@Tjy and Joseph,
Almost every English translation leaves out the phrase "to the things behind" from the Greek text. This is tragic, for it has much to do with why they "turned back." The book of Hebrews has much to say about returning in rebellion, unbelief and disobedience ( Hebrews 3:12-19) to the old ways, even to those things reckoned as beneficial according to the old life ( Philippians 3:1-7). The apostle Paul reminds us to completely forget (original text of Philippians 3:13) "the things behind"; in this case, all that were considered more desirable than the new life we have in Christ. It helps in illustrating what the writer of Hebrews 6 was aiming at, and to whom at that point he was addressing, i.e. the unbeliever who was in danger of "turning back" as those in John 6:66 and in Numbers 14. In the latter case, they entered not into the rest of God in the land promised them because of unbelief. "The things behind" must be left behind, and completely forgotten by those professing to have come to a knowledge of the truth in Christ.
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Almost every English translation leaves out the phrase "to the things behind" from the Greek text. This is tragic, for it has much to do with why they "turned back." The book of Hebrews has much to say about returning in rebellion, unbelief and disobedience ( Hebrews 3:12-19) to the old ways, even to those things reckoned as beneficial according to the old life ( Philippians 3:1-7). The apostle Paul reminds us to completely forget (original text of Philippians 3:13) "the things behind"; in this case, all that were considered more desirable than the new life we have in Christ. It helps in illustrating what the writer of Hebrews 6 was aiming at, and to whom at that point he was addressing, i.e. the unbeliever who was in danger of "turning back" as those in John 6:66 and in Numbers 14. In the latter case, they entered not into the rest of God in the land promised them because of unbelief. "The things behind" must be left behind, and completely forgotten by those professing to have come to a knowledge of the truth in Christ.
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