In the last post, I said that we would be taking a closer look at the six elementary principles found in Hebrews 6: 1-3, but before we do that it is important to know a little about this book called Hebrews. While the author is not definitely known it is clearly written to the Hebrews or Jews of the day. Book of Hebrews to the Hebrews, no brainer huh! While obvious It is often overlooked. Guess who the Book of Romans was written to? That’s right! The Romans or in other words the non-Jew.
Now, why is it important to know who the book of Hebrews was written for? Well, the book of Hebrews is all about the superiority of the New Covenant of Grace, under which we live, over the Old Mosaic Covenant of the Law. You see the Law of Moses was all about:Show More
observing special days and feasts,
about observing the letter of the Law,
complex rules and regulations that had to be followed to avoid sin,
specific sacrifices and offering to cover specific kinds of sin and
all kinds of ritualistic washing and rinsing with water to make one spiritually clean.
By contrast, the book of Hebrews calls the Covenant of Grace a “Better Covenant” because through Jesus Christ one is forgiven once and for all, sin is dealt with and we are made clean and accepted by faith in Christ and Him alone. One-stop shopping so to speak!
To a Jew newly converted to Christianity or for a Jew searching for truth, like Nicodemus in the Gospel of John chapter 3, the book of Hebrews spells out in clear terms those things that a Jew could relate to. The passing away of the Old Covenant or what we call the Old Testament and the entrance of the New Covenant spelled out by the New Testament!
So, when we look at things like the six elementary principles mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-3, the concepts of:
redemption and dead-works,
faith in God,
washings or baptisms,
the laying on of hands,
the resurrection of the dead,
and final judgement.
Are all concepts that Jews would be familiar with. The book of Hebrews takes all of these familiar ideas and shows the Jew and non-Jew how Jesus fulfilled each and every one of these basic or elementary principles.
Hebrews also makes the significant point that these things mentioned above must be settled once and for all for they are foundational and are necessary in order to grow and mature as Christians.
Going deeper into the Word of God and our relationship with Jesus Christ requires that our foundation of truth is not only known but, totally trusted in. If we use the analogy of building a house or structure, we know that it is the foundation that is key in providing a base that will support whatever is built upon it. So it is with what we believe, truly believe, about our salvation and what God has provided for us, His children. In our last post, we looked at Hebrews 6:1-3 and saw that there were six things that we must “settle once and for all”, not going over it again and again! Going over the basics means that we lack trust or faith. We are not convinced therefore we repeat the same thinking and behavior which in essence means that we keep building the same foundation over and over again. If we are constantly rebuilding our foundation how will we ever get to build the structure on top of it. That structure involves becoming more like Jesus in character and fulfilling God’s plan and purpose for our lives.
Faith Each of the six elementary principles is appropriated or something that must be gained by Faith! Now faith is not just a feeling but a conscious decision to believe. While you can have legitimate feelings of faith; faith does not depend on feelings. It is a subtle but critically important difference. Feelings most often depend on circumstances, the kind of faith we are talking about does not depend on circumstances or feelings, but on your commitment to scriptural truths!
Today we live in an age where feelings or emotions (the right background music and circumstance) can justify almost any action. We are told to “follow your heart”, as a result, there are no longer any boundaries. God’s boundaries are for your peace and protection. In the name of political correctness, fairness, and tolerance we have lost our way substituting feeling for truth. Yes, we all have emotions, God gave us the ability to feel and to emote, but some feelings are just wrong, unjustified, and destructive.
Our society no longer has a guide or path to show the way to truth, Christians refer to this as a “Secular World View”. We, as Believers, must develop a “Biblical World View” which means that you believe in Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible.
Let me close with a poem that an old friend of mine used to quote, this poem which says it all:
Feelings come, and feelings go, Feelings are deceiving, But the Word of God is always true, no matter what you’re feeling!
