This chunk of Hebrews is one of those "stump the pastor" sections that, if not dealt with carefully, can cause some serious issues. For example, in 6:2, a number of good things to think about are blasted and in 6:4 there's a claim that it is impossible to return to faith once you fall away. So, what's the deal in these verses? While I can't find anyone who agrees with me, here are my thoughts.

First, we need to look at what was said both before and after this section. Both sides deal with Melchizedek and the priesthood of Christ. With this in mind, we see in verse 11 that the author, who's just introduced the topic of Christ's priesthood, wants to say a whole lot more about it, but the people aren't inclined to listen to what he has to say, rather, they want to move on to what they perceive to be more important issues.

Now, these more important issues, things like good works, rituals, prayer, and the resurrection, aren't necessarily bad, as long as they're kept in the right context. However, from where the author is standing, it looks like his readers have elevated these issues over what really matters, the Gospel.

In other words, they seem to be of the opinion that the Gospel is easy, and they are wanting to move onto harder issues, not realizing that the Gospel impacts all of the Christian life and, if you don't get the Gospel right, you're not going to get anything right.

This also helps to make sense of the author's comments on losing your salvation. I believe that he's not talking about a faith that lacks good works, rather, he's talking about a faith more like that of the Pharisees, where there is a commitment to faith, but it's a faith that fails to understand the all encompassing role of the Gospel. The result of faith like this tends to be one of two things: 1) trusting in yourself (aka idolatry, aka apostasy) or 2) recognizing your inability, determining that the Gospel (or what you thought was the Gospel) isn't the answer, and rejecting the faith outright (also apostasy). Of course, in both of these places, since you've already tried the Gospel, you're not going to go back to it.

I believe this entire section is designed to set up an opportunity for the author to take a deeper look at the Gospel and to connect it to more of life.