Warning Against Apostasy
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About this we have much to say, and it is c hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
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For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again d the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need e milk, not solid food,
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for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is f a child.
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But solid food is for g the mature, for those who have their powers h of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
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Therefore i let us leave j the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance k from dead works and of faith toward God,
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and of l instruction about washings, m the laying on of hands, n the resurrection of the dead, and o eternal judgment.
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And this we will do p if God permits.
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For it is impossible, in the case of those q who have once been enlightened, who have tasted r the heavenly gift, and s have shared in the Holy Spirit,
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and t have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
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and u then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since v they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
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For w land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.
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But x if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, y and its end is to be burned.
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Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things - things that belong to salvation.
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For z God is not unjust so as to overlook a your work and the love that you have shown for his name in b serving the saints, as you still do.
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And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance c of hope until the end,
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so that you may not be sluggish, but d imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
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Cross References
2 Peter 3:16
As he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
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Cross References
Hebrews 6:1
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.
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Cross References
1 Corinthians 3:2
I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready.
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Cross References
1 Corinthians 3:1
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation -
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Cross References
Ephesians 4:13
Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
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Cross References
Genesis 3:22
Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever -
1 Kings 3:9
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?
Isaiah 7:15
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
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Cross References
Philippians 3:12 - 14
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
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Cross References
Hebrews 5:12
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food.
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Cross References
Hebrews 9:14
How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
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Cross References
Acts 19:4 - 5
And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.
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Cross References
Acts 8:17
Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19:6
And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
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Cross References
Acts 17:31 - 32
Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
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Cross References
Acts 10:42
And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.
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Cross References
1 Corinthians 16:7
For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
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Cross References
Hebrews 10:32
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.
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Cross References
John 4:10
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
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Cross References
Hebrews 2:4 - 5
While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Galatians 3:2
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Galatians 3:5
Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith -
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Cross References
Psalms 34:8
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
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Cross References
Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
1 John 5:16
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life - to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.
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Cross References
Hebrews 10:29
How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
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Cross References
Psalms 65:10
You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.
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Cross References
Isaiah 5:1 - 7
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
Genesis 3:17 - 18
And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
Deuteronomy 29:22 - 23
And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick -
Jeremiah 44:22
The Lord could no longer bear your evil deeds and the abominations that you committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day.
Luke 13:6 - 9
And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
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Cross References
Malachi 4:1
For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
John 15:6
If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
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Cross References
Proverbs 19:17
Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
Matthew 10:42
And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Matthew 25:40
And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
Mark 9:41
For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
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Cross References
1 Thessalonians 1:3
Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Cross References
Romans 15:31
That I may be delivered from the unbelievers in...
2 Corinthians 8:4
Begging us earnestly for the favor of taking pa...
2 Corinthians 9:1
Now it is superfluous for me to write to you ab...
2 Corinthians 9:12
For the ministry of this service is not only su...
2 Timothy 1:18
May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the L...
Revelation 2:19
'I know your works, your love and faith and ser...
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Cross References
Romans 5:2 - 5
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
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Cross References
Hebrews 13:7
Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 10:36
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.