Hebrews 6:1

Hebrews 6:1

Repentance from acts that lead to death

This chapter of Hebrews begins by setting out what the writer regarded as being “elementary teachings!” In other words, these are the doctrines and truths that should be taught to young believers and were regarded as the milk of the Word, as opposed to the meat that should be part of the diet of those who are mature in the faith. Let’s just list these elementary truths before we look at them in more depth: -

1.     Repentance from acts that lead to death

2.     Faith in God

3.     Instruction about cleansing rites

4.     The laying on of hands

5.     The resurrection of the dead

6.     Eternal judgement

Each of these is regarded as elementary but we have to ask, are these the primary teaching modules used by most churches for new converts? Are these subjects that we are all familiar with? Are they the foundational truths of our faith? To what extent are some of them ignored today? Sadly, we may also need to ask, what do they all mean? Let’s look at them one at a time.

Repentance from acts that lead to death. There are two ways of dealing with this. The annual Day of Atonement, so familiar to the Jews, could only be used to cleanse them from unintentional sins. We dealt with this in Chapter 5:2 where we read about sins committed in ignorance, a theme that is explored again in Chapter 9:7. Until Christ had offered Himself as a sacrifice for all sins, there was no offering that could cleanse men and women from acts that lead to death. Take that thought a step further and we might say that true repentance is still the only means by which every one of us may be cleansed from our sins, forgiven for our debt and relieved of the death penalty that hangs over us. Repentance is such a fundamental truth at the heart of the Christian faith, a plaintive cry to Jesus to “come into my heart” may be a starting place on the journey of faith but at some point there has to be sincere repentance for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. And the glory of God is perfection, so not one of us escapes the requirement of repentance! This means a confession of when we have broken God’s Law and His commands, a desire to change heart and direction, and a willingness to admit we need help to continue with the journey of faith. 

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