Exploring Hebrews 6: “Let Us Go On to Maturity”

In the closing verses of Hebrews 5, the Holy Spirit rebuked the sluggish believers for remaining on spiritual milk when they should have been feasting on solid food. The very next paragraph launches the remedy: **Hebrews 6:1-3** (ESV):

> “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.”

The call is urgent and forward-looking. The writer does not say, “Stay where you are and feel better about it.” He says, **“Let us go on.”** Maturity is not automatic; it is a deliberate, Spirit-empowered advance into the deeper truths of Christ.

The Elementary Foundation (What We Leave Behind)

The six “elementary doctrines” listed are not bad—they are the ABCs of the faith:

1. Repentance from dead works  

2. Faith toward God  

3. Instruction about washings (baptisms)  

4. Laying on of hands  

5. Resurrection of the dead  

6. Eternal judgment  

These are the basics every new believer must grasp. But the mature Christian does not keep rebuilding the foundation year after year. We do not re-lay the same concrete every spring. We build the house—doctrine upon doctrine, obedience upon obedience—until we are living in the full reality of the New Covenant.

This is the same progression Paul described in 1 Corinthians 3 and the same “grow up into salvation” Peter commanded in 1 Peter 2:2. Milk is for infants. Solid food is for the mature. And Hebrews insists we must press on.

The Sobering Warning (Hebrews 6:4-8)

Immediately after the call to maturity comes one of the most solemn passages in all of Scripture:

> “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” (vv. 4-6)

To a conservative, Bible-believing audience, this warning must be handled with both clarity and pastoral care. The text does **not** teach that true, born-again Christians can lose their salvation. The same chapter later declares, “We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end” (v. 11). The writer is describing a real and terrifying possibility for those who have experienced the outward privileges of the Christian community—enlightenment, tasting the heavenly gift, sharing in the Spirit’s ministry—yet have never been truly regenerated. They have come close to the kingdom but have never entered it by faith alone in Christ alone.

This is the same category Jesus described in the Parable of the Soils (Matthew 13): the rocky and thorny ground that receives the seed with joy but brings forth no lasting fruit. The warning is not meant to torment genuine believers; it is meant to awaken the complacent and to drive the true saint to persevere. As one commentator has rightly said, “The best way to prove you are not the soil that falls away is to keep believing and bearing fruit.”

The agricultural picture in verses 7-8 is unmistakable: land that drinks the rain and produces thorns and thistles is worthless and near to being cursed. The mature believer is the soil that bears useful crops and receives God’s blessing.

 The Encouragement and the Anchor (Hebrews 6:9-20)

Thankfully, the chapter does not end in warning. It pivots to hope:

> “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints…” (vv. 9-10)

The author sees evidence of genuine faith in their love and service. He urges them to “show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end” (v. 11) so they will “inherit the promises.”

Then comes the glorious climax: God’s unbreakable oath to Abraham (Genesis 22) becomes the pattern for our hope. Because God cannot lie and has sworn by Himself, our hope is “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (v. 19). That anchor has already been cast behind the veil into the very presence of God, where Jesus our High Priest has entered as forerunner on our behalf.

 What Maturity Looks Like Today

Building on the milk-to-meat challenge of Hebrews 5, chapter 6 calls us to four practical marks of maturity:

1. **Press on past the basics.** Stop rehashing elementary truths as if they were new. Move into the full counsel of God—Christ’s high priesthood, the superiority of the New Covenant, the finished work of Calvary.

2. **Bear fruit that lasts.** Genuine maturity is proven by perseverance in faith and love, not by how much theology we can debate. Are we serving the saints? Are we enduring hardship without falling away?

3. **Cling to the anchor.** In a world of shifting sand—cultural chaos, political promises, doctrinal fads—the mature believer is not tossed by every wind. Our hope is fixed on the unchangeable character of God and the finished work of Christ.

4. **Warn one another daily.** Hebrews 3:13 commands, “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Maturity is both personal and corporate.

Dear conservative Christian friends, the same grace that brought us to faith is the grace that calls us higher. The God who swore an oath to Abraham has sworn an oath to us in the blood of His Son. He will not let us go. But neither will He let us stay infants.

Will you go on to maturity?

Lay aside the milk bottle. Pick up the solid food of Scripture. Fix your eyes on Jesus, our forerunner and High Priest. Let the anchor of hope hold you fast until the day we stand before Him—mature, complete, lacking nothing.

To God alone be the glory. Amen.

DMMC 

4-29-26