How do you approach someone who says they trust in Christ and yet does not live in allegiance to Christ? Today, we are going to walk alongside the author of Hebrews as he deals with this difficult scenario when writing to Jewish people who may not have ever truly trusted in Christ and yet are claiming to be apart of the church. We are glad you are here today.
Dan, thanks for your intense study in preparation for this message. I have one concern. I think it is just a choice of words which give a meaning that I am sure you don’t believe. Towards the end you stated that belivieing Jews should “forget” about the list that the author was instructing them to move on from. When the author is instructing them to build upon what they had learned. Not to forget about what they learned and move on.
Bob, you are correct. The idea of leave behind or move on (as we discussed in part 1, c.f. 6:1: “leave the elementary doctrine of Christ”), is the complete meaning. The idea of “forget” was in relation to the overall thrust that they were clinging to shadows and types that were designed to point to Messiah and their walk with God beginning to run-through Old Testament values. In short, in doing this they were practically rejecting Jesus and this would be tantamount to affirming that it was right to have crucified Him given the shadows and types are enough (c.f. 6:6). It is in their application and valuing of the Old Covenant over the New Covenant (see 6:2) that I referenced the need to “forget”…not meaning that those things have no place but that the place they had given them in their lives was now threatening the sufficiency of Jesus Christ in being their Messiah, their Christ (the “Anointed One”). Thanks for clarifying.