And this will we do - God being my helper, I will teach you all the sublime truths of the Gospel; and show you how all its excellences were typified by the law, and particularly by its sacrificial system. read more
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened - Before I proceed to explain the different terms in these verses, it is necessary to give my opinion of their design and meaning: I do not consider them as having any reference to any person professing Christianity. They do not belong, nor are they applicable, to backsliders of any kind. They belong to apostates from Christianity; to such as reject the whole Christian system, and its author, the Lord Jesus. And to those of... read more
And have tasted the good word of God - Have had this proof of the excellence of the promise of God in sending the Gospel, the Gospel being itself the good word of a good God, the reading and preaching of which they find sweet to the taste of their souls. Genuine believers have an appetite for the word of God; they taste it, and then their relish for it is the more abundantly increased. The more they get, the more they wish to have. The powers of the world to come - Δυναμεις τε μελλοντος... read more
If they shall fall away - Και παραπεσοντας And having fallen away. I can express my own mind on this translation nearly in the words of Dr. Macknight: "The participles φωτισθεντας , who were enlightened, γευσαμενους , have tasted, and γενηθεντας , were made partakers, being aorists, are properly rendered by our translators in the past time; wherefore, παραπεσοντας , being an aorist, ought likewise to have been translated in the past time, Have fallen away. Nevertheless, our... read more
For the earth which drinketh in the rain - As much as if he had said: In giving up such apostates as utterly incurable, we act as men do in cultivating their fields; for as the ground, which drinketh in the rain by which the providence of God waters it, brings forth fruit to compensate the toil of the tiller, and continues to be cultivated, God granting his blessing to the labors of the husbandman; so, read more
That which beareth thorns and briers is rejected - That is: The land which, notwithstanding the most careful cultivation, receiving also in due times the early and latter rain, produces nothing but thorns and briers, or noxious weeds of different kinds, is rejected, αδοκιμος , is given up as unimprovable; its briers, thorns, and brushwood burnt down; and then left to be pastured on by the beasts of the field. This seems to be the custom in husbandry to which the apostle alludes. The nature... read more
But, beloved - Here he softens what he had before said; having given them the most solemn warning against apostasy, he now encourages them to persevere, commends the good that is in them, and excites them to watchfulness and activity. Better things of you - Than that you shall resemble that unfruitful ground that can be improved by no tillage, and is thrown into waste, and is fit only for the beasts of the forests to roam in. Things that accompany salvation - Τα εχομενα σωτηριας· ... read more
God is not unrighteous - God is only bound to men by his own promise: this promise he is not obliged to make; but, when once made, his righteousness or justice requires him to keep it; therefore, whatever he has promised he will certainly perform. But he has promised to reward every good work and labor of love, and he will surely reward yours; God's promise is God's debt. Every good work must spring from faith in the name, being, and goodness of God; and every work that is truly good must... read more
We desire - Επιθυμουμεν , We earnestly wish, that each person among you may continue ενδεικνυσθαι , to manifest, exhibit to full view, the same diligence. There might be reason to suspect that some, through fear of man, might not wish the good they did to be seen, lest they also should suffer persecution. This would not comport with the generous, noble spirit of the Gospel; the man who is afraid to let his decided attachment to God be known, is not far from backsliding. He who is more... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:2
Of the doctrine of baptisms - " There were two things," says Dr. Owen, "peculiar to the Gospel, the doctrine of it and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Doctrine is called baptism, Deuteronomy 32:2 ; hence the people are said to be baptized to Moses, when they were initiated into his doctrines, 1 Corinthians 11:2 . The baptism of John was his doctrine, Acts 19:3 ; and the baptism of Christ was the doctrine of Christ, wherewith he was to sprinkle many nations, Isaiah 52:15 . This is the... read more