1: first principles of the oracles of God
2: principles of the doctrine of Christ
3: foundation

Here is the scripture it is found in:

Heb 5:
12: For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13: For every one that uses milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14: But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Heb 6:
1: Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2: Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

Lets enumerate them:

1: repentance from dead works
2: faith toward God
3: doctrine of baptisms (plural)
4: laying on of hands
5: resurrection of the dead
6: eternal judgment

In these teachings, I will refer to them as the Foundational Principles. The writer in the scriptures says they should go on (past) these teachings, which many christians are doing today. However, if you read it carefully you will see that these people had been taught these teachings prior to the writer's bringing into remembrance these principles. To leave these teachings behind, one must first know them. These teachings are referred to as milk. My question is, why aren't baby christians fed this milk?

Eph 2:
20: And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

The foundation of the church is built by apostles and prophets, with Jesus being the corner stone. For a more complete teaching on who Jesus is click on the link below: 

Click Here

So the Foundational Principles must be built upon Christ. So the person must first be a believer in Christ. To learn how to become a christian click on the link below: 

Click Here

Here are other scriptures referring to the building of the church:

Eph 4: MKJV
11 And truly He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
12 for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
13 And this until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 so that we no longer may be infants, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, in the dishonesty of men, in cunning craftiness, to the wiles of deceit.
15 But that you, speaking the truth in love, may in all things grow up to Him who is the Head, even Christ;
16 from whom the whole body, fitted together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of each part, producing the growth of the body to the edifying of itself in love.
 

1 Cor 3: NKJV
9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 
 

James 3:1 NKJV  My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. 
 

God seems to take the building of the church seriously. He therefore, will have stricter judgments upon the ministers. 

To see the page on Church Leadership, click on the link below: 

 Click here

Ok, enough on that, now onto the 1st Foundational Principle: Repentance from Dead Works.

After knowing Christ or even while pursuing Him, one must acknowledge there is only one way to God. Jesus said He is the WAY, the DOOR, and that no one comes to the Father without going through Him. We are not saved by works but by grace. Some people think doing good deeds will get them to heaven.

Ephesians 2: LITV
8 For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God;
9 not of works, that not anyone should boast;

Titus 3: LITV
5 not by works in righteousness which we had done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

John 14: LITV
6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 10: MKJV
1 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter into the sheepfold by the door, but going up by another way, that one is a thief and a robber.
7 Then Jesus said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.

Not only in salvation must we repent from dead works, but afterwards as well. We cannot please God by doing good deeds as a Christian either. Lets look at this scripture:

Math 7: NKJV
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' 

This scripture does not necessarily refer to the loss of salvation, click on the link below for further detail: 

Click Here

What is important here is seeing that these people said Lord Lord and did wonderful works in the name of the Lord, but did NOT do the will of the Father.

Rom 12:2: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We must renew our minds to learn the will of God, this is another teaching which will be addressed later.

You can learn about becoming a disciple of Christ here:

 Click here

You can learn about preparing for His return here: 

 Click here

You can learn about entering His Kingdom here: 

 Click here

The point I am showing here is that doing good deeds for Jesus will do nothing to please Him. If it is not His will, we must repent of dead works as a foundational truth as a christian.

One reason that this is the 1st principle is that God wants to build you and the church (you are a part of the church) and He wants the church built perfectly. He wants everything that you do for Him or in His name done correctly and not by some dead work. Each one of us has the potential to be used for God, and the level we are used depends upon this truth in our life.

2 Tim 2: NKJV
19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 
21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

I think all of us would love to be a vessel of honor and gold for God, to do so, we must let our deeds be: by and through Him. Let us therefore repent of dead works. The doctrine of repentance from dead works was restored to the church thru Martin Luther.

Next is: Faith towards God.

Here is the Biblical definition of faith:

Heb 11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

That means that you believe in something that you know is real or true even when you can't see it, but yet it shall be seen in the future as an expected end, which is hope. It will happen by something you can't see.

How do you get faith?

Rom 10: NKJV 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

You get faith from the Word of God. The Bible, prayer, ministers, fellow believers are some of the main sources of finding the Word of God. Those sources outside of Scripture, must line up with scripture. In other words, you can get faith by hearing scripture from other people.

The object of our faith must be in God, there is a big movement in the church called the Faith movement. It has even entered the business world and is sometimes called the Power of Positive thinking. Man does have a natural or even super-natural ability to have things get done, but our faith must be in God. We must not even put our faith in faith. The doctrine of Faith in God was greatly restored by Kenneth Hagin.

