Hebrews 5:12-14, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
| SPIRITUALLY MATURE | SPIRITUALLY IMMATURE |
| TEACHER | NEED AGAIN FOR SOMEONE TO TEACH YOU |
| SOLID FOOD | MILK |
| WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS | ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES |
| PRACTICED | NOT ACCUSTOMED |
| MATURE | INFANT |
| TRAINED SENSES | UNTRAINED SENSES |
| DISCERNING | UNDISCERNING |
Terms to Know
Teacher: one who is fit to explain the things of God from the Bible
- This is not the same thing as the spiritual gift of teaching, which is something unique that is bestowed upon few Christians. This is a general ability that any Christian can attain to, so as to become Biblically helpful to others.
Milk: (metaphor) “elementary principles”, less difficult Christian truths, i.e. the gospel
- Like milk to an infant, the gospel is rich, life giving, basic nourishment to live.
- Milk, i.e. the gospel, can and should be morally transformative to one who will submit to it.
Solid food: (metaphor) the broader truths of God’s Word, truths that require deeper study and meditation.
- Represented by the “word of righteousness” in verse 14
Infant: (metaphor) childish, untaught
Mature: brought to its end, finished; excellent integrity and virtue.
Levels of Biblical Depth
The Bible has varying degrees of depth. There are basic truths that can be found on the surface, and are simple enough that a child can read and understand. Some examples are, Jesus can forgive sin, honor your parents, help the poor, or pray for God’s help when you’re afraid. A casual reading of the Bible has value to discover these simple truths. Casual reading is something like reading the Bible in a year. I call this type of reading “casual” because in order to finish the Bible in a year, a person must read so many chapters a day, which doesn’t provide the time to slow down and study any particular passage. Page-turning reading like this gives an overview, but doesn’t provide “meat” or depth. Those who never get beyond casual reading will never get beyond the milk of the Word. The milk, or more simple truths, are good and satisfying, especially as a person feeds on them for the first time. However, a Christian’s growth is intended to go beyond milk.
In the book of Proverbs, godly wisdom is personified: taking something that isn’t human, but giving it human attributes. In the case of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a female. In Proverbs, King Solomon and his wife are teaching their son to pursue godly wisdom by challenging him to “seek her out” and “pursue her.” Proverbs 2:4-5 speaks of godly wisdom and says, “If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.”
Nobody finds “silver” and “hidden treasures” laying on the surface of the ground. Certain metals and stones are rare and precious because they are not on the surface, but are buried deep below. A person who is willing to go through the effort to dig deep into the earth will be the one to find valuable gems. In short, if you want to grow deeper in your understanding of the Bible, if you are willing to pursue wisdom, you must invest in serious study. Teachers of the Word are those who have invested substantial time in personal Bible study. They should be the type of people that you can go to with challenging questions about the Bible. The writer of Hebrews says to his audience, in verse twelve, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you.” The author rebukes these believers for not investing in themselves; for not growing and maturing in the Word. Those who have a good understanding of the Word should be teachers, not necessarily in a public or vocational setting, but in a private situation, one on one.
Who is Spiritually Mature?
Verse fourteen says, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” It’s important to note that although spiritual maturity is in part the ability to discern the broader truths of the Bible (able to feed on “solid food”), spiritual maturity is foremost a moral challenge! This means that even a child who is newer to the faith, can demonstrate spiritual maturity, if he chooses to practice and apply what he’s learned from the Word. In other words, spiritual maturity isn’t solely, or even initially, and intellectual challenge. One can be well versed in the Scriptures and win any Bible trivia contest. However, that person can be spiritually immature if he lives with a weak moral compass. Living obediently to the more-simple truths results in a person living with excellent integrity and virtue. And, in succession, one who has a strong moral/ethical compass will have greater discernment of the broader truths of God’s Word. This means that in everyday practicality, if you stumble through the Word, failing to understand its spiritual depth and meaning, it may very well be that your spirit is hindered by your poor moral ethic! When a Christian finds his delight in sinful entertainment, abusing drugs/alcohol, unethical business practices, wasting money; these point to the fact that his moral compass is off. Either he doesn’t know good from evil, or he knows but dismisses it. Anyone who lives apart from practicing God’s simple truths can expect to have barriers to understanding spiritually deep things.
The point I’m laboring at here is to say that the pathway to spiritual maturity is not first becoming an intelligent person, but an obedient person. Hebrews is saying that your capacity for solid food, i.e., spiritual maturity, has more to do with how you handle alcohol, sex, money, and people, and not how intelligent you are. There are many less-educated Christians who are deeply mature and can feed on the meat of the Word, and who profit from the deeper aspects of godly wisdom.
Train Your Senses
You certainly have five natural senses; sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell. There are also spiritual senses as well; a spiritual eye used for discernment, a spiritual appetite where one can hunger and thirst for righteousness, a spiritual taste that finds righteous things pleasing and sinful things disgusting. When a person exercises, or “practices”, their spiritual senses, then these senses become greatly improved upon and mature. A person first must set his heart to do these things. They don’t happen by accident or when we feel like it. If we wait until we feel like maturing, we don’t mature. Set your heart to become who God wants you to become! A verse that I was challenged with in my early days in following Jesus was Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Perhaps it’s not a verse that jumps off the page at you. But look closer at the steps Ezra took, and the order of those steps. 1) Ezra set his heart to become a certain type of person. 2) Ezra studied the Word of God, wrestling with the truths of the Scriptures. 3) Ezra practiced what he’d studied. 4) Ezra taught the Word to others. The bottom line is that a person can’t teach without studying, and one ought not to teach without practicing. But none of these happen before one set’s his mind to become this type of man.
Practices of the Spiritually Mature
- Evaluate your character with God’s character.
- 1 Peter 1:15, “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.”
- Practice training your senses to discern good and evil.
- Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
- Practice denying things that are wrong. Practice enjoying things that are good.
- Examples – stop immoral behaviors, turn the channel, create a godly budget, stop cussing, etc.
- Examples – start giving thanks, putting others first, contributing instead of taking, etc.
- Seek out and be mentored by godly men or women.
- 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
- Make it your ambition to please God in all you do.
- 2 Corinthians 5:9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
- Form transforming habits.
- Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”
- Prayer throughout the day, studying the Bible, meditation on deep Biblical truths, sufficient sleep, creating time for fellowship, worship undistracted; these aren’t accidental behaviors. Spiritually mature people will set their heart to do these things.
- Commit to church fellowship.
- Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
- The church is one of two institutions (marriage is the other) that God has put His blessing upon.
- God’s equipped others to minister to you, like pastors. So, let them minister to you.
- Encouraging one another is in part accountability.
- Discover your spiritual gift and use it.
- 1 Peter 4:10, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
- Find someone to invest in.
- Titus 2:2-4, “Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children.”
- Older godly men, and older godly women, will be willing to speak truth and love into younger eager believers. God has designed that we go through life together. We’re better this way!