Biblion Bible Commentary
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Let Us Go On
Hebrews 6:1-3
1 Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let’s press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God, · WEB
Told they need milk, the readers are taken forward instead, and six foundational items are listed as things not to be relaid.
Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let's press on to perfection.
The therefore follows a paragraph that has just said they need milk and cannot manage solid food Hebrews 5:12. The conclusion drawn from that is to go forward — which is the opposite of what the diagnosis suggests, and it is deliberate. If the dullness came from disuse, then more elementary instruction would deepen the problem rather than fix it. Exercise is what develops a sense Hebrews 5:14, so the remedy is harder food, not softer.
The word leaving does not mean abandoning. The clause that follows explains it: not laying again a foundation. A foundation is left behind by building on it, and relaying one is what you do when the first attempt failed.
Six items are then named, in three pairs, and every one of them is genuinely foundational.
Repentance from dead works and faith toward God — the turn away and the turn toward, which is where anyone starts.
The teaching of baptisms and laying on of hands — the two entry rites, the second of them associated in the New Testament with receiving the Spirit and with commissioning.
Resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment — the two last things, placed here among the elementary rather than the advanced. That is worth marking, because both are subjects a congregation might consider deep. The letter files them under first principles.
What the list therefore describes is a complete beginning: conversion, initiation, and the end of the story. Nothing in it is criticized, and nothing is said to be optional. The complaint is only that the readers keep returning to it.
And verse 3 attaches a condition to the whole undertaking: this will we do, if God permits.
A short clause, easily passed over. The writer does not treat his readers' progress as something his exposition can accomplish — the going on is offered under a proviso, which is a strange thing to write immediately before the letter's severest warning Hebrews 6:4.
settled What this mark means