Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 6:8

"but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned." — Hebrews 6:8 (ASV)

We should not miss the point that this is the same land as in v.7. We should probably place a comma at the end of v.7 and proceed thus: “but if it produces...,” or, “but when it produces....” The reference to producing “thorns and thistles” reminds us inevitably of the curse of Ge 3:17ff.—a curse on that very creation of which it had been said, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). This land then, producing only what is worthless, awaits the curse. “Is in danger of being cursed” might give the impression that the land came close to being cursed but just escaped. The author seems rather to be saying that at the moment of which he speaks the curse has not yet fallen, certain though it is. Such a field in the end “will be burned.” Some commentators think the writer knew little of agriculture, for the burning of the field was not a curse but rather a source of blessing as it got rid of the weeds and so prepared for a good crop. But whatever his knowledge of farming, he had a valid point. Land that produced nothing but weeds faced nothing but fire. The warning to professing Christians whose lives produce only the equivalent of weeds is plain.