New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deedsa and placing our faith in God.

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The Peril of Falling Away

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

2

You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

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of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

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And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

3

And this we will do, if God permits.

4

For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened — those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit,

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For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,

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who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come —

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and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

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and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

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and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

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When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing.

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For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

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But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.

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but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

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Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation.

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Better Things for You

But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way.

10

For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers,b as you still do.

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For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

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Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true.

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And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,

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Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

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so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

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God’s Promises Bring Hope

For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:

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For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

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“I will certainly bless you,
and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”c

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saying, “I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.”

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Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

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And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

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Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.

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For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

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God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind.

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In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath,

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So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

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so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

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This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.

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This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,

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Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

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where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Parallel

New Living Translation

New American Standard Bible

Hebrews 6

Hebrews 6