Hebrews 6:1, commentary and pictures

Leaving the first principles means that conversion, baptism, receiving the heavenly gift and peace with God through the atonement only begin the Christian life, and those who have received them are to keep growing toward perfection, toward the full stature of Christ. Believers are to move beyond the beginning of Christ's teaching toward spiritual maturity and never stop at any halfway place, growing continually in character, holiness, knowledge of God and love to the close of time. Perfection here means perfect love, perfect obedience and perfect conformity to the will of God, with mind, soul and body conformed to Christ through the Spirit and the will, disposition, faculties and passions brought into harmony with God. Going on to perfection means preserving integrity and continuing faithful obedience in the present instead of resting with self-complacency on long years of advocating truth, since past experience, trials, obedience and faithfulness never atone for present neglect. Christianity is a religion of progress, and God bids His people go forward with full and ample light to be asked for and infinite supply of blessing beyond all already given, walking in the light given from Christ, consecrating self to His service and exercising the mind in godliness and true holiness.

Leaving the First Principles

Conversion and peace with God through the atonement begin the Christian life rather than complete it, and after finding that peace believers are to keep growing toward perfection and pressing forward in the Christian life, becoming more like Christ. Baptism is the beginning of Christian work, not its completion, and those who have received the heavenly gift are to go on to perfection by relying on God's power through faith, advancing toward the full stature of Christ. Believers are to reflect Christ's light more and more, bringing the spirit and power of heaven into life while seeking the salvation of those around them.

The call is to move beyond the beginning of Christ's teaching toward spiritual maturity and to advance continually unto perfection, refusing to stop at any halfway place. This means continual growth in Christian character, holiness, knowledge of God, and love, with the mind exercised in godliness and true holiness, continuing to the close of time rather than remaining at the beginning of the faith, remaining stagnant, or regressing. The voice of God carries every soul who will be saved higher and still higher, and this advance is holiness of heart to be desired and panted after, answering yes to being perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect, holier and holier still, a work teachers are to train students to make. Failure to advance does not prevent a new beginning, for by taking hold of the work decisively in Christ believers can show God's power and grace transforming the natural person into a spiritual person and enabling them to overcome, while refusing light already received leaves people spiritually weak and accountable.

The first principles of the doctrine of Christ are the self-sacrificing principles of the word of God, and even when professed believers fail to live them out fully and need reproof, their enemies are entirely destitute of those principles, with reproof proving sonship rather than disproving it. Those first principles are the groundwork of faith and present truth, including foundational lessons that must be learned before a person is ready to teach the church. Ministers who have scarcely learned those principles must study Scripture so they can teach the way of life more fully and intelligently, since some leaders and teachers did not understand that groundwork and some educated in Battle Creek still needed to learn it.

Those first principles must be learned and held in an age of error, day-dreaming, and reverie, so that in making known the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ believers follow high and noble principles rather than cunningly devised fables. Learning those first principles underscores grounding teaching in Scripture rather than fanciful interpretations without biblical foundation.

Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God means not repeatedly laying that foundation but leaving it and advancing toward perfection. Going on to perfection in that sense means cutting away the entanglements of self and sin and growing in sanctification.

Perfection is perfect love, perfect obedience, and complete conformity to God's will, reached by being sanctified to God through obedience to the truth with the conscience purged from dead works to serve the living God. As mind, soul, and body are conformed to Christ believers become more like Him through the Spirit, and though not yet perfect it is their privilege to press forward, with great possibilities and high and holy attainments placed within the reach of all. Going on to perfection means overcoming weaknesses of character by bringing the will, disposition, faculties, and passions into harmony with God's will and the attributes of Jesus Christ. It involves praying for a clean heart and right spirit and pressing on to full maturity of pure and holy character with a heart renewed by divine grace and kept by God's power through faith, since character built apart from Christ falls like a house on shifting sand in temptation. Christian perfection means continued growth in character in which the heart must be renovated and transformed rather than merely agreeing with truth in theory, requiring believers to press forward, leave nothing insecure, and watch themselves diligently because their character can misrepresent Christ and lead others into sin.

