Hebrews 6:1

Therefore. The author continues the exhortation he began in ch. 5. His readers have been subsisting on milk when they should have had stronger food. They were still children, and were satisfied to remain so. He wants them to go on to the deeper things of God and not continue to be satisfied with their present attainments.

Principles. Literally, “the beginning,” denoting the elementary principles of the doctrine of Christ. These are defined in the latter part of v. 1 and in v. 2.

Perfection. Or, “maturity.”

Foundation. It is well to lay a good foundation, but the one who does not build on it will never have a finished structure. The author proposes to leave the first principles, taking for granted that the people are well grounded in them. In leaving them he does not forsake them; he leaves them in the same sense in which a builder leaves the foundation when he proceeds with the structure itself.

The author enumerates six foundation principles upon which Christianity is built. He merely mentions them and does not discuss them, as he feels this has already been well done.

Repentance. Gr. metanoia, “a change of mind” (see on 2 Cor. 7:9). This is the first in the list of foundation principles. He who truly repents evaluates his past actions, weighs them in the moral scale, repudiates all unworthy motives and acts, and by the grace of God exchanges the old carnal mind for the mind of Christ. He is transformed by the renewing of his mind (Rom. 12:2). Repentance is not primarily an emotional experience; it is rather a deep process affecting the mind and life, issuing in a new creature” so that “old things are passed away,” and “all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Dead works. Probably “dead” in the sense of being sinful. The sinner is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). These are works he knows he must lay off before he becomes a Christian. Compare Heb. 9:14.

Faith toward God. This is second in the list of fundamental principles. Repentance is from dead works, faith is toward God. Repentance presents the negative, faith, the positive, side of the Christian mind. The old must be abandoned, the new must be grasped. Repentance from dead works expresses a complete change of mind — a new spiritual attitude — which leads the believer to forsake dead works and turn toward God.

These two, repentance and faith, are placed first among the foundation principles of the gospel. If a man is thoroughly converted, if he has turned from his past life and renounced dead works, if he has turned in faith toward God, he has a solid foundation that will not fail him when the evil days come.