Post 39 of Study: Hebrews 6:9ff

Hebrews is about the supremacy of Christ and the centrality of faith for accessing the presence and blessings of Christ. The Israelites had promises, starting with Abraham, bu they exchanged the promises for legalistic obedience that they could control. They even made more laws to prove they had control. But that is hardly an ethic characteristics; we all would have done the same. 

Verse 12 ties into Hebrews 11. It's almost as if 6:13-chapter 10 is an interlude to this theme of faith. "Imitate those who faith and patience inherit the promises"--exactly the message of Hebrews 11. 

The context is that "we expect better things of you than falling away. You have been faithful and God is not unjust or ungrateful. He knows what you're doing and going through." Jesus becoming human taught Him that. This verse implies their own agency to choose to leave the faith. 

Is there a difference between apostatizing and leaving the faith? Perhaps. Apostates become enemies of the faith. Some just leave and struggle with the leaving and never believe they can return. Some throughout history have denied Christ but were taken back into the church; this was not unusual in the church in the second and third century, during the great persecutions.