Reflections on the Book of Hebrews

A Good Mystery

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  Hebrews 6:4-6.

There’s nothing I like better than a cup of coffee and a good mystery.  The book of Hebrews will always capture the interest of a prayerful sleuth.

The writer, the intended audience, the setting, and the year it was written elude us, but this takes nothing away from its message.  The author admits having much to say that is “hard to explain” so we dare not shy away from its more perplexing sections.

As a Gentile Christian I must be content to only imagine the richness and depth of understanding available to my Judeo-Christian brothers and sisters as the writer harkens us back to earlier times, and binds us together with reminders of our enlightenment:  our once-in-a-lifetime conversion experience.  

Please read Hebrews 6:4-6 above.

The consequences of enlightenment are both sweet and terrible.  We can’t ignore the possibility of “falling away.” James W. Thompson (Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament – Hebrews, 2008) states:

Just as the series of images for the new existence in Christ recalls a decisive moment of turning from darkness to light…falling away [parapesontas] points to a decisive moment of abandonment of the extraordinary gifts that the author has enumerated…The word does not refer to an ethical lapse or to theological error in this context….once [hapax] suggests the experience of being ‘enlightened’ and of tasting ‘the heavenly gift’ as unrepeatable.  Thus to renew to repentance again is impossible because the decisive moment of conversion cannot be repeated….A great salvation has equally great consequences for those who reject it (p. 134).

Jesus Christ entered the Most Holy Place once (9:12).  He was sacrificed [on a Roman cross] once (9:28) to make us holy (10:10).  Then he sat down at the right hand of God (10:12).  If we reject Christ’s sacrifice and the gifts it ensured, we don’t get a do-over.

The characters in this marvelous book never change – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the prophets and many others.  Fallible heroes, whose stories of faith change us from diaper children, content with mother’s milk, to adults capable of meatier matters.  And let’s not forget the happy ending for those who don’t fall away.

Father God, you are too awesome to comprehend and yet so transparent.  This is another mystery. Continue to reveal yourself to us in spite of our human limitations to understand.  Thank you for the gift of grace to those who don’t fall away.  Through Christ we pray, amen.

Sandra Milholland

Abilene, Texas