Subject: Hebrews 6:6 explained |
Bible Note: Greetings Berean! I love your name! :-) I would take a different approach on the meaning of "taste" my friend. The word (Gr: geuomai) is used 15 times in the New Testament. For the most part, it's uses don't seem to indicate a meaning of "try", but to fully experience something. This is the case especially in Hebrews, where it is used 3 times. 1) Heb. 2:9 says, " But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." 2) The other two occurances are in Heb. 6:4 and 6:5. Heb. 6:4 and 6:5 are the ones in debate, but Heb. 2:9 gives a good indication of what the author of Hebrews means when he used the word 'taste'. In this case, Christ fully experienced death. In fact, 'taste' is used many times in reference to experiencing death (Mt. 16:28, Mk. 9:1, Lk. 9:27, Jn. 8:52). All of these are strong indicators that 'to taste' something is to fully experience it. Along this line of thought the word is also used of our experience of Christ in 1 Peter 2:3, where Christians are told to grow in their salvation now that they have 'tasted' that the Lord is good. It is used several times of eating a meal. The only verse I could find where the meaning 'to try' or 'to sample' would be legitimate would be in Mt. 27:34, where Jesus 'tasted' the wine, but refused to drink it. This word study (at least to me) indicates that Heb. 6:4 and 6:5 refer to people who had fully experienced salvation. There are also several problems with identifying these people as unbelievers. 1) Note the last phrase of verse 4. These people were described as those who were partakers of the Holy Spirit. I have never yet heard how a unbeliever could be a sharer in the Holy Spirit. 2) Verse 6 refers to the impossibility of bring them 'back' to repentance. Thus, they must have repented before! 3) They are said in verse 6 to be 'crucifying Christ again'. It is difficult to see how an unbelievers remaining an unbeliever would result in Christ be crucified again. I fully agree with you my friend that Hebrews is an excellent book! By the way, you made an interesting point about Luke 15:11-32. I don't believe they are contradictory at all. I you would like to read why, search for a post made by me (Morant61) using the search words 'sir' and 'renew'. This will produce only one result, which is a response I made to Sir Pent about this issue on 12/4/01. Welcome to the forum and I hope that we can interact more in the future my new friend! :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |