Hebrews 6:4-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
4 For it is impossible in the case of those who have once been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift[a] and shared in the holy Spirit(A) 5 and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,[b] 6 and then have fallen away, to bring them to repentance again, since they are recrucifying the Son of God for themselves[c] and holding him up to contempt.(B) 7 Ground that has absorbed the rain falling upon it repeatedly and brings forth crops useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.(C) 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is rejected; it will soon be cursed and finally burned.(D)
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- 6:4 Enlightened and tasted the heavenly gift: this may refer to baptism and the Eucharist, respectively, but more probably means the neophytes’ enlightenment by faith and their experience of salvation.
- 6:5 Tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come: the proclamation of the word of God was accompanied by signs of the Spirit’s power (1 Thes 1:5; 1 Cor 2:4).
- 6:6 They are recrucifying the Son of God for themselves: a colorful description of the malice of apostasy, which is portrayed as again crucifying and deriding the Son of God.
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