Hebrews 6:1-2 English Standard Version

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

We teach the elemental doctrines because there are new believers that enter into this new covenant. When they come up out of the baptismal waters into this new life, they have yet to learn how to see with spiritual eyes or hear with spiritual ears. This is not something that can be taught, it can only be experienced.

The Holy Spirit shows each of us how and when we get to experience that which has been promised by God. When they say “I don’t get it” it is a sign that they are looking to us for the answer to what the Holy Spirit is doing in them and for them.

We can look at our earthly life and remember how it felt to be young and wanted to be older so that we could enjoy things withheld from us because of our age. It isn’t about age, it is about coming to know who Christ is in us. That can only be seen and heard by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So much has been said about being imitators of those who came before us and how they came to a level of maturity to leave behind the elemental doctrines. That is coming to a knowledge of Christ in themselves, as Lord and commander of this life in Christ. We cannot understand what to do until we hear His voice in us because we have taken His Word to heart.

That is not a way of thinking, it is a way of loving.

John 14:15-17 English Standard Version

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

This is the first promise to believe by faith. Know Him.

John 5:19-24 English Standard Version

The Authority of the Son

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

During His ministry on earth as a man, Jesus obeyed the Father. He acknowledges the Father’s authority. Then there is a shift in authority spoken in terms of judgment. God the Father judged according to the law, as in keeping the law. Judgment has passed to the Son who tells us here that His Word is given and we must hear His word by faith and believe by faith.

The point is made in verse 21 that the Son will give life to whomever He wills. Jesus expresses this in verse 24 as in hearing His Word, not reading and believing but hearing and believing.

Psalm 119:25 King James Version (KJV) My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

Psalm 119:25 English Standard Version (ESV) My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

Quicken and quickening are archaic terms used in the KJV and earlier versions of the New Testament. The RSV and ESV have substituted life in its place to emphasize the change from dead in our sins to our life in Christ. The same problem exists for both terms, how does one give life to something that is already alive?

We have covered the kingdom of the dust, ruled by the Prince of the Power of the Air, Satan. Clinging to the dust is our sin nature before we were born again. Now we have been born in the Spirit having placed our faith in Jesus’s work on the Cross. That which was obedient to Satan through no fault of their own have entered into the Kingdom of God where Christ rules and reigns, in our hearts.

Now, having been given spiritual eyes and ears, we can now hear His Word by the Power of the Spirit who tells us all the things that Jesus is saying to us. It is no longer a mental exercise, it is an exercise of faith.