Thia passage has brought difficulty for many expositors. Wild interpretations have spawned different theological debates based upon this single passage. For instance, due to this passage, there are some who think that genuine believers can lose their salvation. The problem here is that there are multiple attestations to the fact that a genuine believer cannot lose salvation. Others, think that this warning is merely a loss of rewards. THe problem there is that the true reward for the Christian is not the crowns that so many wrongly assume we will receive as the the real reward is Christ. He is our reward of righteousness, He is our reward of life, He is all of the rewards that we will ever receive. The crowns in Rev 4:10 that are cast before the feet of the throne are the 24 elders…not us. And no, the 24 elders are not a combination of the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles…they are who they are…the 24 elders. Also, if our rewards COULD be lost, why would the author of this letter warn in such harsh language? He does not say, “If you continue in your ways, then you will lose rewards”….rather he says that apostasy is unforgivable. Therefore, we have to throw that view out. We are left with the hypothetical warning…and that one just does not have any teeth. Verses 9-12 are not a sure and certain indication of their non-apostateness, but it is more of a hope. If all know that salvation cannot be lost, then what good is it to pretend, with a warning, that it can be? The warning then falls flat. Although, I do agree with Tom Schreiner that some warnings are the means of grace that God uses to move His elect and spurn them on toward repentance…but not in this case.
So, what are we left with? How about remembering that we cannot Christianize these 5 phrases. How about remembering that this list was familiar to the Hebrews….not to modern day Christians. Thus, as with the rest of the letter, one MUST move to the OT to understand what they already knew. ALso, since the author does not reintroduce the “they” in this passage, he must have already introduced them….which he has. He is referring directly to the Exodus generation. Yes, since he feels that he must recover some ground before continuing on with Christ in the High Priestly line of Melchizedek, he has to go over some things again. And that ground is another comparison with the Exodus generation that did not make it to the promised land and will never receive God’s REST. Why did they not enter into God’s rest…because they had been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, partook of the Holy Spirit, tasted of the goodness of the Word of God, the powers of the age to come and they still did not believe. Their punishment for breaking the covenant with God…see Deut 29:23-ff. Now, compare Neh 9:12-21 with Hebrews 6 and see if you cannot find the precise and exact list. Now, doesn’t that make the passage much more understandable? We do not have to dream anything up, we do not have to play with our theology, but we can rest, not on our own understanding, but rather, we can rest in God’s declared Word. Of course the author of Hebrews is going to stay in the OT, that is the premise for his entire argument…Christ is the fulfillment and is better that all things OT. Any thoughts?
