‘Hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul’

Comparative commentary by Hilary Davies

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Hebrews is a complex exposition of the relationship between the revelations made to Israel and recorded in the Hebrew Bible and the New Covenant embodied by Christ (Carson 1994: 1321). The writer displays great inwardness with Judaic religious practice and the role of the Jewish priesthood in regard to God and the community; he is also steeped in the sacred texts of Judaism, as his references to the Psalms, the Prophets, and the Torah reveal. Yet, the thrust of his theological argument is that Christ has fulfilled the Mosaic Law by himself becoming the high priest: instead of ritual gifts of sacrificed animals, he offers himself as a permanent redemptive sacrifice. The author repeatedly exhorts the participants in the New Covenant not to forget what has been revealed to them nor return to their old ways.

Hebrews 6 lies at the centre of these exhortations, reflecting the dual themes of warning and encouragement. These themes speak to all those who would believe but cannot, or those who struggle to hold true to their faith when faced with adversity or persecution. The language of the letter sounds stark to modern ears, but the psychological reality is only too contemporary: lack or loss of faith leads to loss of hope, which leads to despair, the most terrifying of all fallings away, because it is a falling away from life. For this very reason, God remains always willing ‘not to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in serving the saints’ (Hebrews 6:10). He is not unjust; he offers ‘hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul’ (vv.10, 19).

The three artworks here each provide their own perspective on the balance of hope and despair, despair and hope. Jonah’s lament at being cut off from God is one of the most eloquent in the Hebrew Bible, yet this punishment follows his act of self-immolation to save the lives of others. We sense the paradox of his plight in Francis West’s powerfully writhing figure, his hands pushing against the walls of his fishy prison, the raised eyebrows, his prophet’s hair standing on end. And even when reprieved, he doesn’t learn, but repeatedly asks to die. The gourd that later springs up on the outskirts of Nineveh to protect him, and which then shrivels when the worm attacks it, leaving him exposed to the scorching sun, embodies the dichotomy of the fertile and blasted earth of Hebrews 6:8: if we are faithless to our promise, our ‘end is to be burned over’. We never discover what Jonah’s ultimate fate is to be.

The divine spirit comes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Mariner, in time-honoured fashion, in the form of a bird, ‘As if it had been a Christian soul, | We hailed it in God’s name’ (Ancient Mariner, 49). Unlike Jonah, the sailor has been at one with God’s creation until he destroys this equilibrium by shooting the albatross. David Jones’s engraving portrays both bird and man strung on the mast, an iconography which clearly points to the crucifixion: the mariner, having ‘shared in the Holy Spirit’, (Hebrews 6:5) now has to endure himself ‘crucifying again the Son of God’ (v.6). Hebrews 6 appears categorical that such a sin carries the gravest of punishments: ‘it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened’ and have since fallen away (6:4). By blessing the sea-creatures, the mariner is redeemed, but never freed from the penance of having to retell his tale. It is a warning to others never to repeat his mistake, never to reject God.

Peter the rock, first named of the disciples (Matthew 4:18). Peter the chosen witness to the Transfiguration. Peter who insists he will never desert Christ (Mark 9:2). Peter who falls asleep when his Lord needs him most (Mark 14:32–37). Peter who huddles by the fire in the night and denies knowing Jesus at all. This frail person is nevertheless the one of whom Christ says, ‘And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church’ (Matthew 16:18). The yo-yoing description of promise and failure that characterises Hebrews 6 fits Peter’s behaviour perfectly: his weakness is all there in the desperate attitude of the sinking figure reaching out to Christ. But he will go on to bear witness to the risen Lord in such a way as to transfigure for ever the world into which he was born. He does this because he has experienced, body and soul, that, while humankind may prove false, ‘it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have taken refuge … have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul’ (Hebrews 6:18–19). This Christ does not fail Peter but holds out his hand to him across the deep.

 

References

Carson, D.A., et al. (eds). 1994. New Bible Commentary, fourth edn (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press)

See full exhibition for Hebrews 6

Hebrews 6

Revised Standard Version

6Therefore 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, 2with instruction about ablutions, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3And this we will do if God permits. 4For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt. 7For land which has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned.

9 Though we speak thus, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things that belong to salvation. 10For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love which you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. 11And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, 12so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. 16Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath, 18so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. 19We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, 20where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizʹedek.

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