Hebrews 6:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore, if we root out and burn the thorns, we can obtain many blessings, become useful, and be counted worthy of blessing.

He rightly calls sin a thorn in the words, "produces thorns and thistles." For if you hold fast to sin, it pierces and stings, and even in appearance it is ugly.

Thus, after reproving them sufficiently, frightening and rebuking them, the Apostle then comforts them. He does this so as not to strike them too hard, and so that they do not become careless.

For when a lazy man is punished too much, he becomes still lazier.

Therefore the Apostle does not approve them in everything, lest they become proud. Nor does he reproach them in everything, lest he make them more careless.

Having spoken a little reproach, in the following words he offers great consolation, so that in this way he may attain his purpose.

What, then, does he say?

"Worthless and near to being cursed." He said that good earth is blessed by God. But of the barren earth he did not simply say, "cursed," but "near to being cursed," so that they would not despair.

For one who is near to the curse may also be far from it.

"Whose end is to be burned." This too is said so that we do not despair.

He did not say, "the earth will be burned," but "whose end is to be burned," that is, if it remains barren to the end.

Thus it is possible to avoid barrenness, burn up the thorns, become useful, and be counted worthy of blessing.

See how he does not strike them finally, lest he make them still more shameless. Nor does he heal them completely, lest he make them more careless.

Rather, after giving them a small wound, he applies to them a great remedy in the following words.

Do you see how the Apostle, although he declared decisively that there can be no second renewal, still did not deprive those who still repent of salvation? He showed that they are near to salvation. He showed that the Lord God is the defender of those who, after falls, offer most perfect repentance, conversion, and contrition, because of their good works.

Therefore both the holy word and the holy Church of God always receive repentance. This is not from laxity, nor to make those who run the course negligent. Rather, it is so as not to oppose the grace of God and the love of God for mankind, because the Church knows how to deal with every matter.

One who has lost virginity cannot acquire it again bodily, because nature makes this impossible. So also is one who, after the laver, has fallen into any grave sins. Yet just as continence remains as the second honor after virginity for one who has lost it, so another remedy remains for one baptized who has suffered a greater fall.

It is not as powerful as the first remedy. Yet this second remedy, once acquired, 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 distinctive property of the rule of truth is clear to everyone. After the first repentance through the bath of regeneration, in which the whole man was renewed, there is no other like it. 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 through a fall. But if anyone falls and is overtaken 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 anyone 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).

Nor should one judge before the coming, "until the Lord comes, who will reveal the secrets of the heart; and then each one's praise" (1 Cor 4:5) will be made manifest. "For the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire" (1 Cor 3:13).

Therefore we neither promise those who have fallen after baptism complete freedom, nor do we despair of their life. For God is merciful and gracious (Jon 4:2), and "to those who repent He grants a return" (Sir 17:20).

The first point is clear. Concerning the second, we know it because God is merciful, if we repent of transgressions with all our 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 [...]).