Hebrews 5:14 says that “solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their faculties exercised for discriminating between both good and evil.” The Greek word translated “faculties” may also be rendered “senses,” implying powers of perception, depending not only on our mental capability but also on our spiritual apprehension. These senses, implying both our mind and our spirit, discriminate the distinction between the different kinds of words of God. The words “good and evil” used here refer to what is superior in contrast to what is inferior, such as, the superiority of Christ in contrast to the inferiority of the angels, Moses, and Aaron; the superiority of the new covenant in contrast to the inferiority of the old covenant. According to the context of this verse, it is similar to the matter of discriminating between different foods, with no reference whatever to the moral nature of things. We need to discern, to discriminate, God’s word as we do food, asking whether a particular word is like milk or solid food. In this way we can discern the word of righteousness.
The word of grace and the word of life, being the word of the beginning of Christ, are good. They are the foundation of our Christian life. Although the foundation is good, we should not lay it again and again. We would never do such a thing in building a meeting hall. The foundation requires the building up.
The word of the beginning of Christ includes the six items mentioned in 6:1 and 2. These six items, arranged in three pairs, constitute the foundation of the Christian life. The first item of each pair refers to our emergence from a negative situation, and the last speaks of our entering into the positive things.
The first pair is that of “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” Repentance is on the negative side and faith toward God is on the positive side (Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21). The Christian life is firstly based upon our repentance and faith. Repentance from dead works and faith toward God Himself are a real turn. The work we did before we were saved might have been good, but it was dead. We had to repent from our dead works and believe into God.
The second pair is “the teaching of baptisms and of the laying on of hands.” On the negative side, baptism eliminates the negative things (Heb. 9:10) and terminates the old things (Rom. 6:4). “Baptisms,” the same word as washings in 9:10 and Mark 7:4, refers to the washings of the utensils and vessels used in the tabernacle or temple for God’s service (Lev. 6:28). The washings of the priests are probably also included (Exo. 30:18-21; Lev. 16:4).This, of course, is related to the background of the Hebrew believers. However, it is the same in principle as the New Testament baptism, that is, the washing away and terminating of the negative things. In our baptism we eliminated our old man and buried him. On the positive side, laying on of hands is the identification and fellowship with the divine things. Whenever a sacrifice was offered in the ancient times, the offerer laid his hands upon it, signifying that he was identifying himself with it (Lev. 1:4; 3:2). Hence, laying on of hands was for identification and union. It was also used for the imparting of gifts into others (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6). When Paul laid his hands upon Timothy, a spiritual gift was imparted to him.
The third pair consists of “the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.” Resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:31; Acts 23:6; 24:21) is the coming out of death, Hades, and the tomb on the negative side. Eternal judgment (Rom. 2:5; Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:11-12) is the entry into eternity and the eternal destiny on the positive side. Whether we are saved or not, judgment will bring us into eternity. The situation with the dead unbelievers has not yet been settled. Only when they all have been resurrected will they be judged, and through that judgment they will be brought into eternity.
These six items are the word of the beginning of Christ, the foundation of our Christian life. The writer of this epistle was encouraging the Hebrew believers to go on from this word to the word of righteousness. Today many Christians do not even adequately know the word of the beginning of Christ, much less the word of righteousness. Nevertheless, we must go on. Our foundation has been laid and we must go on to build upon it. We have repented and believed. We have been baptized and have been identified with Christ and we are assured that there will be resurrection and judgment to come. Anyone who does not believe this is not a genuine believer. Since we all believe this and have laid the foundation, let us go on from the elementary word to the word of righteousness; from the word of foundation to the word of perfection, the word of building up; from the words of grace and life to the word of God’s righteous governmental dealings.