Heb. 6:4. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5. and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6. and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
7. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;
8. but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
9. But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. (NASB, 1995)
The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to a first-century community of Hebrew Christians who were being severely persecuted by both their fellow Jews and by the Roman government. The purpose of the Epistle to the Hebrews was to reassure these Hebrew Christians of the truth of the gospel that they had believed, to remind them of the superiority of Christ over Moses and the angles, to teach them the superiority of New Covenant over the old covenant, and to remind them of the danger of apostatizing from their faith. The Epistle to the Hebrews was not written to 21st century Baptist Christians using the using the terminology and phraseology of 21st century Baptists; it was written to a first-century community of Hebrew Christians using the terminology and phraseology of the very early Church.
Justin Martyr (died in 165 A.D.) wrote that the term “enlightenment” was used as a synonym for water baptism of converts to Christianity and he uses the term “the enlightened one” for a person who has been baptized.” However, this is only part of the evidence that the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews was writing of water Baptism. The Greek word φωτισθεντας translated in our English Bibles as “enlightened” is an aorist participle in the passive voice, the cognate noun of which is the Greek word φως meaning ‘light,’ both literally and figuratively, especially in the Gospel According to John,
John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. He was in the beginning with God.
3. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
8. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
10. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. (NASB, 1995)
John 8:12. Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (NASB, 1995)
In these passages, the NASB has the word “Light” capitalized because the light is Christ.
Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, writes,
Gal. 3:27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (NASB, 1995)
Furthermore, the Peshitta, an ancient Syriac translation of the Greek New Testament, renders (when translated into English) the phrase in verse 4, “who have gone down into baptism.”
Therefore, being “enlightened,” when used figuratively as it is by John, becomes synonymous with being “baptized.” In baptism, one is clothed with the Light; that is, one is enlightened. Main stream Protestants, as did many of the Early Church Fathers, understand ‘baptized’ in Gal. 3:27 to be speaking of water baptism; most Baptists understand ‘baptized’ in Gal. 3:27 to be speaking of spiritual baptism. Either way, understanding the word “enlightened” in Heb. 6:4 to mean baptized into Christ is the most academically sound interpretation.
Moreover, we read in Hebrews 10:32-33 we read,
32. But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings,
33. partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.
Who are the ‘enlightened’ ones in these verses? Are they not Christians who are being persecuted? Are they not the very Chrsitians to whom the epistle is addressed? Where in the New Testament or other early Christian literature do we read of unregenerate sinners as being ‘enlightened’?
The Greek words translated in Heb. 6:4-6 as enlightened,” “tasted,” “becoming,” and “falling” are all aorist participles. The Greek verb translated in Heb. 6:4-6 as “crucify” is a present participle. Christians who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, but who subsequently fall away, find themselves in a situation in which it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
