Hebrews 6:7 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Hebrews 6:7

Comments

The farmer puts effort into cultivating the soil and sowing a crop, and then waiting for the rains to water the earth and the sun to ripen the crop. But not all soil is productive and the farmer will not waste his effort on a field which he knows by experience will produce no return. That field will be turned over to some other use – a dumping ground for rubbish, maybe. He has tried it and it has received everything that another productive field would need to produce a good crop, but in this case nothing has come from it. There is something wrong with the soil – some element missing, or some poison in it, or some hard to remove weed or pest. Here we have a parable of perseverance, or lack of perseverance. The earth is people; the herbs are professions of faith; those who dress the field are ministers, preachers, spiritual shepherds, witnessing Christians; blessing on the field is perhaps heaven’s declaration that the sinner is justified.So it is with men and women who are under the ‘cultivation’ of the Lord. They are taught from his word, they are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they grasp something of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in offering himself up on Calvary, and they feel the powers of the world to come, and yet all this good influence produces no useful crop. This picture is given to show us the reasonableness of God’s expectation that we should produce fruit in our lives for him, and that he should discard us as worthless and not worth any further attention if we fail to be fruitful. We put ourselves in a very dangerous position when we hear the word of God, week after week and go on resisting its influence us. When we harden our hearts like this, we are liable to have all influence of the Holy Spirit taken away from us and to be left to our native spiritual deadness.

Application

May we all be represented by this good soil, which God, the Holy Spirit, has watered the soil with rain and a good crop has come up. Let us move ahead. Does your life, bring forth a crop, herbage, which is suitable, fit, appropriate for God, fit for Christ who died for you and who paid such a price for you, who took all your sins in his own body on the tree. Is your life bringing forth fruits and advance? We cannot repay him even to a small extent, but is your life appropriate or fit for such a Saviour? May God bless us with a sense of indebtedness to him and desire for continual advance.

It is not for us to say to God, I cannot make any spiritual progress unless the Spirit works irresistibly in my heart, therefore if I fail to respond, it is God that is to blame, not me. The word of God always treats us as responsible agents. Whether we are able or not we are responsible, because any inability in us is our own doing, and that inability lies in our wills, not in any absence of faculties that we possess. We are responsible to believe, and we are responsible to respond to every encouragement to believe. Therefore the illustration of a farmer dressing the soil is entirely appropriate.

Questions

Was he a true believer who fell and lost to salvation? No, says the parable, he was a thorns and briars field. Those thorns and briars: they were always there in the ground; that was the true character of the field; that was bound to show, bound to emerge, and sadly win the day.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Hebrews 6:7 Commentary and Bible Study