The Peril of Falling Away

6 Therefore let us go on^[a] toward perfection,^[b] leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God,^(A)

¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,^{(A) 13} for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.^(B)

¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit^[a] offered himself without blemish to God, purify our^[b] conscience from dead works to worship the living God!^(A)

7 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God.^(A)

Pressing toward the Goal

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal,^[a] but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ^[b] has laid hold of me.^{(A) 13} Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold^[c] of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,^{(B) 14} I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly^[d] call of God in Christ Jesus.^{(C) 15} Let those of us, then, who are mature^[e] think this way, and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you.^(D)

¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.^(A)

²⁰ but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.^(A)

³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.^(A)

Another Priest, Like Melchizedek

¹¹ Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under this priesthood—what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek rather than one according to the order of Aaron?^(A)