Hebrews 5:12 – 6:3 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore
let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to
maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that
lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
I’ve never really known what to do with this passage. Of course, it’s not talking about me, it’s talking about other people… All joking aside, I’ve been reading this passage with different eyes lately. For some reason, I’ve just been camping in this section of Hebrews and going over and over it.
Here’s what I see: we should be eating solid food, but some of us are living on milk. According to 5:12, we need someone to teach us “…the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.” But, in verse 6:1, it says “…let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity,…” Then, it lists the things we should already know! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been looking for this list. I’ve read this passage before, but never really seen The List.
As I see it, here are the elementary truths of God’s word:
- Repentance of actions that lead to death
- Faith in God
- Instruction about baptisms
- Laying on of hands
- Resurrection of the dead
- Eternal judgment
These are the things that we should already have in our foundation. We should have passed these classes long ago and moved on to…where? That’s the question I’m looking for now, what are the ‘intermediate’ truths? Even better, what are the ‘advanced’ truths? I’m sure these things exist, but I don’t know what they are off the top of my head.
So, here’s what I’m going to do; I’m going to invite a few people to be guest bloggers on this site. Each of us will take one of the points on the list above and explain it as we believe God has revealed it. Then, after we have this established, we’ll start talking about the next steps.
I don’t know about you, but I’m all goosebumpy…
