Paul intended to unveil a more mature understanding of the Christ, for whom the Jews looked in the Old Covenant, if the Lord willed for that to occur (Hebrews 6:3).[1] The issue is not a theological problem, because God wills for all to be saved (1Timothy 2:4). Rather, the issue has to do with whether or not Paul’s readers believe him and trust him enough to cooperate with the will of God. God will certainly not remove man’s free moral agency by forcing folks to believe. Therefore, he wouldn’t bring them to a mature understanding of their Messiah, if they insisted on embracing the fundamental doctrines of the Old Covenant, which pointed to God’s promise, but refused to receive the fulfillment of that promise in the Reality of Christ.
In other words, if they insisted on still looking to be established in those things (i.e. the shadows), how could God teach them about the Reality, which they had already experienced in Jesus? What the Jews of the first century AD were doing denied what they heard and saw in Jesus. Therefore, if they continued to deny him, they wouldn’t be in a position, whereby they could walk with him into maturity. Therefore, Paul concluded he will go on in his epistle to teach a more mature understanding of Christ, provided God is willing to open their hearts to it, which is based upon the willingness of the hearts of Paul’s readers to receive such an understanding.
Paul admitted to the fact that his readers were once enlightened (Hebrews 6:4-5). That is, they believed and trusted in Jesus as their Messiah. Moreover, he claims they had tasted of the heavenly gift, being made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and they heard and experienced the Gospel coming in power. This was something neither Paul nor they could deny. However, in Hebrews 6:4-6, Paul mentions that it would be impossible (…to be renewed etc.). Was Paul here speaking of an unpardonable sin? No! he wasn’t. Rather, he was speaking of something a man would find impossible to do.
When Jesus met with a man who was unable to repent and obey God, he told his disciples that the man’s salvation was not a problem for God, because, with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27). A man’s salvation, though not a problem for God, is an impossibility for man, himself. It is, rather, for man to believe. Once a man believes, then all things are possible for him (Mark 9:23).
When Paul mentioned the word, repentance, in Hebrews 6:6, he doesn’t intend for us to think God cannot or will not forgive the man’s sin. Rather, Paul is pointing to the Old Covenant doctrine of repentance of sins. It was impossible for men to repent of their sins, because they continually sin, showing it is not in their power to repent of sin. This was continually shown in the constant need for the blood of animals to cover the sinner’s conscience, which, in reality, could never take away his guilt (Hebrews 7:19). Only Jesus could do that (Hebrews 9:14).
Theologically, this type of repentance only crucified (to the one doing the sacrificing) Jesus afresh (Hebrews 6:6). That is, if Paul’s readers took part in the sin offering in the Temple, they were telling the world they were looking forward to the time when God would forgive their sins. Therefore, taking part in the sin offering showed they still didn’t believe their sins were forgiven. The sin offering, which pointed to the cross, told everyone who witnessed the believer laying his hands on the offering (cf. Hebrews 6:1-2) that Jesus simply wasn’t enough. He wasn’t the Savior. The Savior was yet to come. Nevertheless, the sin offering pointed to Jesus as the believer’s Messiah and Savior. Therefore, believers who practiced such Principles of the Doctrine of Christ,[2] in reality, crucified Jesus in their hearts every time they took part in such practices. In other words Paul was warning his readers who took part in sacrificing animals for their sins (Hebrews 6:4-6), that they were in a spirit of unbelief (cf. Mark 9:23) and were not taking part of the Rest provided them in Christ (cf. Hebrews 4:1-10).[3]
[1] That is Paul was willing to teach his readers a better understanding of Christ, if the Lord was in a position to open up their hearts to such an understanding. Paul was not so self confident as he was confident in the will and power of God. That is, Paul’s desire was completely dependent upon the will and power of God (Acts 18:21; Romans 15:32; 1Corinthians 4:19; 16:7; James 4:15).
[2] See my previous study on Repentance from Dead Works.
[3] See my four previous studies on this subject: The Rest of God; God’s Promised Rest; Redeeming the Rest of God; and The Rest for the People of God.
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