I am slowly–very slowly–building a curriculum for discipleship. I wrote a post about 3 weeks ago on the skeleton of that curriculum: 1. Becoming a Christian; 2. Living like a Christian; and 3. Staying a Christian.

It is certain that if I want to write about becoming a Christian, then I must include the “message of the first things of Christ” mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-2. Most translations use something akin to the King James’ “elementary principles of Christ.” My rendering is more literal, though the “message of the first things of Christ” is equivalent to “elementary principles of Christ.”

The writer of Hebrews, possibly Paul but hotly debated, gives us six teachings that are the “first things” or “elementary principles” of Christ:

1. Repentance from dead works
2. Faith towards God
3. Teaching of baptisms
4. Laying on of hands
5. Resurrection of the dead
6. Eternal judgment

Meyer’s New Testament Commentary tells me that these are doublets. Repentance from dead works goes with faith towards God; the teaching of baptisms goes with the laying on of hands; and the resurrection of the dead goes with eternal judgment.

On the issues of Greek grammar structure, Meyer is light years ahead of me. I’m  a beginner, and he is an expert. I am going to simply believe him. It seems obvious that repentance and faith go together and that resurrection and judgment go together. Once he said that baptisms, plural, and the laying on of hands were together, that link seemed obvious to me as well. I’ll explain that link below.

If I were teaching a class, I would explain these doublets as quickly as possible, then leave the juicy (=fun) details to a discussion that would consume most of the class time. Let’s do this blog post that way.

Repentance from Dead Works and Faith Towards God

As I said, this connection is obvious. Jesus began his preaching ministry with, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Not so obvious is what dead works are. “Dead works” is only used twice in the New Testament, both times in Hebrews. The other is Hebrews 9:14:

… how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Meyers gives a simple definition of dead works: dead works are works that do you no good (“in themselves vain and fruitless”). Paul’s goal in Romans is to convince Jews (and teach Gentiles) that it is more powerful to believe in God through Jesus Christ than to try to do good deeds by your own power in obedience to the law. Faith in God brings favor and the Holy Spirit which transform and empower you to do overcome sin and do good, to obey the Spirit and put to death the deeds of the body (e.g., Romans 6:7-14; 8:1-13).

If you ignore the call of God to a covenant of faith which produces righteousness, then you will live in dead works, walking by the flesh rather than the Spirit. Your works may not even be evil; they’re just “vain and fruitless.”

As Christians we have repented of these dead works and entered into the promises given to Abraham by faith. Speaking of which, I always loved the song “I’m a Covenant Woman.”

The Teaching of Baptisms and the Laying on of Hands

When I was a new Christian, this was a puzzle to me. I had an idea of what this might mean, but the dissension over baptism, baptisms (of water and the Holy Spirit), speaking in languages, and laying on of hands between Baptists and Pentecostals distressed and confused me.

How wonderful it was to find the writing of the apostles’ churches (“early church fathers”) and see their strong emphasis on baptisms, baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit. Three things make me confident that they knew exactly what the writer of Hebrews meant by the teaching of baptisms and the laying on of hands.

1. They were too close to apostolic times to have forgotten a “first principle of Christ.”
2. There universal practice was to baptize in water (by immersion, but if water was not available, then pouring three times over the head, once each in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, e.g., Didache 7), then anointed the baptized person with oil, laying hands on them, and praying for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (e.g., Tertullian, “On Baptism,” chs. 6-8).

The teaching of baptisms refers to the baptism in water, where sins are forgiven and the sinner is born again or “regenerated” (John 3:3-5; see also Justin Martyr, “First Apology,” ch. 61), and baptism in the Holy Spirit, wherein the saints are empowered for their new life. The laying on of hands was a part of this (see link in #2 above). These are the baptisms, plural, that all Christians receive. Paul mentions this in his letter to Titus:

… not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit (Tit. 3:5)

Note: From experience, I know many will miss my point and tell me, “See, see! We are not saved by works.” I, of course, know this is true. We are transferred from darkness to light, born again, and created in Christ Jesus to do good works by faith and apart from works. We do not, however, inherit God’s kingdom at the judgment by faith, but by works (2 Cor. 5:10; Matt. 25:31-46; cf. Rev. 2-3).

Now, we see in Scripture that laying on of hands was also done to appoint elders (1 Tim. 5:22), impart gifts (1 Tim. 4:14), and send missionaries (Acts 13:3), but this article is about Hebrews 6:1-2 and the “first things of Christ.” Appointing elders is not a “first thing,” nor is sending gifted men into the world.

The “teaching of baptisms and laying on of hands” is a doublet referring to our first salvation, being born again in the baptisms of water and Spirit, the latter done with the laying on of hands. You can see this throughout Acts, but just Acts 19:1-6 makes a fine example.

