Charles Ellicott Commentary Hebrews 6:5

"and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come," — Hebrews 6:5 (ASV)

Tasted the good word of God.—There is a change of construction in the Greek suggesting that the words more accurately mean, tasted that God’s word is goody—tasted the excellence of God’s word, and of the powers, and so on. God’s word was spoken through the Lord (Hebrews 2:3); the Hebrew Christians had heard and received this word, and had proved its excellence for themselves. (Compare to 1 Peter 2:3).

Powers of the world to come.—Literally, powers of a coming (or, future) age. As was previously remarked, the last word is different from that found in Hebrews 2:5, the one relating to time, the other to the world as inhabited by man. Perhaps we may say that this is the only difference; the same future is contemplated in both places, namely, the age of the Messianic reign. We have seen that in the earliest days of the Church, little importance was given to the period separating the pre-Christian age from the full manifestation of the kingdom of God. Consequently, the “powers” received from God by those who believed (Hebrews 2:4) belonged to no earthly state. They were, in fact, as truly anticipations of a future age of glory as the “heavenly gift” was an anticipation of the “heavenly fatherland” (Hebrews 11:16).