Hebrews 6
1 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,
Therefore, let us leave behind the elementary teaching about the Christ and press on to perfection, not always laying over again a foundation of repentance for a lifeless formality, of faith in God —
2 or of teaching about ceremonial washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and the last judgement. (aiōnios g166)
teaching concerning baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and a final judgment. (aiōnios g166)
3 And advance we will, if God permits us to do so.
Yes and, with God’s help, we will.
4 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,
For if those who were once for all brought into the Light, and learned to appreciate the gift from Heaven, and came to share in the Holy Spirit,
5 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)
and learned to appreciate the beauty of the Divine Message, and the new powers of the Coming Age — (aiōn g165)
6 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.
if those, I say, fell away, it would be impossible to bring them again to repentance; they would be crucifying the Son of God over again for themselves, and exposing him to open contempt.
7 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.
Ground that drinks in the showers that from time to time fall upon it, and produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is tilled, receives a blessing from God;
8 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.
but, if it ‘bears thorns and thistles,’ it is regarded as worthless, it is in danger of being ‘cursed,’ and its end will be the fire.
9 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.
But about you, dear friends, even though we speak in this way, we are confident of better things — of things that point to your Salvation.
10 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.
For God is not unjust; he will not forget the work that you did, and the love that you showed for his Name, in sending help to your fellow Christians — as you are still doing.
11 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;
But our great desire is that every one of you should be equally earnest to attain to a full conviction that our hope will be fulfilled, and that you should keep that hope to the end.
12 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.
Then you will not show yourselves slow to learn, but you will copy those who, through faith and patience, are now entering upon the enjoyment of God’s promises.
13 For when God gave the promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
When God gave his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater by whom he could swear, he swore by himself.
14 saying, "Assuredly I will bless you and bless you, I will increase you and increase you."
His words were — ‘I will assuredly bless thee and increase thy numbers.’
15 And so, as the result of patient waiting, our forefather obtained what God had promised.
And so, after patiently waiting, Abraham obtained the fulfilment of God’s promise.
16 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.
Men, of course, swear by what is greater than themselves, and with them an oath is accepted as putting a matter beyond all dispute.
17 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,
And therefore God, in his desire to show, with unmistakable plainness, to those who were to enter on the enjoyment of what he had promised, the unchangeableness of his purpose, bound himself with an oath.
18 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.
For he intended us to find great encouragement in these two unchangeable things, which make it impossible for God to prove false — we, I mean, who fled for safety where we might lay hold on the hope set before us.
19 That hope we have as an anchor of the soul--an anchor that can neither break nor drag. It passes in behind the veil,
This hope is a very anchor for our souls, secure and strong, and it ‘reaches into the Sanctuary that lies behind the Curtain,’
