Hebrews 6:1
Διὸ, ἀφέντες τὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ λόγον, ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα φερώμεθα, μὴ πάλιν θεμέλιον καταβαλλόμενοι μετανοίας ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων, καὶ πίστεως ἐπὶ Θεόν,
Hebrews 6:2
βαπτισμῶν διδαχὴν, ἐπιθέσεώς τε χειρῶν, ἀναστάσεώς ‹τε› νεκρῶν καὶ κρίματος αἰωνίου.
Hebrews 6:3
καὶ τοῦτο ποιήσομεν, ἐάνπερ ἐπιτρέπῃ ὁ Θεός.
Hebrews 6:4
Ἀδύνατον γὰρ τοὺς ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας, γευσαμένους τε τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς ἐπουρανίου, καὶ μετόχους γενηθέντας Πνεύματος Ἁγίου,
Hebrews 6:5
καὶ καλὸν γευσαμένους Θεοῦ ῥῆμα, δυνάμεις τε μέλλοντος αἰῶνος—
Hebrews 6:6
καὶ παραπεσόντας— πάλιν ἀνακαινίζειν εἰς μετάνοιαν, ἀνασταυροῦντας ἑαυτοῖς τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ παραδειγματίζοντας.
Hebrews 6:7
Γῆ γὰρ ἡ πιοῦσα τὸν ἐπ’ αὐτῆς ἐρχόμενον πολλάκις ὑετόν, καὶ τίκτουσα βοτάνην εὔθετον ἐκείνοις δι’ οὓς καὶ γεωργεῖται, μεταλαμβάνει εὐλογίας ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ.
Hebrews 6:8
ἐκφέρουσα δὲ ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀδόκιμος καὶ κατάρας ἐγγύς, ἧς τὸ τέλος εἰς καῦσιν.
Hebrews 6:9
Πεπείσμεθα δὲ περὶ ὑμῶν, ἀγαπητοί, τὰ κρείσσονα, καὶ ἐχόμενα σωτηρίας, εἰ καὶ οὕτως λαλοῦμεν.
Hebrews 6:10
οὐ γὰρ ἄδικος ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπιλαθέσθαι τοῦ ἔργου ὑμῶν καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης ἧς ἐνεδείξασθε εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, διακονήσαντες τοῖς ἁγίοις καὶ διακονοῦντες.
Hebrews 6:11
Ἐπιθυμοῦμεν δὲ, ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὴν αὐτὴν ἐνδείκνυσθαι, σπουδὴν, πρὸς τὴν πληροφορίαν τῆς ἐλπίδος ἄχρι τέλους,
Hebrews 6:12
ἵνα μὴ νωθροὶ γένησθε, μιμηταὶ δὲ τῶν διὰ πίστεως καὶ μακροθυμίας κληρονομούντων τὰς ἐπαγγελίας.
Hebrews 6:13
Τῷ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπαγγειλάμενος, ὁ Θεός, ἐπεὶ κατ’ οὐδενὸς εἶχεν μείζονος ὀμόσαι, ὤμοσεν καθ’ ἑαυτοῦ,
For to Abraham, God, promising, there from no one He had greater to swear, He swore from Himself.
Paraphrase: In this respect, think of Abraham. God made a promise to him, and as a help to Abraham’s faith, He swore an oath. Now Abraham would have no reason at all to doubt that God would keep His promise. In fact, when God sword this oath, there was nothing higher for Him to swear by, so He swore by His own Person.
Comments:
Hebrews 6:14
λέγων, Εἰ μὴν εὐλογῶν εὐλογήσω σε, καὶ πληθύνων πληθυνῶ σε.
saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you.”
Paraphrase: You can see this oath in Genesis 22:16-17 where God says to Abraham, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.” (Genesis 22:16-17)
Comments:
Εἰ μην introduces an oath; see p205.
Hebrews 6:15
καὶ οὕτως μακροθυμήσας, ἐπέτυχεν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας.
and in this manner, enduring, he obtained the promise.
Paraphrase: Now having received this promise from God and the oath which accompanied it, Abraham believed God and had confidence that God would do as He had spoken. In due time, Abraham’s faith was vindicated, and the promised seed was born just as God had promised him. From Isaac, would come a multitude of people as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. (Exodus 1:7)
Comments:
Hebrews 6:16
Ἄνθρωποι γὰρ κατὰ τοῦ μείζονος ὀμνύουσιν, καὶ πάσης αὐτοῖς ἀντιλογίας πέρας, εἰς βεβαίωσιν, ὁ ὅρκος,
For men from a greater, they swear and of all controversy to them an end for confirmation the oath.
