The Peril of Falling Away
1 Therefore let us get past the elementary stage in the teachings about the Christ, advancing on to maturityandperfectionandspiritual completeness, [doing this] without laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 of teaching about washings (ritual purifications), the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. [These are all important matters in which you should have been proficient long ago.]
3 And we will do this [that is, proceed to maturity], if God permits.
4 For [it is impossible to restore to repentance] those who have once been enlightened [spiritually] and who havetastedandconsciously experienced the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tastedandconsciously experienced the good word of God and the powers of the age (world) to come,
6 and then have fallen away–it is impossible to bring them back again to repentance, since they again nail the Son of God on the cross [for as far as they are concerned, they are treating the death of Christ as if they were not saved by it], and are holding Him up again to public disgrace.
7 For soil that drinks the rain which often falls on it and produces crops useful to those for whose benefit it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God;
8 but if it persistently produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
Better Things for You
9 But, beloved, even though we speak to you in this way,we are convinced of better things concerning you, and of things that accompany salvation.
10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown for His name in ministering to [the needs of] the saints (God’s people), as you do.
11 And we desire for each one of you to show the same diligence [all the way through] so as to realizeandenjoy the full assurance of hope until the end,
12 so that you will not be [spiritually] sluggish, but [will instead be] imitators of those who through faith [lean on God with absolute trust and confidence in Him and in His power] and by patient endurance [even when suffering] are [now] inheriting the promises.
13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, He swore [an oath] by Himself, since He had no one greater by whom to swear,
14 saying, “Iwill surely bless you andIwill surely multiply you.”
15 And so, having patiently waited, he realized the promise [in the miraculous birth of Isaac, as a pledge of what was to come from God].
16 Indeed men swear [an oath] byone greaterthan themselves,and with them [in all disputes] the oathservesas confirmation [of what has been said] and is an end of the dispute.
17 In the same way God, in His desire to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His purpose, intervenedandguaranteed it with an oath,
18 so that by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge would have strong encouragementandindwelling strength to hold tightly to the hope set before us.
19 This hope [this confident assurance] we have as an anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whatever pressure bears upon it]–a safe and steadfast hope that enters within the veil [of the heavenly temple, that most Holy Place in which the very presence of God dwells],
20 where Jesus has entered [in advance] as a forerunner for us, having become a High Priest forever according to the order ofMelchizedek.