Leaving Milk for Meat

Hebrews 5:11-14

February 18, 2001

 

How satisfying and deep is the Word of God? Jonathan Edwards declared, "The word of God, which is given for our instruction in divinity, contains enough in it to employ us to the end of our lives, and then we shall leave enough uninvestigated to employ the heads of the ablest divines to the end of the world." He added, "There is enough in this divine science to employ the understandings of saints and angels to all eternity" [The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 2, 160]. More than enough, we might say of the Word of God.

 

Few would doubt the wealth of God's Word. Multiplied thousands of titles hit the market each year attempting to explain some portion of God's Word, yet none of these exhausts neither its particular subject nor the Word as a whole. Its vastness can overwhelm us. The copy of the Scriptures that I am reading has around 1200 pages, four hundred more than Paul Johnson's Modern Times and two hundred more than Merle d'Aubigne's History of the Reformation in England. With a little devotion and study one could master Johnson's and d'Aubigne's volumes. But a lifetime of studying God's Word will only scratch the surface of its richness and depth. And why is this Book so overwhelming? The answer is quite simple: it is the revelation of an infinite God to finite men. We can only exhaust the pages of Scripture if we can exhaust the infinite knowledge of God.

 

But the question that might be more pertinent for us is personally applied. "Are you growing in your knowledge and practice of the Word of God?" The Hebrews addressed in our text were in a strange position. The author had just begun expounding the truth of Jesus Christ's high priesthood being superior to that of the Aaronic priesthood, as it was "according to the order of Melchizedek." With abruptness, he stopped. "Concerning Him we have much to say." He desired to feed them the riches of divine truth. He knew that in understanding Christ as their high priest and the superiority of his priesthood they would gain new assurance and courage in their faith. But their hearing was dull, so he pauses to shockingly upbraid them for not hearing the Word before resuming his exposition of Christ in the order of Melchizedek.

 

Dull ears make for scant understanding and little practice. Without a steady diet of God's Word a believer's ability to make wise decisions and live like a believer will be stymied. Andrew Fuller was right. "Christians should not rest satisfied in having attained to a knowledge of the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, but should go on unto perfection" [The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, vol. 1, 161]. To be satisfied with only an introduction to Christ calls into question the reality of his faith. We must leave the elementary diet of milk for the solid food of God's Word. This alone can sustain us and assure us in our faith as we journey through the trials and demands of life. How can we do this?

 

I. Explanation

 

It is important that we keep something of the whole picture of this Epistle in mind as we dissect each section. For if we lift this text from what has already been stated, we might come away with a weak interpretation. This letter is a strong, pastoral exhortation. It comes on the heels of reports of professing believers slipping into the possibility of apostasy. So they are told, "For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it" (2:1). And again, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession" (3:1). The implication is that you cannot consider Jesus without hearing, contemplating, and applying by faith the revelation of God's Word concerning him. He goes on to warn against developing hardened hearts that fall away in unbelief from the Lord (3:7-12). They are exhorted to be "diligent to enter His rest" rather than hardening their hearts after hearing His voice so clearly in the gospel (4:7-11). So, consequently, these professing Christians are to hold fast their confession of Jesus Christ as their Prophet, Priest, and King.

 

To help them understand the means God has given for them to hold fast their confession, the writer expounds the glory of Jesus Christ to them. As they are able to grasp a clearer picture of Jesus Christ in all his sufficiency, then they would be emboldened to press on in spite of opposition, persecution, and temptation. So the connection is made between Melchizedek and Jesus Christ. He wets their appetite; then stops dead in his tracks. He has much more to say, but until they realize the problem of their dullness of hearing God's Word they would not make any progress in the Christian life.

 

1. So much to say!

 

I have often read verse 11 with a pain in the brain! "Concerning him [i.e. Christ as a high priest in the order of Melchizedek] we have much more to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing." My thought has been, 'Why were you so dull! Don't you know that he is telling you truth that few had understood!' I want to hear more about this myself!

 

Yet the problem facing this early pastoral writer has not been eliminated over the years. There is still so "much more to say" concerning Jesus Christ, the gospel, eternal life, the nature of God, the relationship of Christ to the Church, the work of the Holy Spirit, and so forth, but few are willing to hear. As we shall see, this congregation was happy to have an introduction to the elementary principles of the faith but dull to hearing more. They would be compared to children satisfied to just be enrolled in the first grade and continue through the years of primary and secondary education without learning anything above a first grade level. They are like chemists who only learn the first element in the periodic table, while the balance remains waiting for their investigation and understanding.

 

The Psalmist tells us, "Oh how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day" (119:97). Proverbs adds, "Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him" (30:5), with the implication being that this refuge can only be taken by a revelation of God in his Word. Paul tells us to "be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15). And Peter adds, "Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" (I Pet. 2:2). Throughout the Scripture we are exhorted to be a people who grow in our understanding of God by growing in our understanding of his Word. Edwards told his congregation 250 years ago, "Every Christian should make a business of endeavoring to grow in knowledge in divinity," and by this he means that we study the Scripture so that we grasp in systematic fashion all of the doctrines of Holy Scripture [157]. Is it your business and practice to grow in your understanding of God by growing in your understanding of the Word? You might be doing many things of great importance. Certainly all of us have busy lives. But is there anything more important than knowing the Eternal God in the fullness of his revelation in Scripture? There is indeed "much to say" concerning Jesus Christ!

