HEBREWS 6 — WARNING, ASSURANCE, AND THE ANCHOR OF HOPE

Chapter 6 contains the most debated passage in Hebrews and one of the most debated in the New Testament, the warning in verses 4–8. It follows directly from the rebuke at the end of chapter 5, and it must be read with the rest of the chapter, which includes strong assurance and a powerful picture of the believer's hope. The structure is a movement from an exhortation to maturity (verses 1–3), through a warning (verses 4–8), to words of encouragement and assurance (verses 9–12), and then to the grounds of hope in God's promise and oath (verses 13–20). The chapter is a model of pastoral balance: it speaks of the seriousness of falling away and also of the security of those whom God has promised to keep. Christians have interpreted the warning in different ways, and sincere, Bible-believing believers differ. This commentary sets out the main views and indicates its own conviction with humility, recognizing that the passage is difficult and that the main purpose is to encourage perseverance and to warn against the danger of apostasy.

The warning passages in Hebrews, including this one, show that the first Christians took the danger of falling away seriously, and that they were under real pressure. Historical evidence confirms the setting. Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius record that Christians were suspected and sometimes persecuted in Rome in the 60s, and a letter from Pliny to the emperor Trajan, around AD 112, describes how he questioned people who said they were former Christians and who cursed Christ, which shows that apostasy under pressure was a reality. The author of Hebrews knew of this danger and wrote to prevent it. The mention of the laying on of hands and the powers of the age to come among the basic features of Christian experience is also significant. It shows that the supernatural gifts of the Spirit were regarded as normal in the early church, and not as rare or exceptional events, and that people who left the faith had often experienced them. The use of the anchor as an image of hope is notable in Christian history: the anchor became one of the earliest Christian symbols, found in the catacombs of Rome from the second century, as a sign of hope in Christ. The oath of God to Abraham is also grounded in the story of Genesis 22, and the historical reality of Abraham is supported by archaeological discoveries that have shown that the patriarchal narratives fit the cultural setting of the early second millennium BC, including customs of inheritance, covenant making, and travel.