Hebrews 6:4-8 But they who once unto baptism have descended,* and have tasted the gift which is from heaven, and have received the Spirit of Holiness, * Honun d'chado zaban l'mahmuditho nechathu. The Greek reads, Tous apax photisthentas, " they who have been once enlightened." The rendering of the Peschito here harmonizes with the emblematical way of speaking of baptism, as the mysterion photismatos, " the sacrament of illumination, " that prevailed in the ancient church; and to which an allusion is made so early as the middle of the second century, in the Apology of Justin Martyr. (Apol. i. cap. .) The epithet of "the illuminated" might have been applied to the baptized, in primitive days, both because the administration of the ordinance betokened a recognition, on the part of the church, of a certain measure of divine knowledge in the candidate, as well as that it was in itself a medium through which the BELIEVER had the privilege of receiving more of the illuminating grace of the Holy Spirit. Still we have no evidence that, in the tous photisthentus of the Greek text, there was any specific allusion to baptism. In this and the parallel place, in chap. : , the Greek phrase plainly refers to inward and spiritual illumination, - or, as it is expressed in the explanatory terms of verse of that chapter, the receiving the knowledge of the truth.

Etheridge⁽ⁱ⁾ ⁴ But they who once unto baptism have descended,* and have tasted the gift which is from heaven, and have received the Spirit of Holiness, [* Honun d'chado zaban l'mahmuditho nechathu. The Greek reads, Tous apax photisthentas, " they who have been once enlightened." The rendering of the Peschito here harmonizes with the emblematical way of speaking of baptism, as the mysterion photismatos, " the sacrament of illumination, " that prevailed in the ancient church; and to which an allusion is made so early as the middle of the second century, in the Apology of Justin Martyr. (Apol. i. cap. 80.) The epithet of "the illuminated" might have been applied to the baptized, in primitive days, both because the administration of the ordinance betokened a recognition, on the part of the church, of a certain measure of divine knowledge in the candidate, as well as that it was in itself a medium through which the BELIEVER had the privilege of receiving more of the illuminating grace of the Holy Spirit. Still we have no evidence that, in the tous photisthentus of the Greek text, there was any specific allusion to baptism. In this and the parallel place, in chap. 10:32, the Greek phrase plainly refers to inward and spiritual illumination, - or, as it is expressed in the explanatory terms of verse 26 of that chapter, the receiving the knowledge of the truth.] ⁵ and have tasted the good word of Aloha, and the power of the world to come, ⁶ (and) who again shall sin, cannot again be renewed unto conversion, who would afresh crucify and put to shame the Son of God. ⁷ For the earth that hath drank the rain which hath come upon it many times, and shall have brought forth the herb that is useful for them on whose account it is cultured, receiveth blessing from Aloha; ⁸ but that which shall produce thorns and briers hath reprobation; nor is it far from the curse, but its end is burning.