 

2. So dull of hearing!

 

But the problem for the Hebrews was very real. It seems that up to this point the writer has given the Hebrews the answers they needed to face the dire circumstances before them, but he has not spelled out the problem. Why did they not have courage in the face of persecution or assurance in light of the skepticism about them? They were dull of hearing. "Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing." The problem was not on the writer's part. He could explain the deep things of God's revelation concerning Christ. But a shift had taken place in their natures. No longer were they the eager-to-learn believers he knew so well. But they had "become dull of hearing." The language suggests a settled state of dullness. The word implies a sluggishness or slowness to hear the Word. It was as though they were numb to the Word of God. Theirs was not a temporary lull in spiritual interest and thinking. But it was the problem of ongoing neglect of hearing and heeding the Word. He had already spoken of the danger of disobedience that came due to unbelief (3:18-19). Now this audience would be tested themselves. Would they continue on in dullness of hearing?

 

The writer uses this word one other time in the Epistle in 6:12 where it is translated, "sluggish." As we consider 6:11-12 we find what he means by "dull" in noting its opposite description. "And we desire that each of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." The opposite of dullness is diligence. It is a pursuit of full assurance in Christ. It is a dogged, unrelenting desire to know the hope of Christ filling your bosom to the brim. Dullness is really not an ear problem but a heart problem. Something in the heart seems to reject the idea of hearing and heeding the Word. John Piper comments, "The promises come to the ear, but there is no passion for them, no lover's embrace, no cherishing or treasuring; and so no faith and no patience and-if things don't change-no inheritance of eternal life" [www.soundofgrace.com/piper96/09-29-96.htm].

 

How does this happen to those of us who have professed faith in Christ? How can we become "dull of hearing"? At least three things might possibly occur. First, to neglect hearing the Word increases dullness of hearing. Reading and studying Scripture is an acquired taste. The Word cuts against the grain of the natural man, exposing him and laying bare his depravity (4:12-13). Apart from a changed heart and a renewed mind, a person has little desire to expose himself to the Word, either by reading or listening to it (Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 4:20-24). This is one reason why our writer exhorts these believers to "not forsake our own assembling together," for as we neglect hearing the Word and sitting under its counsel, we dull our own hearing (10:25).

 

Second, we become dulled when we take for granted the Word of God. If the Word is one of those things that you will eventually get-around-to, then you are in the process of being dulled. If you have become familiar to the Word without paying heed to its application, then you are being dulled. The train tracks run directly behind our home. Frankly, we don't even notice the roaring of the train as it rumbles through our backyard every day. But when someone visits us, they are often startled when they hear the train! We have taken it for granted and grown so familiar with it that we do not notice it. Has that happened with you and the preaching, reading, studying, and teaching of God's Word?

 

Third, when we ignore obeying the Word we become dulled in our hearing. James warns that we deceive ourselves when we are merely hearers without being doers of the Word (James 1:22). If you are given to disobedience, do not complain about what you are hearing of God's Word. It is no question why you do not hear. You have no intention to obey so do not expect God to make his Word plain to you if you want it only to satisfy your pride.

 

II. Amplification

 

Was this pastor being too harsh to the Hebrew congregation? He has made a strong charge, declaring them to be "dull of hearing." Can he back it up? He does so by explaining what should be reasonably true of those in love with Jesus Christ.

 

1. Reasonable projection

 

We do not know exactly how long the audience had been believers. Philip Hughes says, "a few years." That is a good guess! But we can be assured that they were not long-standing as a church since the gospel had only come on the scene around 30 years earlier in Galilee and then into the region around Jerusalem and beyond. In spite of this, the writer has no hesitation to tell them that they should be capable by this point of explaining the Christian faith to others. But they were hardly there! "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." By "teachers" he is not implying that all of them should assume the office of teacher or pastor in their congregation. Rather they are to be so attentive in learning the truths of God's Word that they will have something to teach others about the Christian faith, the gospel, and walking with God.

 

In this regard Jonathan Edwards commented, "If God have made it the business of some to be teachers, it will follow, that he hath made it the business of others to be learners; for teachers and learners are correlates, one of which was never intended to be without the other. God hath never made it the duty of some to take pains to teach those who are not obliged to take pains to learn" [161]. Those who are learners will have something to say to others about the truths of God's Word.

 

Often I have heard excuses for not being students of Scripture. But this passage allows no such excuses! Edwards illustrates, "It becomes one who is called to be a soldier, to excel in the art of war. It becomes a mariner, to excel in the art of navigation." And then of Christians he writes, "So it becomes all such as profess to be Christians, and to devote themselves to the practice of Christianity, to endeavour [sic] to excel in the knowledge of divinity" [161]. Are you so devoted to the practice of Christianity that you seek to "excel in the knowledge" of God's Word? This is not just for ministers; it is for all the family of God.

