According to Hebrews 9:14 it was “through the eternal Spirit” that “Jesus offered himself unblemished to God.” The means, therefore, by which Jesus became “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (7:26) was the faithful guidance and power of the Holy Spirit on his behalf. Which explains why Jesus asked his Father to give the Holy Spirit to us as well (John 14:16-17) – so that, just like Jesus, we can “share in the Holy Spirit” too, Hebrews 6:4.
For what purpose, though? There’s a clue in Hebrews 5:13, that “Anyone who lives on milk (the elementary truths of God’s word, verse 12) is still an infant and not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.” Whereas by comparison, “solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (14).
To the author of Hebrews, then, it was hugely important that we “leave (or move on from) the elementary teachings about Christ” and “go on to maturity” (6:1), just as Jesus went through a learning process to mature and “perfect” him (5:8-9). For us that process began with “Jesus’ sacrifice making us perfect forever” (10:14) by “providing purification for our sins” (1:3) – but there’s a second part to both those verses. In chapter 1:3, Jesus then “sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven,” because in the second part of chapter 10:14, we are also “being made holy” – by Jesus (2:11).
So we move on from the elementary teaching of Jesus’ sacrifice wiping out all our past mess, to the maturing process of becoming holy instead. And it’s holiness made from two ingredients: first of all, “being acquainted with the teaching about righteousness” (5:13), and secondly, using that knowledge to become skilled at knowing the right way to go and doing it, and knowing the wrong way to go and avoiding it (14).
And the Spirit helps us with both. He “acquaints us with Jesus’ teaching about righteousness” (John 14:26), and he provides us with “the power, love and sound judgment” to distinguish between good and evil in 2 Timothy 1:6-7 – which “comes from the Lord who is the Spirit transforming (or maturing) us into Christ’s likeness (and holiness, Hebrews 2:11) with ever increasing glory,” 2 Corinthians 3:18.
And one sure sign of that is our growing love for God expressed in “helping his people,” Hebrews 6:10, in “Love and good deeds”….(next blog)