Pressing Forward in Practice

Christianity is a religion of progress, and God bids His people go forward to perfection rather than neglect the light He gives, with full and ample light waiting to be asked for and demanded and drawn upon, and beyond whatever blessings He gives an infinite supply beyond, an inexhaustible store to draw from for those who seek them. Going on to perfection means preserving integrity and continuing faithful obedience in the present, not resting with self-complacency and security on long years of advocating truth or feeling entitled to a reward for past trials and obedience. Genuine past experience in the things of God, past trials and obedience, past truthfulness and faithfulness never atone for present neglect, so that faithfulness for the past year will never atone for neglect in the present year and truthfulness yesterday will not atone for falsehood today. That past makes present neglect more guilty when integrity is not preserved, and if the church folds its hands and fails to advance it will meet defeat and ruin.

Going forward requires walking in the present light graciously given from Jesus Christ, earnestly seeking the Lord, consecrating self to His service, obeying the voice of duty, and exercising the mind in godliness with growth in knowledge and true holiness. Those who do this will be delivered by God when exposed to the fallacies of satanic agencies and fearful waves of fanaticism. Sinful neglect to walk in the light enshrouds in darkness, while honest failure to recognize and obey the light, doubts entertained, neglect to heed God's requirements, and refusal of light already received blind perception, leave people spiritually weak and accountable, until darkness is called light and light is called darkness and the light may be withdrawn.

Growth toward perfection involves seeking God with all the heart with a heart renewed by divine grace, praying for a clean heart and right spirit and being kept by the power of God through faith, since after becoming partakers of the heavenly gift believers must press on to full maturity of pure and holy character and character built apart from Christ falls like a house on shifting sand in temptation. It involves expelling sin from the heart, enthroning Christ in its place, and letting love for God replace love of self, with the result that domineering over others ends. Going on to perfection means reflecting Christ's light more and more, bringing the spirit and power of heaven into life, being led onward and upward in improving entrusted light, talents, privileges and the light graciously given, growing brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. It means gathering that light and sending forth its bright rays to convince poor souls in darkness and sin in a crooked and perverse generation, seeking the salvation of those around them, keeping garments white in purity and simplicity of faith with inward piety instead of mere form, overcoming doubt and unbelief that bring moral darkness and inefficiency and leave needed work undone, until the church stands on vantage ground with Holiness unto the Lord inscribed on every work.

God designs His people, who have been given the most solemn truth ever given to mortals and great light, to awake and rise higher and higher heavenward to perfection in true, faithful work, with every step a step heavenward. That work calls for men and women of intellect and thought who are well versed in the Scriptures, who know the sanctifying influence and power of truth upon the heart and tell of that power over and over to exert persuasive influence over others, who carefully guard spirit and words and actions especially when standing in responsible positions, and who will not become discouraged. The church failed to make that progress, for although it received increasing treasures of truth and great blessings to improve and return with increase as justice requires where greater gifts obligate more, it gradually fell away from its earlier spiritual experience and from what had been attained instead of holding it and going forward from it. As it sought the world's praise, friendship, pride, and worldly ambition it moved away from God, its faith diminished, its zeal grew languid, fervent devotion gave place to dead formality, cherished pride drove out the spirit of Christ, and emulation, dissension, and strife distracted and weakened it.

In a most solemn time only a small portion of those who profess the truth will be sanctified by it and saved, with the humble, self-sacrificing followers of Jesus passing on to perfection while leaving behind the indifferent and lovers of the world, because many get above the simplicity of the work, conform to the world, cherish idols, and become spiritually dead. Even when believers are not what they might be but still show self and selfishness, have not brought the will into harmony with God's will, have not yet learned the lessons in Christ's school, are hard to receive the mold of Christ, and after years in the truth remain unmanageable and cause trouble, the call is to thank God for the good work already done, acknowledge progress at different points, not stay disappointed over how little has been done, and take hold of the work decisively in Christ and press forward to perfection. In Christ the natural person can be transformed into a spiritual person, showing God's power and grace and enabling overcoming. There is no time to lose and believers must strive continually for perfection of character, refusing to stop at any halfway place and answering yes to being perfect even as the Father in heaven is perfect, holier and holier still, with the voice of God carrying every soul who will be saved higher and still higher in holiness of heart to be desired and panted after. That advance brings victory, the resting of God's blessing, and interesting experience that should be written out and shared so others are encouraged, and training students to make this advance is the work of teachers and cannot be represented too highly.