Heb 6:1-3 Wherefore let us cease to speak of the first principles of Christ, and press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Forgive me for a moment while I collect the facts found in this passage. This is written first and foremost to the Hebrew people, a group who was dealing with their entrenched beliefs and about how what God had done through Christ in their lifetime affected those beliefs. It declares the apparent need to stop talking about the first principles of Christ. Now obviously this leads me to ask if there are first principles, would that not also imply a second, third, fourth, to the nth principle too? It would appear so from all indications found in verse 3.<\/p>\n
It also seems to appear that the first principles of Christ involve instruction on the subjects of repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrections and eternal judgement. I\u2019ve been in church services for quite a few years now and even seen my fair share of sermons on the tv; but not once have I heard anything OTHER THAN this. Meaning: No one appears to know what the second, third, fourth or nth principles are. IF you don\u2019t know, well, then you don\u2019t know how to teach them.<\/p>\n
I find it interesting that this writer can list six steps in what could be described as a level or stage of coming into the knowledge of Christ. However, due to the time in which he was writing, there is the understanding that God somehow can determine when a new level is to be presented to the reader.<\/p>\n
What if one or more of these levels already occurred in God\u2019s timing and no one could recognize it simply because it had never been seen before? What if God had permitted a multitude of unveilings designed to lead us onto perfection but our dogmatic insistence that if it wasn\u2019t in the bible it wasn\u2019t God kept us\u2026no, constrained us from living up to the character of Christ?<\/p>\n
500 years ago, a great protest arose against the church. The 95 theses that Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Wittenberg cathedral fractured the only known church of the world into the denominational fox-hole of a mess we have today. While all claim to be the true path to Christ, none will risk moving beyond the first principle. Honestly, what do they have to lose as congregants leave the first principle on their own in search of\u2026well anything that doesn\u2019t resemble \u201cchurch\u201d as they\u2019ve known it.<\/p>\n
If you are a pastor or teacher in a local fellowship, I challenge you to ask this hard question to yourself. \u201cWhat are the remaining principles of Christ I don\u2019t know and can\u2019t teach to others?\u201d James says if you lack wisdom ask for it. But be prepared! The answer will challenge everything you\u2019ve built around the little kingdom of first principles thinking that you\u2019ve somehow already arrived.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re just a pew warmer, take the same challenge. It is about time that the body of Christ put a flame to the feet of those who claim to lead us. The best way to do that is to demand an answer to the same question. If you go to church on Sunday and the minister starts talking about repentance, faith, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrections or eternal judgement, ask them when they are going to begin on the second principle of Christ. But be prepared! Churches don\u2019t cater to people who want to grow up in Christ, no matter how much they say they do. They want you to obey and follow the rules that they\u2019ve created to maintain order within their little kingdom. You, however, come from a much greater kingdom, one which reside within you. Ask and you shall receive. It just might not arrive from the source you\u2019re expecting it to come from.<\/p>\n
Now I realize that there might be some of you who think that what I\u2019m proposing is rebellious in nature. You\u2019re right. Sometimes the only way to get a mule out of the rut it has created is to keep kicking it good and hard in the ass. If the shoes fits, one must also be prepared to feel it.<\/p>\n
Be forewarned: I\u2019m not done with this level thing yet. As a matter of fact, I\u2019m just warming up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the heels on my last post on duality, I feel compelled to jam this level or stage thing down the throats of a few tight-lipped, high-collared individuals who thumb their ever up-turned noses at the notion they might be … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4,6,5],"class_list":["post-1049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10","tag-grace","tag-mike-hillebrecht","tag-teaching"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ITDy-gV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":580,"url":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/08\/fact-theory-or-metaphor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1049,"position":0},"title":"Fact, Theory, or Metaphor","author":"mike","date":"January 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are some claims that most of us have heard. Tell me if it is a fact, a theory, or a metaphor. Wait! If I go any further with this, we are going to run into a real issue if we\u2019re not all operating from the same standard of meaning.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2017 Postings"","block_context":{"text":"2017 Postings","link":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2017\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":457,"url":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/22\/grace-is-a-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":1049,"position":1},"title":"Grace is a movement","author":"mike","date":"December 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Five boxes, fifteen years. There they sat. What had once adorned the shelves of my library now rests in an indistinct corner of my overflowing garage. It came suddenly, but it was inevitable, as most things of God are. 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Acceptance is not merely acknowledgement by the shaking of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2025 Postings"","block_context":{"text":"2025 Postings","link":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2025\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hand in hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3418,"url":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/23\/grace-extending-from-the-kingdom-bridging-realms\/","url_meta":{"origin":1049,"position":3},"title":"Grace Extending from the Kingdom: Bridging Realms","author":"mike","date":"December 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Building on our examination of grace within worldly illusions, this follow-up shifts focus to grace as an extension from the Kingdom of God itself\u2014a lifeline thrown into the matrix to pull us into true reality. Grace, as developed in our project, is the Kingdom's outflow, not originating from human effort\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2025 Postings"","block_context":{"text":"2025 Postings","link":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2025\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hand in hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3527,"url":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/24\/the-egos-forge-crafting-perceptions-against-the-divine-flow\/","url_meta":{"origin":1049,"position":4},"title":"The Ego’s Forge \u2013 Crafting Perceptions Against the Divine Flow","author":"mike","date":"December 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever caught yourself defending a viewpoint so fiercely that it feels like your very identity is at stake? That's the ego at work, hammering out perceptions that clash with the Kingdom of God's seamless unity. The ego, that crafty architect of self, builds walls where the Kingdom invites open fields.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2025 Postings"","block_context":{"text":"2025 Postings","link":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/category\/2025\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"hand in hand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mikehillebrecht.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/inbaby-hand3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2436,"url":"http:\/\/mikehillebrecht.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/07\/the-three-pillars-of-grace-pt-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1049,"position":5},"title":"The Three Pillars of Grace Pt 2","author":"mike","date":"January 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In the previous post I made the attempt to get you to recognize what the throne of grace represents. I don\u2019t believe that many of you think that it is a piece of celestial furniture some where up there and out there far from the daily living we experience. 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