A Failure to Move Forward

"Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity..."(Hebrews 6:1, ESV)

One thing that stands out about this warning passage and others in Hebrews the more I read them are the similarities between what the writer is saying and the experience of Israel in the wilderness at Kadesh-Barnea (see here). The writer here in Hebrews 6 is scolding his congregation for their lack of forward progress in the faith. He then abrubptly stops and gives this solemn warning about the consequences of continuing in this state. If we look back to Numbers 14 we can see that the Israelites suffered from this exact same thing:

"Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron...'Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?' And they said to one another,'Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.'" (Numbers 14:1,3b-4)

God had promised to give them the land in his covenant with Abraham. They had also experienced countless miracles, eschatological wonders, and caring provision from the hand of God which parallels the gifts experienced by the New Covenant believer in Hebrews 6:4-5. In spite of all this they still refused to go forward, thus completely setting aside the covenant promises God had made to them. They not only rejected God, they also rejected his servant Moses and conspired to put him to the open shame of the death of a covenant breaker (parallelling putting Christ to open shame in the New Covenant). When God finally thunders from heaven in judgment on his people in Numbers 14:22-23 he says that it was for thier habitual rebellion, not for any isolated act, which helps us shed light on the statement about "falling away" in Hebrews 6:6. This falling away is not an isolated act of disobedience, or even an ongoing struggle with a certain sin, but a habitual and ongoing condition of a hard heart that despises God and his commandments and covenant promises. In fact it is a heart so hard that there is no shame, and when offered the chance of repentance it is rejected (Numbers 14:9-10). This is a dangerous condition indeed.

What the writer of Hebrews is showing here is the dangerous place that apathy, or refusing to go forward in the faith can result in. Calvin says in his commentaries that apathy can lead to indifference, and indifference to alienation, and alienation if not repented of can lead to this falling away and full rejection of Christ and his teachings in the New Covenant.

In summary, this passage is not for those who struggle with sin, which every single Christian does daily. So who is it for? I'm not sure I know the exact answer to that except to say that it's to those who are deliberately refusing to move forward in the faith for whatever reason.

So what is the author of Hebrews saying to us? "...we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Heb 6:11-12). We move forward with the full assurance of hope in God's promises, especially the promise of the forgiveness of sins!