Note: From experience, I know I will get a lot of pushback on baptism because evangelicals don’t want to believe it has anything to do with being saved. This is despite the fact that baptism is repeatedly said to be for the release of sins and that Galatians 3:27 tells us that baptism is how we put on Christ. Obviously, God has been quite flexible with us, saving many by faith without baptism but baptism, according to Scripture, is supposed to be what we do as an initiation rite into the church. We believer, and therefore we are buried with Christ in baptism and raised with him to new life when we come out of the water. It is a powerful symbol that has been poorly replace by a sinner’s prayer.

The Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment

The resurrection of the dead is the hope of all Christians. In Romans 8:18-25 the day on which God redeems our bodies is such a glorious day that the whole creation rejoices. In fact, God’s creation waits with eager expectation for that day. For me, it brings to mind a dog’s wagging of both tail and body in its eager expectation of its master’s return. I want to be like that dog in the way I wait for my Master.

We have to qualify for this day, however. Paul describes his great effort to attain to that day in Philippians 3:8-14, then tells us in 8:15 to have the same mind. He does make a promise to us that that day will find us “holy, without defect, and blameless” if we continue grounded and settled in the faith.

I am scared for Americans like you and me, though, that we don’t know what it means to be grounded in the faith. Too many of us feel free to ignore things Jesus taught. For example, how many Christians agree that if we are slapped on one cheek–which implies insulting, not a fist fight–we should turn the other? Mr. T, the famous actor from the 70s and 80s doesn’t. His words to the public were, “I’m a Christian, but I’m not Jesus. If you hit me on one cheek, I’m gonna hit you back.”

Worse, though, is our attitude about riches. It does not look to me like we believe that it is so difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God that it requires a miracle of God. I have never heard a sermon that would help me decide whether a retirement account equates to storing up riches on earth. I’ve almost never heard someone teach that wanting to be rich is a trap that leads to many foolish and harmful lusts. These lusts “drown men in ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:19).

You’d think that in the richest, or almost richest, nation in the world, the New Testament warnings against wealth would be trumpeted and repeated often. Instead, the only one constantly trumpeting publicly about wealth are prosperity preachers teaching the very opposite of those warnings.

It takes generosity to save a rich man (1 Tim. 6:16-19). It is by generosity that a “good foundation” is laid up “against the time to come” (eternal judgment), so that we may “lay hold of for eternal life.”

Doesn’t the wording of that passage sound like Paul’s words in Philippians 3:8-14?

Peter tells all of us, not just the rich, to live in fear of that day throughout “the time of our sojourning here” (1 Peter 1:17). In fact, by saying “If you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to our works,” he is telling us that warning is for Christians alone. The lost don’t necessarily know that there is coming a day when God will judge everyone by one Man (Acts 17:31).

We cannot pick and choose the verses we like as though the Bible were a buffet. We ignore all the verses warning us about eternal judgment (by works) at our peril. We try to brush off Jesus’ warning that one day we Christians along with everyone else will be divided into sheep and goats, differentiated only by their treatment of the needy (Matt. 25:31-46), by calling it a judgment of the nations. Do we really thing the sheep and goats are nations, or that nations do not consist of people?

More amazingly, I have heard Christians, and even pastors, teach that when we stand before the Bema seat of Christ, rather than the Great White Throne judgment of Revelation 20, that only our good works will be judged. I guess they missed the “whether good or bad” at the end of 2 Corinthians 5:10.

The Bible tells us that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Php. 2:12), but we spend our time on assurance instead. Yes, we are able to work out our salvation because God is at work in us both to desire and to do his will, but let’s not forget Paul’s application of working out our salvation in the very next chapter! (Php. 3:8-15).

I write all the time about the resurrection (of life for the righteous and of condemnation for the wicked–John 5:27-29) and eternal judgment a lot on this blog and on Facebook, and I hope I have said enough here to explain why. If you have questions about what I have written here, I write a lot on Facebook and this blog about resurrection and eternal judgment; I have at least dozens of other verses that I cover on this subject.

Unfortunately, resurrection and eternal judgment is supposed to be a “first thing,” but evangelical tradition has just about erased it from our mind. If you want the short version of how resurrection and eternal judgment work, search the word “if” in the New Testament or just keep your eye out for it as your read your Bible, then read Jesus’ letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3. There Jesus gives us a picture of how he will judge on the last day, judging those 7 churches by their deeds without every mentioning their faith.

On the subject of resurrection and eternal judgment I beg you with the apostles that you do not be deceived.

Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. (Eph. 5:5-6)

Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (1 Jn. 3:7)