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The Book of Hebrews is aimed at boosting the flagging faith of a group of Christians in Rome (Decker, page 4, para2). His main purpose is to present his sermon as “a word of exhortation” . He knows that the Christians to whom his sermon is addressed are terrified {“they knew the paralysis that comes from the fear of death” [2:14-15]} (Decker, page 4, para.3&4) of being persecuted by Nero’s Romans for their alleged guilty role in starting the Great Fire of Rome in 54 A.D (Decker, page 2, para.3&4).
The writer tries to stem the tide of Christians trying to take refuge in their Jewish ancestry and abandoning their commitment to Jesus by exhorting them positively as well as negatively. The positive aspect is summed up in the words “let us go on to maturity” [verse 1, chapter 6]. He urges the Christians to proceed on to maturity instead of abandoning Christianity and hiding their loyalty to Jesus Christ. The negative aspect of his exhortation involves making his readers fully aware of the repercussions of their contemplated “falling away” actions (Decker, page 5, para.3&4). It is no coincidence that the writer’s warnings to the Christian group come at nearly the same time as Paul’s letter where he warned “if we deny him [Jesus}, he will also deny us” (Decker, page 9, para.7).
The writer of the Book of Hebrews warns that the act of “falling away” will make God chastise them. It is the incumbent characteristic in all genuine believers that they dare not fall away from their religion and loyalty to Jesus Christ just to escape persecution (Decker, page 5, para.3&4). The writer goes on to warn that if the believers did not prevent “falling away,” they are in fact “sinning willfully” [Heb.10:26-31], meaning that they are willfully abandoning Jesus Christ and willfully abandoning God’s people and the Church (Decker, page 10, para.3). Their act of “falling away” is akin to subjecting Jesus Christ to the pain and suffering of the crucifixion one more time, while also forcing him to endure public humiliation because their denial will not deceive the watching people – the people know of their allegiance to Christianity, hence by displaying denial, the people will respond by ridiculing Christianity as well as Jesus Christ (Decker, page 6, para.2). Reminding his readers of God’s stern response to the divine authority-defying Israelites in the desert (Biblica Worldwide, 2009, Theme, para.3), the writer warns the Christians that if they persist with their denial, they would surely incur the wrath of God {“how will we escape God’s chastening if we deny Christ?” [Heb.2:1-3]}. God will respond by levying a judgment of inevitable and inescapable punishment. It is impossible for those who deny their faith to have repentance restored to them [6:6]. As they have reveled and flourished in God’s blessings, they must react with obedience, utility, and fruitfulness, thereby continuing to get God’s blessings. If they instead choose to respond disobediently, uselessly, and fruitlessly, they incur the risk of being cursed – the final consequence of which could be physical death (Decker, page 6, para.1&4).
The writer softens his warning of dire consequences by assuring the Christians that persecution is not a new thing – Christians have experienced it several times earlier, and during each occasion, God had preserved them. In the same way, God is aware of the bitter situation they were in and is sure to come to their help (Decker, page 10, para.4).
The writer desires his readers to not give up their pursuit of holiness [12:10-14] (Biblica Worldwide, Theme, para.3) by displaying regression [5:11-14] or abandoning their Church [10:25] (Decker, page 4, para.2&3) by reverting to Judaism because it has been replaced by the special priesthood of Christ (Biblica Worldwide, Theme, para.3). He wants them not to go on complacently living as they like just because they have been saved by grace; instead, they should retain their belief in God and proceed ahead in their Christian maturity (Decker, page 9, para.5&7). He wishes that the readers would “stand firm together” [Heb.3:12-14]. By doing this they do not mean that they will be saved for their perseverance, but rather it will show their solidarity with Jesus Christ’s suffering because they are sharing what Jesus endured from an antagonistic world (Decker, page 10, para.2). The Christians should not “ignore such a great salvation” [2:3], but instead be openly loyal to Christ because his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension have paved the path for them to attain the genuine, heavenly refuge of God’s presence (Biblica Worldwide, Theme, para.3).
References
The Book of Bible, Hebrews. (2009). Biblica. Web.
Decker, R.J. Hebrews 6:4-6, ‘Standing before Nero.’ 2009, Baptist Bible Seminary. Web.
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