Difference between revisions of "Heb 6:11-15"

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The New Testament > To the Hebrews > Chapter 6

Questions

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Lexical notes

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Exegesis

Verses 11-12

These two verses are probably best thought of as a continuation of the thoughts expressed in the preceeding verses. What we are seeing is the delicate rhetorical game that the author is playing of exhorting his audience while only condemning them obliquely. The transition to the next section comes with the reference at the end of v. 12 to "inherit the promises."

The phrase is interesting as it invokes two separate sorts of relationships: inheritances and contracts. An inheritance is essentially a status-based relationship. One becomes entitled to benefits because one stands in a particular -- generally familial -- relationship with the benefactor. The classic example is the relationship between a father and an eldest son. A promise, in contrast, invokes the notion of contract. Generally speaking, a contract defines the purely voluntary obligations between two otherwise unrelated parties. No adoption or other change in familial status is necessary in order to become an obligee or an obligor under a contract. Rather, the touchstone becomes mutual assent to the transaction. The notion of promising also invokes oaths, a category closely related to contract. The idea of an oath is that one promises something and then invokes divine punishment upon oneself in the event of lapse.

By discussing salvation in terms of "inheritance of the promises" the author finesses a difficult aspect of Christian conversion. On one hand, conversion is thought of in voluntarist terms, a choice that reflects the deepest, most personal condition of one's soul. On the other hand, the relationship formed by conversion is much richer than those defined by contract. We do not simply make a kind of anti-Faustian bargain with God, but rather become adopted into his household and ultimately co-heirs with Christ.

Verse 13-15

In these verses Abraham is offered as the prototypical example of one who becomes an "inheritor of the promises." Notice that God makes an oath to Abraham, which we then inherit as a kind of chose in action. There are a couple of important things to think about in the choice of Abraham as the model. First, Abraham is the ur-founder of the Israelite nation, by identifying Christian salvation with the Abrahamic covenant we get continuity between Christ and the old testament prophets. Second, it is striking that Abraham's promise of infinite posterity is associated by Joseph Smith and the revelations of the Restoration with the promises of the temple. In Kirtland the "keys of the Gospel of Abraham" were restored to Joseph, and it is through the sealing ordinances that we recieve the same promises of cosmic fecundity and posterity. Likewise, in Abraham we get the most elemental story of eternal increase as blessing, a notion that Joseph Smith expanded through the doctrine of exaltation into enternal progression and eternal families, worlds without number. It is perhaps not accidental that the author uses Abraham as a bridge back to his discussion of Chirst, priesthood, and temple. Finally, Abraham shows up again in Heb 11's discussion of faith.

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