“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” (Hebrews 6:1)
A Christian who never matures beyond the initial experience of repentance and salvation is akin to a newborn baby who does not grow beyond their birth weight and length. The author of Hebrews references that spiritually infantile condition in the previous chapter. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles [the initial rudimentary teachings] of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food,” (Heb. 5:12). And he reiterates their condition here in our text, “… not laying again the foundation of repentance… and of faith,” (6:1). Because once the foundation is laid, it does not need to be laid again. Rather, it needs to be built upon.
For this reason, the urging nature of our text encourages us to “go on unto perfection,” or to continually strive for and pursue perfection which, in the context of this passage, clearly refers to spiritual growth and maturity. The repeated contrasts used by the writer of Hebrews in these associated chapters supports that – milk vs. meat, foundation vs. advancement, infancy vs. growth to maturity, elementary vs. complete. In short, the author is urging these infantile believers to spiritually grow up!
If we are growing in our walk with God and our relationship with him is continually deepening, then we are “being made perfect” by him and through him (Phil. 3:12-14). Robert Leigh said rightly, “when the inward man is filled up with acts of graces, and every grace with acts proper for its object,” he is walking towards perfection.
Perfection, as it pertains to our spiritual maturity toward godliness before Jesus Christ, is our greatest accomplishment in terms of Christian duty. It encompasses a full-on continual pursuit of the knowledge of God and of ourselves toward that which is akin to a well-ripened piece of fruit (Luke 8:14). And this can only be brought about by the merit of Christ through the power of his Spirit who is at work in us “to will and to do of his good pleasure… that you may be blameless and harmless,” (Phil. 2:13, 15).
Justification, sanctification, and consequently the fullness of our salvation are all the result of Christ’s work in us. We must be as travelers who are ever walking, moving forward, never resting or content in our knowledge of and relationship with God and his Christ until we come to the journey’s end… when death itself takes us home to heaven. This is how we taste perfection in part here with the hope to experience it in full in heaven.
Contemplations:
- Lord, I believe the perfection which Scripture says your children should strive to attain is to be understood in three ways: 1) the pursuit of holiness by the saints who are being sanctified by your Spirit in both soul and body, 2) the sincerity and uprightness of life which flows from a singularly devoted and upright heart, and 3) those who are spiritually weak in need of growth and maturity. And I know that I must pursue perfection in order to truly know you and grow in you.
- Because of the fall, all creation is out of joint. And yet you, Lord, have joined those you have chosen to your Son through divine redemption. You have reversed the fall in us. You have restored and set things in their proper place again (Gal. 6:1). You have handled us tenderly, setting that which is broken, so that it may become as strong and sound as it ever was to this end – that we be more and more perfected and established in that same estate to which we were restored by the power, merit, and work of Christ in our salvation and sanctification.
Further References for Hebrews 6:1:
Hebrews 9:14; Phil. 3:12; Col. 1:28; Deut. 18:13
