Heb 6:6-10
From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.
The New Testament > To the Hebrews > Chapter 6
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Questions
Verse 10
- Dead works: What is the distinction between the "dead works" referenced in v. 1 and the "work and labour of love" referenced in v. 10? Why the differing attitudes toward works?
Lexical notes
Verse 6
- Softening the impossibility in v. 4? There are at least two different readings of verse 6 which can soften the impossibility of repentance being declared in verse 4. First, "crucify" and "put him to an open shame" may not be explaining what "fall away" means, but proposing a hypothetical case so that the meaning is "they cannot be renewed after falling away if they persist in crucifying" (there is a change of tense from the aorist to the present that suports this view). Another view is that "renew" is expressing a continuous action, so that the meaning is that it is impossible to keep repeating the process of falling and renewing—the repentance isn't genuine inasmuch as the repenter keeps falling away. (See Bruce reference below.)
Exegesis
Verses 7-8
These verses may be a reference to the parable of the sower, in which the word is likened to a seed thrown on various kinds of ground. If this is correct, then the "thorns and briers" are a reference to the cares of the world (cf. Mark 4:18-19). These verses help clarify the point being made in verses 4-6: those that hear the word of God but then foresake it are condemned. (See also those in Lehi's dream that partook of the fruit and then fell away, 1 Ne 8:25-28.)
Another possible reference is to the briers that the earth was cursed to bring forth in the face of Adam's labor after the fall. The reference to burning could be either to the post-mortal punishment of the particular apostate or to the final apoclyptic end of the earth, or perhaps both.
Verses 9-10
The author ends his aside started in verse 4 by—somewhat ironically perhaps—saying that none of his teachings about apostacy are meant to be applied to his audience. Given that his audience is in danger of turning from the gospel back to the law of Moses, this insistence is something of a rhetorical play.
Notice verse 10's emphasis on works. God does not forget the audience of the letter because of their labor of love and their ministering to the saints. If we accept a Pauline authorship for the letter, then this passage seems much less grace-centric than some of Paul's other writings, especially in Romans. If we reject Pauline authorship -- as virtually all modern scholars do -- then the tension with Romans is less provacative.
Interestingly, the current "Bible Dictionary" appended to LDS edition of the scriptures takes an intermediate position, acknowledging that Hebrews was probably not composed by Paul, but that its ideas are essentially Pauline. Almost without exception, official LDS discourse from Joseph Smith to the present has assumed Pauline authorship. However, this assumption seems to be based entirely on the traditional assignment of authorship, which has no direct basis in the text and arises out of an early Christian tradition many centuries removed from Paul himself.
Related links
Verse 6
- Bruce on softening the impossibility of repenting: See The Epistle to the Hebrews: The First Apology for Christianity (An Exegetical Study) by Alexander Bruce, 2nd edition (first published 1899; reprinted in 1980, ISBN 0-86524-028-0), pp. 211.
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