Numbers 23: MKJV
19 God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?

Psalms 119: LITV
89 ¶ LAMED: Your Word is settled in Heaven forever, O Jehovah.
90 Your faithfulness endures to generation and generation; You founded the earth, and it stands.

Hebrews 11: NKJV
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. 

Isa 55: LITV
11 so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in what I sent it to do!

We need to trust God for everything and in everything. We need to trust Him for jobs, finances, relationships, even our own deliverance from problems. If He has said something in the Bible we need to believe it and trust in Him. 

Prov 3: MKJV
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

For more on the Word of God go to this link: 

Click Here

What is the importance of Faith? 

Heb 11: NKJV
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

I want to say a few of things which are important here and I hope to go further in it at another time. (See the link above or this link:  What is the highest standard to find God with? ) 
One is, that Word of God is very vital and deeply connected with faith, the Word of God has real working power in those that believe:

1 Thess 2: NKJV
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 

James 1: MKJV
21 Therefore putting aside all filthiness and overflowing of evil, receive in meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.

Secondly, we must realize that Jesus Himself is the Word of God.

John 1:
1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Thirdly, 2 enemies of faith are: Doubt and Unbelief; and a fellow worker with faith is Patience. With the end result of faith being Experience. Also remember that in the Positive Thinking Movement, one truth that has been corrupted is confession. If you have faith, you must speak it:

Rom 4:17: ... even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Call those things that are not as though they are; health, finances, and so on. But we must remember we are trusting in God to perform this, or even that He has already done it and we are waiting for its manifestation.

1 Pet 2: MKJV
24 He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.

You see that? We were healed by His stripes. Past tense, a work already accomplished. The same thing about our sins. Most christians don't have a problem believing Jesus died for our sins, but many do have a problem with Him taking our sickness. Now confess it in faith at a time of sickness. Believe the sickness to be a lie from satan or of our flesh. put your FAITH in Christ's work, on the cross and with His stripes.

John 10:10: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Do not walk or speak in unbelief or doubt saying, "Some day God will...", such statements are saying God is a liar.

Rom 3: MKJV
4 Let it not be! But let God be true, and every man a liar; as it is written, "That You might be justified in Your sayings, and will overcome when You are judged."

Faith has dynamics (things that cause it to work); patience and confession. To receive from faith we must endure and be patient, trusting in God and continue a good confession.

Heb 10:23: Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Remember to put your faith towards something. A specific SOMETHING, God and His Word. That alone holds great strength. Put your faith toward God. Faith is toward God, not in scientific evidence. I do not like to use scientific evidence to create faith. The Bible says that our heart soil can be of various fruitfulness. Creating faith by evidence will make a very shallow faith which may easily wither. I do have links to scientific evidences, this adds to my faith, it does nothing to create it, nor do I use it to build doctrine.
 

The next Foundational Principle is the Doctrine of Baptisms. You can find that page here:

 Foundational Principles of Christ - Part 2 The Doctrine of Baptisms

I believe a key manifestation of the 1st two Foundational Principles is walking in the Spirit. To see my page on this, see the link below:

 Walking in the Spirit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Here are some links on the Foundational Principles from other sources: 

 BASIC CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES
 James Brandt Ministries: Growing in Christ
 Faith in God

Basic Principles
 REPENTANCE FROM DEAD WORKS - from the above source 
 FAITH TOWARDS GOD - from the above source 
 
 

 10 Extinction proof texts refuted! - based on the Eternal Judgment principle 
 Conscious life after death proven from the Bible! - based on the Eternal Judgment principle 
 Eternal torment or annihilation? - based on the Eternal Judgment principle 
 Exposition of Luke 16:19-31 - based on the Eternal Judgment principle 

 THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST--PART I
 THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST--PART II
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 

Pages of mine related to this subject:

 Foundational Principles of Christ - Part 2 The Doctrine of Baptisms

 Walking in the Spirit

 The Rapture

 Are You Prepared for the 2nd Coming?

 The 2 & a Half Tribes that didn't Cross Over

 Prophecy

 The Gospel of The Kingdom - part one

 Eternal Judgment: of the Believer

 The Lake of Fire
 

I have made a Main Page where you can see the links to the various pages I have made: 

 Main Page