Foundations: Hebrews 5:9-6:2

Hebrews 5:9‭-‬6:2

And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Hebrews was written to address Jewish Christians who were being tempted to go back to Judaism and attempting to bring traditions of Judaism into the church. 

Apparently the letter's author thought that the church had become dull of hearing, because they needed someone to teach them the elementary principles of God again, when they should be teachers themselves by now. He refers to these "elementary principles" as "milk". 

According to the author, those who partake only in milk and not in solid food, are not skilled in the word of righteousness, because he is just a babe. Solid food belongs to the mature, which he defines as those who have had their senses exercised by using them to discern what is good and what is evil. My mind goes to so called "Christians" and "churches" who do not have such discernment, but who call evil "good", and good, "evil". They certainly are not skilled in the word of righteousness. 

The author goes on, exhorting the church to leave the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ behind, and to move forward, seeking the perfection of Christ. He instructs them not to lay again the foundation, which includes six topics:

1) repentance from dead works,

2) faith toward God,

3) teachings of baptisms,

4) of laying on of hands, 

5) of resurrection of the dead,

6) of eternal judgement. 

A few things stand out to me in this passage. One is that the expectation of the letter's author, who was probably an apostle or an associate, was that the church should be teachers themselves by this time. They should have been passing on what they were learning to others. But they weren't. On top of that, they were having a difficult time understanding the basic principles of God.

How many of us Christians sit in our churches soaking up the teacher's teachings, but never teach others the things that we are learning? It can be difficult because the religion of Christianity within the American culture, which places a high value on college education, says that only those who have a college degree can teach others what the Bible says. One is required to have years of college education in order to be "qualified" to teach the Bible or go and make disciples. Furthermore, one has to be "approved" by an organization or a church in order to go and make disciples. 

To ignore this "rule", and simply obey Jesus by doing what he commanded his disciples to do, is considered rebellion against the system of American Christianity. They are viewed by Christians who hold a high view of the institutional church as a defector. However, what we learn from Jesus and the teachings of the Bible, such as the passage we are currently studying, is that God expects all Christians to keep moving forward, teaching others what we know and are learning, and to not continue relearning the basic principles of God. 

This leads to the next thing that stands out to me, and that is, how often our churches, ministries, and individual Christians teach the same things over and over again. How to be a good parent; how to be a good spouse; how to be a good person; how to have faith; how to pray; that Jesus died for me; etc, etc. Some continuously teach on eschatology using newspaper exegesis. For them to move on from these topics and teach on other subjects that the author of Hebrews might consider "meat", is rare, at least in my experience. 

The third thing that stands out to me, as already mentioned, many self identified Christians and churches do not, and likely cannot, discern between that which is good, and that which is evil. According to the writer of Hebrews, that is because they have not used the senses that God has given them, and therefore they have not been exercised. Their senses are dulled from lack of use. They are flabby and out of shape. 

Yet these people and organizations have loud voices, and though they may appeal to the culture which they support, they make the real church look bad, and worse, they bring disgrace upon the name of Jesus. 

The final thing is that it is interesting that the author lists the six topics that he does, as "elementary principles", "milk" and "the foundation" of which to build off of. Not all of these are topics that would be on my list of elementary principles to teach new Christians. Some would be, such as faith toward God, resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment, but probably not the rest. Repentance of sin would certainly be, but repentance from dead works? Unlikely. Teachings of baptisms, plural, what is that? Laying on of hands? Sounds charismatic, and for some Christians, such practices are no longer in effect. 

These "elementary principles" are pretty deep subjects, and are of a much different variety than what we hear in church or even teach others ourselves. Some of them I have never heard teaching on. Even the topics that would be on my list, may have deeper meaning than what they appear to have, once you dig in and begin studying them. None of the subjects I listed above that are commonly taught, and are typically believed to be the core elements of Biblical teaching, are among those listed by the author as being "elementary principles".

In some cases, I think Bible teachers try to stay shallow in their teaching, because of unbelievers who are coming into their churches, or because they think the congregation will not be able to grasp it if they go to deep. The attention span of people is very short. In either case, they do not want to teach over the heads of their audience so they remain shallow. 

In other cases, I think the one teaching the Bible is not very knowledgeable of it, and therefore he just teaches what he has heard others teach, or what his denomination instructs him to teach. 

All in all, the Biblical teaching heard in American churches and on television and radio, has very little depth and is usually taken out of context. We hear teachings on the same subjects over and over again. Even the central message of Jesus's death and resurrection has been reduced to being about "my own personal relationship with God so that I can go to heaven when I die", when there is so much more to it than that. If you have ever discussed God with non-westernized Christians, or Christians who have worked in non-westernized countries, you will find that their understanding of the Scriptures is much richer and deeper than what ours is here in the United States. 

Many of us Christians are babes living on milk, and are not moving on to meat. We consume as much as we can eat, but we do not share it by passing it on to others. This may be in large part because we have been indoctrinated by American Christianity to believe that it is the pastor's job to do so, because we are not qualified because we have not been schooled to teach the Bible. I wonder what Jesus, who discipled and instructed twelve non-college educated, ordinary men, to go and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded, would say about that. Or what the apostles, who taught that all Christians should come to a place in their lives where they are teaching others, would say. I'm certain they would not agree with American Christianity on this point, or many others for that matter.