Hebrews 6-- An Anchor for the Soul

Scripture: Hebrews 6

Life is full of strange tensions. Every person is full of morally "good" and "bad" impulses, regardless of which moral system we consider. Concepts such as infinity and perfectly circular objects are easily conceived by the human mind, but do not exist in nature. Light (and maybe even matter?) behaves as both particle and wave.

Christianity is no different: Jesus is fully God and fully man. The Bible was written by God and written by people. God is in sovereign control of all things, and humans make actual, meaningful decisions. You can call it paradox, antinomy, or tension, but in life and religion we learn to live with immense complexity.


I see something similar happening in Hebrews 6. For the first half of the chapter, the author offers a scathing warning against falling away. The readers' access to God's truth places a grave responsibility on them to endure:

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

And yet after this... stern... warning, the author holds out both his personal confidence in them and the reality of God's role in keeping them in His family:

We are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him... God [swore to us His purpose to bless us] so that... we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

On the one hand, we had better not fall away from the God who has given us His eternal promises, blessing, and Spirit. Our souls are at stake. We should be terrified of life without Him. On the other hand, God is trustworthy, fair, loving, desiring to bless us, and, to top it off, has secured our hope with His promise. We should be filled with joy as we trust in the anchor He has given our souls.