Hebrews 6:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Let us fear, then, beloved. This is not Paul's threat, nor are these human words. They are the words of the Holy Spirit, of Christ who spoke in Paul.

Who is clean from these thorns?

Even if we were clean, we should still not remain unconcerned. We should fear and tremble lest thorns grow in us.

But if we are wholly made up of thorns and briers, tell me, how can we remain calm and careless?

What makes us careless? If the one who thinks he stands must fear lest he fall, then how much must the fallen care in order to rise?

For it is written, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor 10:12).

If Paul feared "lest, after preaching to others, I myself should become disqualified" (1 Cor 9:27), then what defense and pardon shall we have?

He, so worthy, feared becoming unworthy. We have already become unworthy, yet we have no fear.

We fulfill Christian duties as though by custom, and only for show.

Let us fear, then, beloved. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven" (Rom 1:18).

Let us fear, because it is revealed not only against "ungodliness," but against every "unrighteousness," small and great.

At the same time the Apostle also points to the love of God for mankind.

By rain he means teaching. What he said above in the words, "For though by this time you ought to be teachers," he says here also.

In many places Scripture calls teaching rain. "I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it," says the Lord about the vineyard (Is 5:6).

Elsewhere the same thing is called a famine of bread and a thirst for water (Amos 8:11).

And again: "The river of God is full of water" (Ps 64:10).

"The earth," he says, "which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it."

Here he expresses that they both received and drank his word. They were often deemed worthy to hear it, yet gained no benefit from it.

If you had not been cultivated, he says, and if you had not received rains, the evil would not have been so great.

For Christ says, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin" (Jn 15:22).

But if you often drank and received, why did you bring forth something else instead of fruits?

"I expected," says the Lord, "that it would bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes" (Is 5:4).

Do you see that Scripture everywhere calls sins thorns? David also says, "I became miserable when the thorn was fixed in me" (Ps 31:4).

The thorn does not merely enter. It is fixed in.

Even if little of it remains, if it is not entirely pulled out, then the smallest part causes pain just as the whole thorn does.

But why do I say a little? Even after it has been pulled out, pain remains in the wound for a long time.

Therefore one must heal and treat it for a long time in order to be freed from it completely.

It is not enough merely to tear out the sin. The wounded place must also be healed.

I fear that the Apostle's words apply to us more than to others: "The earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it."

For we constantly drink and constantly hear. Yet as soon as the sun rises, we lose the moisture, and so we bring forth thorns.

What are these thorns? Let us listen to Christ, who says, "The care of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mt 13:22).

"The earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears useful herbs."

There is nothing so useful as purity of life, nothing so beautiful as a well-ordered life, and nothing so desirable as virtue.

"And bears," he says, "herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God."

Here he teaches that God is the cause of all things. In a certain way he reproves the pagans, who attributed the production of fruits to the power of the earth.

It is not the hands of the farmer, he says, that stir the earth to bear fruit, but the command of God.

Therefore he says, "receives blessing from God."

"For those by whom it is cultivated." The earth, he says, brings forth vegetation, that is, a virtuous life, for those by whom it is cultivated.

This is useful for them, since those who bring forth virtue will themselves enjoy it.

Some have understood "for those" to mean the teachers. Indeed, good conduct is fostered by them, so that they become sharers in the virtue of their disciples.

"Receives blessing from God." Here he silently reproves the Greeks, who attribute the growth of fruits to the power of the earth.

Not even the farmer's hands produce the fruits. Rather, he says, everything is the work of God. He Himself blesses and grants abundance of fruits.

He showed that they are near to salvation, and that the Lord God is the defender of those who, after falls, bring the most complete repentance, conversion, and contrition, for the sake of their good works.

Therefore both the holy word and the holy Church of God always receive repentance. They do so not out of laxity, nor to make those who run the course negligent.

They do so in order not to oppose the grace of God and the love of God for mankind, because the Church knows how to deal with every matter.

For just as one who has lost virginity cannot acquire it bodily again, by natural impossibility, so it is with one who has fallen into some great sins after the font.

And just as, for one who has lost virginity, there remains the second honor after it, namely continence, so for one who was baptized and then suffered a greater fall, another healing remains.

It is not as strong as the first. Yet this second acquired healing is not alien to life.

Therefore the Word of God does not reject the reward of those who labor in repentance.

That this is the distinguishing property of the rule of truth is clear to everyone.

After the first repentance through the laver of rebirth, in which the whole man was renewed, there is no other like it.

