Elementary, my dear Watson
Hebrews 6:1-3 1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do if God permits.
I want to take a look at the subjects that the writer to the Hebrews calls the “elementary principals of Christ”. First of all, the meaning of “elementary”.
The Greek word is pronounced arkhay. It means the beginning, the corner, at the first. Like “elementary school”. The basics.
The word “principals” is actually not in there. So he is saying, “the basics of Christ”. I like the way the Message Bible words it: “The preschool fingerpaintings of Christ”. The A B C’s.
These are things that every Christian should know. The writer to the Hebrews (whom I will refer to just as “the writer” from now on”) assumed that those he was addressing already had them “down pat”. But, even in these what are supposed to be basic subjects, we can have a deeper understanding. And that’s what I’d like to present here.
The writer says “let us press on to perfection”. The word has the connotation of being complete or mature. The Amplified Bible brings out both of these:
AMPC …. Advancing steadily toward completeness and perfection that belong to spiritual maturity.
Some of these subjects I’ve already covered in depth in other posts. In those cases I will provide links to those posts rather than repeat all the material here.
Repentance from Dead Works
Usually when we hear the word “repentance” we think of repentance from sin. But that is not what the writer is referring to here. It is repentance (which literally means to re-think) from dead works. So what are dead works?
Dead comes from the Greek word nekron, which is from nekus, a corpse. It means dead, either literally or figuratively. In this case we are using the figurative meaning, which is to be useless, inactive, inoperative, non-functional.
Work comes from ergon, which means an action, work, or deed. It is derived from a word that means toil.
The context would be the good things that people do in order to earn the favor of God. The key here is the idea that the person is trying to earn favor.
For the Jews, to whom Hebrews was written, they believed that this favor was earned by keeping the Law as handed down by Moses. That was their way of salvation. And in the context of their day, that was a correct belief.
For the Christian however, our salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. And most of us understand this.
But what can happen, is Christians can feel that they can gain favor, “earn brownie points” with God, or become more mature through doing good deeds.
This is the trap that the Galatian church fell into. Paul preached salvation through Jesus Christ to the, which they wholeheartedly accepted. But after Paul left, a group a Christian Jews from the Jerusalem church came up and started telling these new Gentile Christians that “Yes, you get saved by believing in Christ, but if you really want to be spiritual, you need to keep the law of Moses”.
This was diametrically opposed to what Paul had taught them. And when he heard about it, he lit into them quite strongly.
Galatians 3:1-3 1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
You didn’t get spiritual by following a bunch of rules or rituals.
In Colossians, Paul addresses something similar.
Colossians 2:20-23 20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations–
21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”
22 which all concern things which perish with the using–according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Colossians 3:23 AMP Such [practices] have indeed the outward appearance [that popularly passes] for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of discipline of the body, but are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature). [Instead, they do not honor God but serve only to indulge the flesh.]
Are all works bad? Certainly not! But a differentiation needs to be made between dead works and good works.
Ephesians 2:10 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
It largely has to do with why you are doing the works. If it is to earn your way to heaven or into God’s favor, or to undergo harsh discipline to curb the lusts of your flesh, they will fail to do so – they are dead and inoperative.
But, if you are doing good deeds from the position that you love God and you love people, that is good. And we even get rewarded for it!
For more, see Looking For God’s Reward.
Faith Towards God
So the flip side of trying to be saved through dead works is faith for salvation. We don’t and cannot earn salvation, but we can believe in what Jesus did for us on the cross and accept salvation from Him.
Romans 10:3-10 3 For they [Paul here is speaking of the Jews] being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
7 or, ” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Righteousness – right standing with God – through faith. That is the message of the gospel.
I have written about it in detail in Righteousness – Theory and Application – Parts One and Two.
But faith is not just for salvation, it is supposed to be a lifestyle for the believer. Paul in Romans 1:17 says The just [those in right standing with God] shall live by faith.
Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
If you want to please God, obeying a bunch of rules or rituals will not get you there. But living a lifestyle of faith will.
I’ve written fairly extensively about faith, which you can se in Faith – Part One, Two, Three, Four.
Doctrines of Baptisms
When we hear that someone is going to teach about baptism, we usually think about water baptism. But the word here is plural – teachings about baptisms. There is more than one kind of baptism mentioned in the New Testament. Now you charismatics will probably also remember to include the Baptism in the Holy Spirit (and you are right to do so!). But there are actually six things the New Testaments calls baptisms.
Baptism of John – baptism of repentance
Matthew 3:11 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Luke 3:3-4 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,
4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.
A few words about John. There had been a gap of almost 400 years since the last prophet had arisen. The people of Israel were ready for a new word of the Lord. John’s purpose was twofold: to preach a message of repentance, to turn people’s hearts back to God in preparation for the coming of Christ, and to be a witness to identify the Christ.
Jesus had some great words about John.
Matthew 11:11 11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Jesus said that John represented the greatest of all those under the Old Covenant. Really? John greater than Abraham, or David? Greater than all the other prophets? Those were His words. Another thing Jesus says about John:
Matthew 11:12-14 12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.
What is the meaning of that? He is Elijah who is to come?
The last words of the Old Testament are these:
Malachi 4:5-6 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
One of the greatest stories about Elijah is how he confronted the prophets of Baal (see 1 Kings 18). At a time when many of the people of Israel, encouraged by their leaders, had turned away from God to worship Baal, He proposed a contest to prove who was the real God. That day, many people turned back to God.
Although Israel was not heaped in idolatry during the days of John the Baptist, he stoked their anticipation for the coming of the Messiah.
