Hebrews 6 - Introduction

He exhorteth not to fall back from the faith, but to be steadfast, diligent, and patient to wait upon God, because God is most sure in his promise.

Anno Domini 63.

ALTHOUGH in the latter verses of the preceding chapter the apostle had reproved the Hebrews for their ignorance of the first principles of the oracles, or ancient revelations of God, in which the fundamental doctrines of the gospel are contained, he told them here, that he would not now discourse of the principles of the doctrine of Christ, but would carry them on to the perfection of Christian knowledge and experience, by explaining to them the deep meaning of some of the chief ancient oracles; not laying a second time the foundation of repentance from dead works, &c. as taught in the writings of Moses and the prophets, Hebrews 6:1.—And because the Hebrews were in danger of being drawn away from the profession of the gospel by their unbelieving brethren, who foundedtheir opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ on misinterpretations of the Jewish sacred writings, the apostle told them, he would immediately lead them to the true meaning of the principal parts of these writings, if Godpermitted him to do it, by preserving them from apostatizing till they should have an opportunity to read and consider this letter, Hebrews 6:3.—In the mean time, to make them sensible of their danger, and to rouze their attention to those discoveries of the hidden meaning of the ancient oracles which he was about to make to them, he shewed them the pernicious nature of apostacy, and the severe punishment to which apostates are doomed, Hebrews 6:4.—Lest, however, his reprehension of the Hebrews, and his anxiety to preserve them from apostacy, might have led them to think that he suspected they were going to renounce the gospel, he mitigated the severity of his reproof by telling them, that he hoped better things of them, and things connected with salvation, Hebrews 6:9.—founding his hope on the righteousness of God, who would not forget those works of love which, with so much labour and danger, they had performed, and were still performing, to the persecuted disciples of Christ in Judea; nor withhold from them the aids of his grace necessary to their perseverance, Hebrews 6:10.—Nevertheless, he earnestly besought them to shew the same diligence as formerly, in performing charitable offices to their afflicted brethren, that his hope concerning them might remain firm to the end, Hebrews 6:11.—and not to be slothful in the work of their salvation, but to imitate the converted Gentiles,who, through faith in Christ, and patience under persecution, were inheriting, in the Christian church, the blessings promised to the seed of Abraham, in the covenant which God made with that father of believers, Hebrews 6:12.

Having affirmed, that the converted Gentiles in the Christian church were inheriting the promises in the covenant with Abraham, the apostle, to carry the Hebrews on to perfection, took occasion to enter into the deep meaning of that ancient oracle. And first of all, by his account of God's covenant with Abraham, it appears that the blessings promised in it, although expressed in types and figures, are the very blessings which are plainly promised in the gospel. Moreover, his care in this particular has been of no small use in silencing the adversaries of revelation. For, by rightly explainingthe covenant with Abraham, the apostle has demonstrated, that the method of salvation by faith, the resurrection of believers from the dead, the general judgment, and the rewards and punishments of a future state, were all made known to the patriarchs and to the Jews, in that greatest of all the ancient oracles of God.
God's covenant with Abraham is often mentioned by Moses. But the fullest account of it is that which he has recorded, Genesis 17:4 where all the articles of it are related at large. The apostle, however, did not on this occasion call the attention of the Hebrews to that complete account, but to one more shortly expressed, which, he says, was confirmed with an oath. His words are; When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no one greater, he sware by himself, saying, In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee. This account of the covenant is evidently that recorded, Genesis 22:15 where we are told that God spake these things to Abraham, after he had laid Isaac on the altar with an intention to sacrifice him. For, in no other passage of thewritings of Moses, is God said to have confirmed any part of his covenant with Abraham by an oath, Hebrews 6:13.—Concerning the promise, In blessing I will bless thee, it is to be remembered, that in the third and fourth Chapter s of this epistle, the apostle by a deep train of reasoning has shewed, that in this covenant God promised to Abraham and to his seed, a rest not only in the earthly Canaan, but in a heavenly country also, of which Canaan was a type. But if Abraham and his faithful seed were to be rewarded with the inheritance of heaven, it certainly implies that they were to be blessed with having their faith counted to them for righteousness. Wherefore it was not necessary that the apostle should enter more particularly into the meaning of the promise, In blessing I will bless thee.—But for the illustration of the promise, In multiplying I will multiply thee, he observed, that Abraham, after having patiently waited many years for its accomplishment, at length obtained it; namely, by the birth of Isaac. Nor was it necessary to say any thing more for the illustration of that promise; because, by leading the Hebrews to recollect the supernatural proceedings of God in respect to Isaac, they were taught that Abraham was to have a numerous seed by faith, as well as a numerous seed by natural descent. The reason is, the supernatural proceedings of God in respect to Isaac, were both an emblem and a pledge, that the power of God would be exerted in making Abraham the father of many nations, by producing in them the same spirit of faith with his; by the participation of which they would be more truly his children, than those whose relation to him was constituted merely by natural descent, Hebrews 6:15.

Farther, it is necessary to remark, that the apostle's design in mentioning the two promises whichwe have been considering, was not to give a full explanation of them, but that he might have an opportunity of declaring what God's intention was in confirming these promises with an oath, Hebrews 6:16.—namely, to shew to Abraham's seed by faith, whom the apostle calls the heirs, the immutability of his purpose to bless them by counting their faith to them for righteousness,and, we may also add, by bestowing on them, if faithful unto death, the inheritance of the heavenly country, Hebrews 6:17.—that by two immutable things, the promise and the oath of God, in either of which it was impossible for him to lie, the heirs who, by the covenant made with mankind after the fall, have escaped from the curse of the law to lay hold on the hope of pardon and eternal life set before them, might have strong consolation, Hebrews 6:18.—This hope, the apostle assures us, the faithful of all nations have in every age of the world, as Abraham's seed, for an anchor of the soul firmly fixed in heaven, called the place within the vail, because that place of the Mosaic tabernacle represented heaven, Hebrews 6:19.—Lastly, to shew that the great blessings of pardon and eternal life promised in the covenant are bestowed on Abraham's faithful seed through Christ, the apostle told the Hebrews; that Jesus, as our forerunner, has gone into heaven, there to plant for the faithful the hope of these blessings, on the ground of that most acceptable atonement which he made for the sin of the world by his death; and that he was well qualified to perform such a service for us, because by the oath of God, being made a high-priest after the order of Melchisedec, he was commissioned to enter into the holy place where God (the Trinity) manifests his presence, to make that effectual atonement for believers which God himself had prescribed, Hebrews 6:20.

The intelligent reader, no doubt, has observed, that the discourse in this chapter, is a proper sequel to the discourses concerning the sin and punishment of the rebellious Israelites in the wilderness, and concerning the rest which remaineth to persevering believers, delivered in the preceding third and fourth Chapter s of this epistle; and that the three discourses taken together, contain such an explanation of the covenant with Abraham, as leaves us no room to doubt, that therein the principal articles of the gospel revelation were preached to Abraham and to the Jews, as St. Paul indeed has expresslyaffirmed,Galatians 3:8. Hebrews 4:2. The covenant with Abraham, therefore, may with great propriety be termed, The gospel of the patriarchs and of the pious Jews.