For there are not two Baptisms, but one. Christ was not crucified twice, but once. He did not die for us and rise twice.

Therefore one must take care not to lose the crown of renewal by a fall.

But if anyone falls and is caught in some transgression, as the Apostle says, "You who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted" (Gal 6:1).

Therefore if anyone falls into any transgression whatever, let him repent.

For God receives repentance if someone falls even after Baptism.

How He acts after this, He alone knows. For "His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out" (Rom 11:33).

Before the coming, one must not judge, "until the Lord comes, who will reveal the secrets of the heart. Then each one's praise will be made manifest" (1 Cor 4:5).

For "the Day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire" (1 Cor 3:13).

Therefore we neither promise complete freedom to those who have fallen after Baptism, nor do we despair of their life.

For God is merciful and gracious (Jon 4:2), and there is a return for those who repent (Sir 17:20).

The first matter is clear. Concerning the second, we know that God is merciful if we repent of our transgressions with our whole soul.

For in His hand are life, salvation, and love for mankind.

What He does is known to Him alone. Yet repentance harms no one, and one who repents of all transgressions is not rejected.

Fiery condemnation will also overtake the apostates of whom the Apostle speaks.

If repentance were in them, they could not be likened to earth that produces only thorns. Repentance cannot be counted among the thorns of a sinful soul.

Therefore there is no renewal for them because they themselves do not want it. They stubbornly reject repentance and have, as it were, lost the very capacity for it.

Thus, by the fallen ones whom it is impossible to renew unto repentance, we must understand only unrepentant sinners hardened in enmity toward Christ.

The impossibility of their renewal must be understood as their own incapacity for good.

It does not mean that the Church, the distributor of God's gifts, must or may reject anyone's repentance.

So too the appearance of such people, and the impossibility of repentance for some of them, are mysteries.

Scripture itself does not explain this mystery to us, but only affirms it.

The Lord called the state of impenitence blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will not be forgiven either in this life or in the life to come (Matt. 12:31-32).

Of course, this blasphemy will not remain unforgiven because God's mercy is lacking. Rather, it is because of that satanic hardness and stubbornness against the truth.

Such stubbornness itself refuses to take the outstretched right hand of the merciful Lord.

We can only observe the law of this terrible phenomenon. This law always repeats itself in the same way.

The higher a morally free being stands in spiritual capacities and powers, and the greater the height from which its moral fall occurs, the deeper that fall becomes.

So too, less possibility remains for such a fallen being to rise and ascend again to its former height.

This explains the hardened stubbornness of Christ's enemies, the Pharisees and scribes. Seeing, they did not see, and hearing, they did not hear.

Despite the Savior's countless miracles and His lofty teaching, they brought Him to crucifixion. Even on the cross they mocked Him.

Yet thieves, publicans, and harlots repented of their sins and confessed Him as the Son of God and Savior of the world.

In this same law of moral and psychological life, we find the explanation of the Apostle Paul's words about apostates.

He does not mean frivolous, accidental, or superficial people of this kind. Whom, then, does he mean?

He means those who have been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift. That is, they have reached a conscious conviction of the truth of Christianity.

They have already experienced its saving fruits in themselves, namely justification before God and the sanctification of their souls.

Then he speaks of those who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit. That is, they have been overshadowed by His grace in the sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation.

They have also received the manifold gifts of miracles (1 Cor. 12).

And again, they have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. That is, they have sensed the sweetness of the divine promises of blessed eternity.

They have even had a foretaste of this blessedness.

If, after all this, these people fall in the sense of falling away from Christ, then in truth their condition can only be hopeless.

To renew such people by repentance is already impossible, at least for human powers.

The Apostle rightly compares the moral condition of such people to spoiled soil. It has often drunk the rain that falls upon it, yet still produces thorns and thistles.

Such land, says the Apostle, is worthless and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned (Heb. 6:7-8).

Truly it is so. May the Lord preserve us from this state!

In biblical language, παραπίπτειν most often denotes a dishonorable act. Here it has the same meaning as the expression έχουσίως άμαρτάνειν in 10:26.

It is impossible to renew such fallen ones again (άνακαινίζειν). That is, it is impossible to repeat in them the renewal that already took place once, when they passed into Christianity.

But why? Because such people, to their own harm (έαυτοϊς), crucify Christ (άνασταυροάν).

For themselves personally, they do what their fathers had done before them, when they crucified Jesus. In this way they put Him to open shame (παραδειγματίζον [...]).