Hebrews 6:1-20
And we desire each one of you … [be] … imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (vv. 11-12) I wonder what group of people the author is asking his readers to imitate – current “saints” or past Old Testament prophets and leaders. In the previous verse the author has asked his readers to continue …serving the saints… (v. 10), implying that he is asking his readers to imitate those Christian leaders in their midst – possibly the Apostolic leadership in Jerusalem? But he also could be speaking of Abraham and his descendants who inherited the promises God made long ago. (See vv. 13-15.) I continue to beat the bush for Paul’s authorship of Hebrews. There are two items in the verses quoted above that support this hypothesis. First, Paul has written on a number of occasions that his readers should be imitators of him (I Corinthians 4:16, 11:1; Philippians 3:17; II Thessalonians 3:7, 9), so speaking to his readers of imitating their Christian leaders would be consistently Pauline. Second, in verse 15 the author writes that Abraham …obtained the promise, past tense. However, in verse 12 above he is asking his readers to imitate those …who…inherit the promises, present tense.
Ignore my arguments for Paul’s writing of Hebrews if you like – Carol argued strongly (even almost convincingly!) against his authorship yesterday on our way home from church! But don’t ignore the author’s call for us to be imitators of those who exhibit …faith and patience… in their Christian walk. Find someone who exhibits those virtues and …be imitators!
See also: November 18 / Hebrews 6:1-8; November 19 / Hebrews 6:9-12; November 20 / Hebrews 6:13-20
Thank you, Fred. I am thinking that the ones we should imitate, “those who through faith and patience,” would include anyone past or present who fits that standard. I’m sure the author included Paul and the other apostles as well as OT people like Abraham. I appreciate your comment about having Christian role models. We just need to recognize that they are humans, with faults and foibles.
I believe that a Christian can fall away, but has a chance for new repentance until death, praise God! God still loves and seeks him or her out. I don’t like to worry about whether someone is/was “really” a Christian because we can’t see into hearts and our job is not making those judgments. The second we go down that path aka slippery slope, we are using our standards instead of focusing on and trusting God and His character (love, mercy, truthfulness. holiness, etc.)