Hebrews 5:11-1311Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. 12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (Hebrews 5:11‑13). Those to whom the apostle was writing were not simply ignorant of the truth, nor young in the faith—things that would not necessarily make it difficult to understand the teaching of Scripture. The real difficulty was they had “become dull of hearing.” Their spiritual growth had been arrested. The time had come when they should have been teachers. Alas! they needed to be again taught the elementary truths of the beginning of the oracles of God. They had become such as had need of milk instead of solid food. The apostle does not at all slight the use of milk; but he says, If milk is the proper diet, it is a clear proof that the soul is spiritually a babe, needing to be established in the righteousness of God.
Hebrews 5:1414But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14). The stronger food—the full truth of Christianity into which the apostle desires to lead us—belongs to full-grown Christians, those who are established in the position in which the righteousness of God has placed them as sons before God. Such, instead of being dull of hearing, have their senses exercised to distinguish both good and evil.
Hebrews 6:1-31Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3And this will we do, if God permit. (Hebrews 6:1‑3). The apostle proceeds to show the hindrances to spiritual growth. The saints at Corinth were hindered by the wisdom and philosophy of man (1 Cor. 1-3). These Hebrew believers were hindered by clinging to their traditional religion. One has truly said, “There is no greater hindrance to progress in spiritual life and intelligence than attachment to an ancient form of religion which, being traditional and not simply personal faith in the truth, consists always in ordinances, and is consequently carnal and earthly” (JND).
As with these Hebrew believers, so in Christendom; nowhere is the darkness and ignorance of God’s Word greater than among those who cling to tradition and religious ritual. Occupied with mere forms and dazzled by a sensuous religion that stirs the emotions and ministers to the natural mind, people are blinded to the Gospel of the grace of God unfolded in the Word of God.
To meet this snare the apostle’s exhortation is, “Wherefore, leaving the word of the beginning of the Christ, let us go on to what belongs to full growth.” He then refers to certain fundamental truths known in Judaism before the cross, and suited to a state of spiritual infancy.
In contrast to these truths, the apostle presents the full truth of the Person and work of Christ now revealed in Christianity, which he speaks of as perfection. By clinging to truths which were for the time before Christ’s coming, these believers hindered their growth in the full revelation of Christ in Christianity.
The apostle speaks of repentance from dead works, faith in God, of the doctrine of washings, of imposition of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. These things were all known before the incarnation of Christ. The faith he speaks of is faith in God, not personal faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The washings refer to Jewish purifications, not Christian baptism. The laying on of hands refers to the way by which the Israelite identified himself as the offerer with the victim he offered. Resurrection is of the dead, not “from among the dead,” as in Christianity. Martha, in the Gospel story, believed in the resurrection of the dead; she found it difficult to believe in the Christian truth that one could be raised from among the dead while others were left in death.
The apostle does not ask us to deny any of these Old Testament truths, but to leave the partial light and go on to the full light of Christianity—perfection. This, he says, we will do, if God permit. To go back to these things would be laying again “a foundation”; not, indeed, “the foundation,” as if it were the foundation of Christianity, but rather “a foundation” of Jewish things.