Christian Water baptism
Water baptism is a practice that was initiated by John but carried over into the New Testament. It is meant to be a demarcation between your old life and your new life, and a public declaration of your faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said “If you declare Me before men, I will also declare you before My Father in heaven.”
There has been some controversy over the necessity of water baptism to salvation. There is this one verse, part of the Great Commission:
Mark 16:15-16 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
So some say that if you are not baptized in water, you are not saved. And yet Jesus said to the thief on the cross next to Him, “Today you shall be with Me in paradise”. That thief was never baptized in water. And even in the Great commission, it says “He who does not believe will be condemned.” But it does not say “He who is not baptized will be condemned.” We also have:
Romans 10:9-10 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
And there is no mention of water baptism here.
So, I do not believe that if you are not baptized that it will disqualify you from salvation. That being said, new believers should make every effort to be baptized in water.
Jesus Only
There are some groups that are very particular about the words spoken over you when you are baptized. Some put forward that you should be baptized in the in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and others in the name of Jesus only.
Acts 2:38 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:16 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 10:48 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.
Acts 19:5 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
I must say, I was surprised from this. I was always in the “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” crowd. But when you look at the scriptures where it mentions what name(s) people were baptized in – and they are all from the book of Acts – it does mention Jesus only.
There are groups that have split off into their own denomination over this, and say that a baptism is not valid if you do it in the name of the Triune God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), and it only counts if you do it in the name of Jesus. I think that is taking it way too far.
God looks at people’s hearts, not at some formula. Certainly Christ must me included in their somewhere, as baptism is a public confession of our faith in Jesus – whether the person dunking you mentions only Him by name, or as the Son.
Baptized into Christ
Water baptism is something that we do when we are saved. Baptizing us into Christ is something that God does.
Romans 6:3-7 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
At its root, the Greek word baptize means to immerse, to be surrounded by. We are put into Christ. We identified with Him, so that the things that He did are credited to us as if we did them. We died with Him on the cross. We were buried with Him, and we were raised with Him.
Colossians 2:12 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Galatians 3:27 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Another aspect of being baptized into Christ is that we have been baptized into His Body:
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free–and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
The New Testament makes the analogy that Christ is the Head of the church, and all of us who have believed in Him make up His Body. The point is that we are all one unit. The head is not separate from the body, nor the body from the head. You don’t say, “Here comes George and his arms” – no, it’s just George. And each part of the body is just as much a part of the body as any other part.
Christ’s baptism of suffering
Jesus used the word baptism to describe the suffering He was to go through on the cross. Baptize means to immerse, and certainly with the flogging and crucifixion, He was immersed in suffering – all to purchase our salvation.
Matthew 20:20-23 20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.
21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”
22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”
Luke 12:49-51 49 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!
51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
Baptism of Fire
Luke 3:16 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
The “baptism with fire” is only mentioned by John the Baptist in this one incident (mentioned in three gospels). Some have associated it with the baptism of suffering that we talked about above. Certainly Jesus did forewarn the disciples (and us) that they would experience “tribulation” in the world.
But I think it’s a fallacy to associate the baptism of fire that John mentions with suffering. First of all, John said that it was Christ that would baptize us with fire. Was it, or is it Jesus who was directly causing their suffering? No, it was other people who persecuted Christians. Yes, it was their association with Jesus and their preaching of Him that was the reason why they were persecuting, but it was not God who was motivating and sending those people to attack.
The suffering the New Testament speaks of was always persecution at the hands of men. As years went by, especially as Christianity became more established and persecution stopped for the most part, Christians began associating the general sufferings that people experience in this world – trials like sickness, or poverty (which Deuteronomy 28 describes as under the curse of the Law) – with the passages in the New Testament talking about the sufferings we would go through as believers. They even began to believe that God was sending those trials to teach and perfect the Church.
I go into this in great detail in Tribulations On Trial – Part One, and Part Two.
Going back to what John the Baptist, he said that Christ would baptize us with “the Holy Spirit and with fire”. So those two things were coupled together.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
What was one of the manifestations that occurred when the 120 in the upper room were baptized in/with the Holy Spirit?
Acts 2:1-4 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
“Tongues of fire that sat on each of them”. There’s your baptism with fire, directly associated with being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Another thing – art over the years has depicted it as a little flame over their heads, like a lit candle. The Greek for “sat upon” means to sit upon, or settle upon. It was more likely all over their bodies, like St. Elmo’s fire.
I went over the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Details in The Baptism in the Holy Spirit and “That Tongues Business” – Part One, and Part Two.
Noah
1 Peter 3:19-21 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
21 There is also an antitype which now saves us–baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
This passage likens Noah and the Ark passing through the flood with baptism. The Greek word in the NKJV version here translated as antitype means a figure, or likeness of. Just as the Red Sea was a demarcation of two seasons of life for Israel, coming through the flood marked a new season for human beings on the earth.
It also calls baptism the answer of a good conscience towards God. Other translations word it as an appeal for a good conscience.
Baptized into Moses
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
One thing that baptism represents is a demarcation between one phase life and another. The old man dies with Christ, and the new man is raised with Him into a new life (Romans 6:4).
Israel experienced a similar demarcation when they passed through the Red Sea. Although they weren’t immersed in the waters, they were surrounded by them – as a wall of water on either side.
On one side of the Red Sea they were still subject to their Egyptian masters (who were coming to kill them), and on the other side they were delivered from all ties and bonds of authority. They were a free people.
To Be Continued…
