1. So let’s press on to maturity, by moving on from the basics about Christ’s word. Let’s not lay a foundation of turning away from dead works, of faith in God,
2. of teaching about ritual ways to wash with water, laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment—all over again.
3. We’re going to press on, if God allows it.
4. Because it’s impossible to restore people to changed hearts and lives who turn away once they have seen the light, tasted the heavenly gift, become partners with the Holy Spirit,
5. and tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age.
6. They are crucifying God’s Son all over again and exposing him to public shame.
7. The ground receives a blessing from God when it drinks up the rain that regularly comes and falls on it and yields a useful crop for those people for whom it is being farmed.
8. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it’s useless and close to being cursed. It ends up being burned.
9. But we are convinced of better things in your case, brothers and sisters, even though we are talking this way—things that go together with salvation.