Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 6-9.

Today I intended to write about how I have understood verses four through six of chapter six at the beginning of today’s passage.  Then I realized the verses seven and eight are expanding on those three verses.  Which made me think that I had not truly understood what the writer meant.  First, let’s look at what the writer says in the first verses.  He writes that those who have shared in the Holy Spirit and tasted the goodness of word of God and then turned away cannot (or, perhaps, will not) ever come back to repentance.  I have long understood that to mean that anyone who has welcomed the Holy Spirit into their lives then later rejects Jesus can (will) ever return to God.  Those verses seem clear.  I may have had some doubts about what constituted being in that condition, but I thought the writing was very clear.  However, I realized today that verses seven and eight were intended to be clarifying, were intended to provide a metaphor which would allow us to more clearly understand the writer’s meaning.  Rather than give me a clearer understanding of the verses preceding it, this metaphor leads me to questions.

So, let’s look at the writer’s metaphor.  He tells us that land which produces crops useful to those for whom it is farmed will be blessed by God, but land which produces thorns and thistles is worthless and may be cursed.  In fact, he tells us, such land will be burned.  As I think about this it makes me think that the writer is speaking of those who receive the Holy Spirit and then refuse to use their gifts to serve others.  In many ways it reminds me of what Paul wrote about those who spend time in pointless arguments, leading others into division and away from Christ.  It also reminds me of the Parable of the Sower.  The more I think about it the more I think this passage is speaking of those who receive the Holy Spirit then actively choose to do the opposite of what they are called to do.  I am not speaking of those who run away from their calling as Jonah did.  It would be as if Jonah heard God’s call to preach repentance in Nineveh.  Then instead of preaching repentance, he encouraged the people of Nineveh to continue in their sin.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.