moral improvement be made in HUMBLE DEPENDENCE
UPON GOD, ACCOMPANIED WITH PRAYER TO HIM, AND A CONSCIENTIOUS
ATTENDANCE ON THE ORDINANCES OF RELIGION. These exercises tend in the
most direct manner to cherish the pious and Divine affections of love, of gratitude, of
faith, of hope. (R. Boog, D. D.)

Hebrews 6 commentary

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Hebrews 6 commentary