NOTES for Heb 5:11-6:8

The ability to discern good and evil is plainly a gift. According to the apostle Paul, this is precisely how spiritual maturity manifests itself in a person. The difficulty is that evil disguises itself while good may pass unnoticed. It can be very hard to understand what truly underlies what is happening. Nevertheless, this ability is an indispensable condition of the transition from spiritual childhood to adulthood. Paul writes as though it were a skill one can cultivate in oneself by an effort of will. On the other hand, such work is possible only on condition of an unceasing life of prayer. Self-formation places an enormous strain on a person, but the habit of self-discipline is one of the distinguishing marks of an adult: not always perfect, but striving for perfection, one who has already tasted the powers of the age to come and is capable, after falling, of rising and returning to God, understanding that life is possible only with Him.