"1Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits."
Hebrews 6:1-3
Chapter 5 ends with a statement about two kinds of Christians - babes and mature believers. The message of chapter 6 is that not only is it highly unsatisfactory to remain babes, but also highly dangerous. This is the point of the caution in 3 - 'if God permit'. Too much preoccupation with first principles - contentment with 'the simple gospel' - along with an unwillingness to 'go on' can bring its own penalty of spiritual disqualification. So far as the deep things of the Spirit are concerned, it is possible to be left of God for want of seeking Him. As someone has put it, 'there is a timelimit to the opportunity to go on'. It is interesting to see what the Apostle includes in 'first principles' that need to be left behind (not in the sense of dispensing with them, but of going on from them refusing to let them become preoccupations or 'hobby-horses' (!) in our spiritual lives). There are those who never get beyond their preoccupation, not to say obsession, with baptism or the gifts of the Spirit (laying on of hands). This, we learn, is not, as they suppose the mark of an advanced position, of being 'far ben' in the things of the Spirit, but on the contrary of immaturity. It is not too much to say that by their harsh, obsessional addiction to such views, they have excluded themselves (and, it may be, forever) from real advancement to a gracious maturity of experience. They have chosen to dwell in that particular sphere, making these things their life, and God has left them to their choice. Solemn thought!