Hebrews 5:11-6:3
God's message helps us to grow strong as believers
11 We have a lot more to say to you about these things. But you are slow to understand things. As a result, it is difficult to explain any more to you. 12 After all this time as believers in Jesus, you ought to be teachers. Instead of that, you still need someone to teach you the first lessons about God's message. You have become like babies, who need milk instead of proper food. 13 Anyone who still thinks like a baby does not yet understand God's message about what is right. It is as if they are still drinking only milk. 14 People who have grown up eat proper food. In the same way, people who have been believers for a long time should understand more about God's message. They should have learned about what is good and about what is bad. They should know the difference between these.
Hebrews 6
Christians must continue to learn from God
1 So we must go on from the first lessons that we learned about Christ. We must grow as believers so that we understand more and more. We should not go back to those first lessons again and again. We already know that we must turn away from wrong things that lead to death. We know that we must trust God. 2 We have already learned about how to become clean. We know that leaders put their hands on other Christians to pray for God's help. We know that God will raise dead people to live again. And we know that God will judge every person one day at the end of time.
6:2God gave his people special rules to make themselves and other things clean. See Numbers 19:1-10. This may also mean Christian baptism. This shows that, if someone is a Christian, God has made that person clean and new. 6:2The Bible tells us that Christian leaders often put their hands on somebody when they prayed for them. It might be when God chose that person for special work. See Acts 9:17; 13:3. Or it might be to pray for someone who was ill. In the Old Testament Israel's leaders also did this at certain times. See Numbers 27:18, 23. 3 Yes, we must choose to go on from those early lessons! God is ready to help us to do that.
