6:1a
Having chastised his readers for their reluctance to try to understand properly (Heb 5:11), he now urges them to move on, and to rectify this failing. The NIV has “be taken forward to maturity”. This better captures the meaning of the text. We cannot move on to maturity by our own efforts, we need God to enable us to move on, but when He does so we need to cooperate with Him.This is actually very important, for we are involved in a God-centred enterprise, not a man-centred enterprise. So they are to “move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ” (NIV), or “the elementary doctrine of Christ” (ESV).
6:1b,2
Some of the “elementary teachings” are listed here: the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death; faith in God; instruction about cleansing rites; the laying on of hands; the resurrection of the dead; and eternal judgement. The first two and the last two are not surprising, we would probably include them in any foundational class on Christianity, but the middle two are more surprising. It maybe reflects the background of the hearers as being the Jewish synagogue, and would also be consistent with them being Gentile converts to Judaism. So the list includes basic truths, and issues of local interest. In both cases they need to move on to what really matters, to gain a deeper understanding.
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