Heb 6:1-3 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit.
The phrase "leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ" does not mean to set aside, or to leave it and have nothing to do with it. No, the Scripture doesn't mean it that way. What it is saying is that we should move on forward from there. Indeed we would be making no progress if all we did was to repeatedly lay down the foundations and not build above it. But we must not neglect the foundations. Rather we must establish them firmly. And indeed we will not be able to move forward until we are fully established into them. As the Scripture in 2John points out:
2Jn 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
Hebrews chapter 6 enumerates for us the six foundational priciples of the doctrine of Christ. And they are:
1. Repentance from dead works
2. Faith toward God
3. Baptisms
4. Laying on of hands
5. Resurrection of the dead
6. Eternal judgment
Indeed these principles are very basic. Any person with a sound mind will be well able to understand them.
1. Repentance from dead works simply means repentance from works that produce death. It simply means repentance from sin. Sin is a general term that refers to those evil and wicked things that men do. Transgressions against persons and against God. And so a primary principle in the doctrine of Christ is that men should repent from them. All men know that it is wrong to do them. Even a criminal knows that what he is doing is wrong. So everyone is capable of repentance. But we still keep doing them. The Law was given to Israel. And God just basically itemized in writing these things that we should avoid. But Israel (and us also) are never really able to keep them. But our relationship with God is re-established through repentance. Below is a passage in the book of Kings that illustrates clearly what repentance is. Repentance is a decision that one has to make. But sadly, we normally need to be pushed to the end before we can come to our senses and realize that.
1Ki 8:44-53 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name: (45) Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. (46) If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; (47) Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; (48) And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: (49) Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, (50) And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: (51) For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: (52) That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. (53) For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.
2. Faith toward God means taking God for His word. God doesn't need to prove Himself. There is no one like Him. There is no one more powerful than Him or even equal to Him. We, as His creations are subject to Him. And for some reason, God doesn't reveal the totality of His power to us but instead He gives us His word. And we must take Him for it. Faith pleases God. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness.
Rom 4:20-24 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (21) And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. (22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. (23) Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; (24) But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
And in the book of Hebrews it says:
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
3. The doctrine of baptisms - strangely, it is not baptism but baptisms, plural. Indeed there are two baptisms: the baptism of John and the baptism of the Lord himself. John baptised with water, but the Lord baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Every Bible believing Christian must receive these two baptisms. The passage below is a wonderful illustration.
Act 19:1-12 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, (2) He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (3) And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. (4) Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (7) And all the men were about twelve.
The next three principles are very straight forward but I pray to be able to expound on them more in the future.
4. Laying on of hands - it is a prophetic gesture that translates the power of God into the physical realm. It is something we cannot do without. Remember that king of Israel who shot the arrows only thrice when he should have shot five or six times? That was a prophetic gesture also.
5. Ressurection of the dead - some translations put it as "raising the dead" which is misleading. It is basically just referring to the ressurection at the end of age when everybody that once lived and died will be resurrected to face judgment.
6. Eternal judgment - a basic doctrine in Christ that everybody will have to face eternal judgment, whether unto eternal life or eternal punishment which is the second death. Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
The phrase "leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ" does not mean to set aside, or to leave it and have nothing to do with it. No, the Scripture doesn't mean it that way. What it is saying is that we should move on forward from there. Indeed we would be making no progress if all we did was to repeatedly lay down the foundations and not build above it. But we must not neglect the foundations. Rather we must establish them firmly. And indeed we will not be able to move forward until we are fully established into them. As the Scripture in 2John points out:
2Jn 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
Hebrews chapter 6 enumerates for us the six foundational priciples of the doctrine of Christ. And they are:
1. Repentance from dead works
2. Faith toward God
3. Baptisms
4. Laying on of hands
5. Resurrection of the dead
6. Eternal judgment
Indeed these principles are very basic. Any person with a sound mind will be well able to understand them.
1. Repentance from dead works simply means repentance from works that produce death. It simply means repentance from sin. Sin is a general term that refers to those evil and wicked things that men do. Transgressions against persons and against God. And so a primary principle in the doctrine of Christ is that men should repent from them. All men know that it is wrong to do them. Even a criminal knows that what he is doing is wrong. So everyone is capable of repentance. But we still keep doing them. The Law was given to Israel. And God just basically itemized in writing these things that we should avoid. But Israel (and us also) are never really able to keep them. But our relationship with God is re-established through repentance. Below is a passage in the book of Kings that illustrates clearly what repentance is. Repentance is a decision that one has to make. But sadly, we normally need to be pushed to the end before we can come to our senses and realize that.
1Ki 8:44-53 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name: (45) Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. (46) If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; (47) Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; (48) And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name: (49) Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, (50) And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: (51) For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: (52) That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. (53) For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.
2. Faith toward God means taking God for His word. God doesn't need to prove Himself. There is no one like Him. There is no one more powerful than Him or even equal to Him. We, as His creations are subject to Him. And for some reason, God doesn't reveal the totality of His power to us but instead He gives us His word. And we must take Him for it. Faith pleases God. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness.
Rom 4:20-24 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (21) And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. (22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. (23) Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; (24) But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
And in the book of Hebrews it says:
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
3. The doctrine of baptisms - strangely, it is not baptism but baptisms, plural. Indeed there are two baptisms: the baptism of John and the baptism of the Lord himself. John baptised with water, but the Lord baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Every Bible believing Christian must receive these two baptisms. The passage below is a wonderful illustration.
Act 19:1-12 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, (2) He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. (3) And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. (4) Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. (7) And all the men were about twelve.
The next three principles are very straight forward but I pray to be able to expound on them more in the future.
4. Laying on of hands - it is a prophetic gesture that translates the power of God into the physical realm. It is something we cannot do without. Remember that king of Israel who shot the arrows only thrice when he should have shot five or six times? That was a prophetic gesture also.
5. Ressurection of the dead - some translations put it as "raising the dead" which is misleading. It is basically just referring to the ressurection at the end of age when everybody that once lived and died will be resurrected to face judgment.
6. Eternal judgment - a basic doctrine in Christ that everybody will have to face eternal judgment, whether unto eternal life or eternal punishment which is the second death. Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
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