Hebrews 6
1 So, we [(inc)] must not keep [discussing] the elementary principles about Christ. Instead, we must proceed [to the teaching that will make us spiritually] mature [MTY]. We must not [be people who always need someone to teach them] the elementary truths [about Christ that are like] [MET] a foundation. [I am referring to the teaching that people who do sinful] things must turn away from their sinful behavior, things that [those who are spiritually] [MET] dead do. [I am referring to the teaching] that people must believe in God.
Therefore leaving elementary instruction about the Christ, let us advance to mature manhood and not be continually re-laying a foundation of repentance from lifeless works and of faith in God,
2 [I am referring to the teaching about what] various [Jewish and Christian] rituals for purifying people [signify. I am referring to the teaching about how elders enable people to receive spiritual gifts by] laying hands [on them] [MTY]. [I am referring to the teaching that God will] ([cause] those who have died to live again/raise people from the dead). And [I am referring to the teaching that God] will judge [some people and punish them] eternally. (aiōnios g166)
or of teaching about ceremonial washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and the last judgement. (aiōnios g166)
3 [Instead of continuing to discuss these elementary truths], we [(inc)] (OR, I) will [go on to give people mature teaching], if God allows it.
And advance we will, if God permits us to do so.
4 [I will explain why it is important to do that. Some] people have at one time fully understood [the message about Christ] [MET]. They have experienced [a relationship with Jesus Christ] that God [EUP/MTY] gave [to them]. They have received the Holy Spirit the same as [others have].
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once for all been enlightened, and have tasted the sweetness of the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 They have experienced that God’s message is good. And by what they have experienced [now], they know how [God will work] powerfully in the future. If those people reject [the message about Christ], it will not be possible for anyone to persuade them to turn away from their sinful behavior again! (aiōn g165)
and have realized how good the word of God is and how mighty are the powers of the coming Age, and then fell away-- (aiōn g165)
6 What those [believers who later renounce the message about Christ do is as though] [MET] they themselves are nailing the Son of God to a cross again! They are causing others to publicly despise Christ.
it is impossible, I say, to keep bringing them back to a new repentance, for, to their own undoing, they are repeatedly crucifying the Son of God afresh and exposing Him to open shame.
7 Think about this: It is land on which rain has frequently fallen [PRS] and on which plants grow [PRS] that is useful for the people who prepare the land that God has blessed. [Similarly, it is those believers who have received many good things from God and who do good deeds/things that please God, whom God will bless] [MET].
For land which has drunk in the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sakes, indeed, it is tilled, has a share in God's blessing.
8 But [what will happen to believers who do deeds/things that do not please God will be like what happens to land] on which [only] thorns and thistles grow [MET]. [Such land] is worthless. It has almost become land that God will curse, and eventually he will burn [its vegetation] [MTY].
But if it only yields a mass of thorns and briers, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and in the end will be destroyed by fire.
9 Although I am writing [to you] like this as a [warning], I am certain concerning you whom I love that [you are doing] better than that. Specifically, I am sure that [you are doing] the things that are appropriate [for those whom God] has saved.
But we, even while we speak in this tone, have a happier conviction concerning you, my dearly-loved friends--a conviction of things which point towards salvation.
10 Since God always acts justly [LIT], he will not overlook all you have done [for him. He will also not overlook] [MTY] [your showing that you love] him by the way you helped your fellow believers and [by the way you still] help them. [Instead, God will reward you for doing good deeds].
For God is not unjust so that He is unmindful of your labour and of the love which you have manifested towards Himself in having rendered services to His people and in still rendering them.
11 I very much want each of you to diligently continue to fully expect to receive [what God has provided for you], until you finally [receive everything that you have confidently expected to receive].
But we long for each of you to continue to manifest the same earnestness, with a view to your enjoying fulness of hope to the very End;
12 I do not want you to be lazy. [Instead, I want] you to imitate those who, because they patiently continued to trust in [God], are receiving what he promised them.
so that you may not become half-hearted, but be imitators of those who through faith and patient endurance are now heirs to the promises.
13 When God promised to [do things for] Abraham, he said that he would punish himself [if he did not do that], because there was no one of greater importance to ask to punish him [if he did not do it].
For when God gave the promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
14 He said [to Abraham], “I will certainly bless you [(sg)], and I will certainly increase [the number of] your [descendants] [SYN].”
saying, "Assuredly I will bless you and bless you, I will increase you and increase you."
15 As a result, after Abraham patiently waited [for God to do what he promised], he received what [God] promised him.
And so, as the result of patient waiting, our forefather obtained what God had promised.
16 [Keep in mind that when people promise something], they ask a more important person to punish them if they do not do what they promise. Furthermore, when people ask God to punish them [if they do not tell the truth], that causes people who are disputing to stop disputing.
For men swear by what is greater than themselves; and with them an oath in confirmation of a statement always puts an end to a dispute.
17 So, when God wanted to demonstrate very clearly (to us/to those people) who would receive what he had promised that he would not change what he had purposed [to do], he solemnly guaranteed that he would declare himself guilty if he did not do what he promised.
In the same way, since it was God's desire to display more convincingly to the heirs of the promise how unchangeable His purpose was,
18 He did that to strongly encourage us as a result of our [knowing] that [God has done] two things that cannot change. [Namely, he promised to bless us, and he solemnly declared that he would declare himself guilty if he did not bless us]. We [know] that God, who did those things, cannot lie. We have fled [to him] in order that we might continue confidently to expect to receive what he promised us.
He added an oath, in order that, through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for Him to prove false, we may possess mighty encouragement--we who, for safety, have hastened to lay hold of the hope set before us.
19 [Our confidently expecting] [SYN] [to receive what he has promised is like] an anchor [MET] that very firmly [DOU] [holds us fast. The one we confidently expect to help us] [SYN] [is Jesus, who] goes into [God’s very presence, just like the Supreme Priests went] behind the curtain into the innermost [part of the tent in the barren area] [MET].
That hope we have as an anchor of the soul--an anchor that can neither break nor drag. It passes in behind the veil,
