1 John 2:12-14 “I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. (13) I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. (14) I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.”
As we have said earlier, one of the main differences between the Old and New Testament saints is that the Old Testament saints could not be born again. And so, because the Old Testament saints could not be born again they obviously could not grow and mature spiritually, which is why the bible never describes the saints under the old covenant as being either babes or being mature. In the New Testament however, the saints are very often described as being either babes or being mature. The reason for that is because the New Testament saints can grow in spirit. As we will see in this section, there are various stages of spiritual growth that each New Testament saint goes through. Spiritual growth is similar to natural growth, and so by looking at natural growth we can more easily understand spiritual growth. There are three main stages in natural growth. The first stage is childhood, the second stage is young adult and the final stage is mature adult. In a similar manner, the bible refers to three main stages of spiritual growth, for in the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle John refers to children, young men and fathers. Just as in the natural, each stage of spiritual growth displays its own characteristics. And so in this section we want to discuss the characteristics displayed by those who have entered their first stage of spiritual growth, i.e. childhood. The New Testament refers to these believers as being babes in Christ. All believers are born again as babes in Christ, including the Lord’s most eminent apostles, and it is then up to the individual to grow into spiritual maturity.
Hebrews 5:12-13 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (13) For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.”
There are three main characteristics that identify baby believers. The first is a limited understanding of the word of God, the second is weak faith, and the third is carnal behaviour. And so the first characteristic which we will discuss is the baby believer’s limited understanding of God’s word. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches us that baby believers are unskilled in the word of righteousness. In other words they are ignorant about the many numerous spiritual truths that are revealed in the bible, particularly the mysteries of the gospel as revealed in the New Testament. In this passage the Holy Spirit tells us that baby believers only have the capacity to receive the milk of God’s word, which He explains as being the first principles of the oracles of God. If you read the full context of His teaching in this passage, you will see that He lists the six foundational doctrines of Christ as being the first principles of the oracles of God. Those doctrines are; repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement (Hebrews 6:1-2). And so we see that baby believers only have the capacity to understand the first principle truths in God’s word. Nevertheless some even struggle to understand these basic doctrines, for the Holy Spirit says of the church in Jerusalem that they needed someone to teach them again the first principles of Christ, thus indicating that they had not yet fully grasped those particular truths in scripture. So how is that possible? As we can see from this passage, spiritual growth is not reliant on the length of time one has been saved, for the church in Jerusalem had been established for many years when the Holy Spirit wrote His letter to them, and yet He declared that they were still babes in Christ. Clearly the saints in Jerusalem only had themselves to blame for their lack of spiritual growth, because in this passage the Holy Spirit rebukes them for not yet being able to teach others. And so we can see from this passage that God places the onus on the saints themselves, to grow in their understanding of His word and thus grow spiritually. As an aside, it is a concern in the church today that many of the Lord’s ministers do not have a full understanding of the first principles of the oracles of God, and yet they are the ones that are meant to bring the church to maturity in Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13).
1 Corinthians 3:1-2 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.”
Again, in the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul emphasises that babes in Christ are not able to partake of the solid food of God’s word, for they can only absorb the milk of His word. In this passage Paul contrasts baby believers with those who are spiritual. Obviously a spiritual believer is one and the same as a mature believer. Many mistakenly think that a mature believer is one who has been in the kingdom of God for many years, but that is not the case at all, but rather a mature believer is one who is skilled in the word of righteousness, i.e. they are able to partake of the solid food of God’s word. And so it is quite possible for one to have been in the kingdom for many years but still be a babe in Christ, purely because their understanding of God’s word is limited only to the milk of His word. The church in Corinth had been established for well over six years when Paul wrote his letter to them, and yet he still called them babes in Christ. Notice in this passage that Paul implies that the saints at Corinth should have matured sufficiently by that time so that he could feed them with the solid food of God’s word, thus indicating that six years is enough time for believers to mature sufficiently to start receiving solid spiritual food. Notice also that Paul stated that even if he shared the solid food of God’s word with them that it wouldn’t do them any good, because they would simply not be able to grasp the spiritual truths that he shared. So why is that? In the natural, one cannot feed a baby with solid food because they will choke on it and they could die. In the spirit the principle remains the same, for to feed baby believers with spiritual truths which they are unable to correctly interpret, can lead to destructive outcomes in the lives of those believers. It is only God who can give us spiritual understanding of His word, and God knows what stage each of us are in our spiritual growth (Luke 24:45). And so if we are in the babyhood stage then God is not going to open to us spiritual truths in His word that only mature believers can comprehend.
2 Peter 3:15-16 “and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, (16) as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter teaches us that there are certain spiritual truths found only in the New Testament epistles (specifically those written by the apostle Paul), that even for mature believers like Peter were hard to understand. And so if mature believers struggle to understand certain spiritual truths then clearly those same truths will be beyond a baby believers understanding. Peter also mentions in this passage that when immature believers attempt to understand Paul’s writings, that they invariably end up twisting the scriptures, thus bringing about their ultimate destruction. As I mentioned earlier, it is only God who gives us spiritual understanding of His word, and so God is not going to give a baby believer understanding of spiritual truths that He only reveals to mature believers. That is why you find very often in the church, believers complaining about Paul’s teachings and even disagreeing with them. You can be sure that those same believers are babes in Christ, having a very limited understanding of God’s word. And so we can clearly see that one of the characteristics of baby believers is their limited understanding of God’s word, and more specifically their lack of understanding of the six foundational doctrines of the Christian faith as listed in the book of Hebrews 6:1-2.
Michael E.B. Maher
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