Paraphrase: Now in our society, when anyone wants to swear an oath, they swear that oath by a person greater than themselves. Someone might swear by the name of the king or even by the Name of God that such and such is true. By this oath, they call on that king to punish them if they fail to speak the truth or if they fail to keep their promise. When this is done, this is the end of the dispute. We assume that anyone who makes such an oath is surely speaking the truth. Now by what will God swear? There is no one greater than Himself by which He can swear. That’s why we read in Genesis that God swore “by Himself.” (Genesis 22:16)
Comments:
Hebrews 6:17
ἐν ᾧ περισσότερον βουλόμενος ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιδεῖξαι τοῖς κληρονόμοις τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὸ ἀμετάθετον τῆς βουλῆς αὐτοῦ, ἐμεσίτευσεν ὅρκῳ,
By which the more, God resolving to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His decree, ratified by an oath.
Paraphrase: I trust you all can see how wonderful this promise was which God made to Abraham. I trust you also see just how certain that promise was of fulfillment when God ratified it by an oath. You might wonder, however, what good this is for us? How do we benefit from a promise made to a man so many years ago? Well, dear brothers and sisters, ask yourself this question; why did God ratify this promise with an oath? What was the purpose of it? Let me explain it to you. God made this oath not just for the benefit of Abraham but for the benefit of all those who are participants in Abraham’s covenant. Yes, dear brothers and sisters, we are all heirs of the promise which God made with Abraham. We too, when we place our trust in Jesus, are given the right to all the blessings which God promised him, and to strengthen our faith in His word, God adds an oath to His promise. Now we can be absolutely certain that God’s word is not yes and no or maybe. (2 Corinthians 1:19-20); His word is certain, unchanging; God never fails and will never fail to keep His word to Abraham or to any of us who are Abraham’s children. (Galatians 3:29)
Comments:
Hebrews 6:18
ἵνα διὰ δύο πραγμάτων ἀμεταθέτων, ἐν οἷς ἀδύνατον ψεύσασθαι τὸν Θεόν, ἰσχυρὰν παράκλησιν ἔχωμεν, οἱ καταφυγόντες, κρατῆσαι τῆς προκειμένης ἐλπίδος,
In order that through two unchanging realities, in which impossible for God to lie, strong encouragement we might have, who are fleeing to grasp the hope set before us.
Paraphrase: Well then, where does that leave us? It leaves us with two unchanging realities which prove to us the certainty of God’s promise. First, we have the promise itself which God, who cannot lie, gave to Abraham and in which we also are included. Second, we have God’s oath which God swore by His very own Person. Now with these two things in our hands, we have a foundation for our hope which can never be shaken. What more could God possibly give us to strengthen our faith? What more could He say or what more could He do to make it clear to us that His word will never fail? When you turn your back on your old way of life with all its sin and unbelief, you set out on a path which God Himself swears to you is the path which leads to eternal life. This is the encouragement we have to press on and to take hold of the hope that God sets before us.
Comments:
For τὸν Θεόν, see principle 23.
Hebrews 6:19
ἣν ὡς ἄγκυραν ἔχομεν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀσφαλῆ τε καὶ βεβαίαν καὶ εἰσερχομένην εἰς τὸ ἐσώτερον τοῦ καταπετάσματος,
Which as an anchor we have of the soul, unfailing and firm even entering into the interior of the curtain.
Paraphrase: This hope reminds me of an anchor. It keeps the ship of our life steady in the face of all sorts of contrary winds. It prevents us from blowing off course and making shipwreck of our lives. When I think of this anchor which God has given us, I see it stretching out and passing through the veil and into the holy of holies. Yes, this anchor is lodged in God Himself and that is the real reason it is so firm and steadfast. It’s what the Psalmist said, “God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. (Psalm 46:5)
Comments:
Westcott (p165): The stability of hope is twofold. It is undisturbed by outward influences (ἀσφαλής), and it is firm in its inherent character (βεβαία).
Hebrews 6:20
ὅπου πρόδρομος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εἰσῆλθεν, Ἰησοῦς, κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ, ἀρχιερεὺς γενόμενος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
Where the forerunner for us has entered, Jesus, from the line of Melchizedek, a priest being into the age.
Paraphrase: Behind this veil and into the Holy of Holies, Jesus our Forerunner has gone. He has come into God’s presence in order to bring His people to God cleansed from sin and prepared for glory. This is His work as a priest. He is a priest, not from Levi, but from Melchizedek; and therefore, He is an eternal priest.
Comments: