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 passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit emphasises that babes in Christ, are not able to partake of the solid food of God’s word, for they can only absorb His milk. It is only God who gives us understanding of His word (Luke 24:45), and God knows exactly where each of us are, in our spiritual growth. And so, if we are in the babyhood stage, then God is not going to allow us to see truths in His word, that only mature believers can understand. Bearing in mind, that a mature believer is one and the same as a spiritual believer. In the natural, we think that a mature believer is one who has been in the kingdom for many years, but in the spirit that is not the case at all, for in the spirit, 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, for God has opened their understanding to the hidden mysteries of the gospel. 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 to the milk of His word. The church in Corinth, had been in existence for well over four years when Paul wrote his letter to them, and yet he still called them babes in Christ.
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.”
The Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter, confirms to us the truth, that there are certain 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, those same truths cannot be understood by baby believers. Peter mentioned in this passage, that some thought that they could understand Paul’s writings, and had become horribly unstuck in the process. Because as I mentioned earlier, it is only God who gives us understanding of His word, and 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, some even ministers of the gospel, are baby believers in their understanding of God’s word. And so, clearly one of the traits of baby believers, is a limited understanding of God’s word.
1 Corinthians 3:1-4 “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; (3) for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (4) For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal?”
The second trait that identifies baby believers, is the way in which they behave. In the above passage of scripture, the apostle Paul refers to babes in Christ, as being carnal. The bible refers to the unsaved as being carnal, for they are spiritually dead and so can only walk according to the course of this world (Ephesians 2:2). And so, to be carnal is to think the way that this world thinks, and thus behave the way that this world behaves. When we are born again, we become partakers of the divine nature of God our Father (2 Peter 1:4), nevertheless we are born again as spiritual babes, and thus still spiritually weak. Not only that, but we are also still carnal in our thinking, for the bible admonishes us to renew our minds and thus change our way of thinking to think in line with God’s word (Romans 12:2). And so, because the spirits of baby Christians are still weak, and they have not yet grown to the point where they can start displaying the fruit of the spirit such as, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), babes in Christ continue to display the carnal behaviour of this world, and so continue to walk in envy, strife and divisions.
Michael E.B. Maher
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