 

2. Shocking reality

 

But the shocking reality was that not only were they incapable of teaching others; they had a need to be taught all over again! "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." The language is akin to Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians when he told them they were acting like babies. Here the writer tells this group that their understanding of Christ and the gospel was so weak, so dulled by their neglect and apathy, that what they needed was to start all over! The "oracles of God" is another way of stating the truth of God or the doctrines of God's Word or the teachings of Scripture. They contain both "the simple truths of the gospel, which require little or no investigation in order to their being understood," writes Andrew Fuller, and "they also contain the 'deep things of God', things beyond the reach of a slight and cursory observation," things which Fuller calls "strong meat" [161]. These believers should have been feasting upon strong meat by this time; but they still needed the basics of the milk of the Word.

 

We must understand that he is not denigrating the basics of the faith. We must ever see the basics of the faith as our foundation upon which everything is built. But a foundation is never a place to stop. If you only have a foundation to a building you have a start, but you do not have a building to shelter you from the storms and assaults upon your faith. In the next chapter he exhorts, "Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God" (6:1). These ought to be understood by the least of believers. But they are not the stopping point for our spiritual knowledge and understanding.

 

"You have come to need milk and not solid food." For a group that had in their number those who were enamored with mystical teaching on angels and other esoteric subjects, this stood as a strong rebuke. They were feeding themselves on that which had no eternal substance. Their diet was cardboard and dust, not solid food. Consequently they were not nurtured while facing persecution and temptation. Those of questionable faith did not even want the milk! No wonder they were in danger of falling away!

 

Where is your spiritual progress? I'm not asking you to compare yourself to someone else. That can be rather unfair and arbitrary. But I am asking you as a believer, what kind of progress are you making in growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? The shocking reality among most congregations is that the level of living exposes the level of understanding of God's Word. When Christ is not evident in our lives it is likely that our hearing has grown dull for the Word of God. When there is no ongoing passion for Christ then it is because dullness has set in. When we can flounder around with the world and give in to its lure, then by default we admit that we have "come to need milk and not solid food." Such admission is that either our faith is weak and possibly faltering; or that our faith has never gotten off the ground in honestly trusting Jesus Christ as our Mediator before God.

 

III. Exhortation

 

If you are a new believer, then it is expected that you are to be nurturing yourself on the milk of the Word. That is normal. Stay after it! But do not stop there. Like a little baby, develop an appetite for solid food. "Taste and see that the Lord is good!"

 

And if you have been a believer for a few years, then it should be normal to make progress in your understanding of the things of God. With your progress come assurance, strength for spiritual battles, resistance to temptation, insights on godly living, and the ability to discern the right choices and ways. But if you are subsisting only on milk, then the writer's assessment is that you are an infant when you ought to be mature.

 

1. Scant diet-limited practice

 

He tells us, "For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant." The phrase, "the word of righteousness," quite likely has a dual meaning. On one hand it implies the legal aspect of "righteousness," that is, the whole truth concerning our justification through faith in Jesus Christ. Most new believers do not understand the full range of implications concerning justification. It is as you grow in the Lord that you come to appreciate and glory in the richness of this truth. You grasp something of what Paul meant when he tells us to "put on the breastplate of righteousness" (Eph. 6:14). For in this you realize that Christ is your righteousness; because this is true, then none of the adversary's arrows of condemnation can find a landing spot in your mind.

 

But the "word of righteousness" also refers to the practice of the Christian life. It is the "impartation of righteousness" as William Gurnall expressed it. It is living out the moral and ethical dimensions of the Christian life. We face moral and ethical demands every day. We experience a range of choices, decisions, and options related to everything from what our eyes will see, what our ears will hear, where our feet will carry us, who we will be involved with, what our minds will dwell on, what kind of careers to pursue, how to spend our resources. When we have become dulled in hearing the Word, then our ability to exercise discernment in these things is dulled. There are obvious things that the Word spells out for us. We know that we are not to murder or steal. But to be able to practice righteousness in all of the other areas that are not clearly spelled out requires having our "senses trained to discern good and evil." That comes through regular nurture and application of the Word of God.

 

If you are skimping on milk, then don't expect to handle solid food. And you might very well be unable to feast on solid food because you are not practicing the word of righteousness regarding what God has already taught you.

 

2. Good habits-trained senses

 

We train our spiritual faculties to discern good and evil by a regular, ongoing diet of God's Word. "But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." Notice that two things are involved. First there is "solid food," what Fuller calls "the strong meat" of God's Word. It is those who are developing in spiritual maturity that can enjoy such food. Babies tend to play in solid food while maturing children and youth enjoy eating it. What is the "solid food"? It is those doctrines that make up the whole of Scripture. Here the writer was speaking of Christ's high priestly ministry-grasping it and delighting in it. In Galatians it might be the wondrous doctrine of justification. In Ephesians it might be getting a handle on the doctrine of election. These things are solid food.

 

But we make a mistake if we think that solid food is just for knowledge. Yes, we must have knowledge. But right knowledge always leads to practice, so our writer speaks of those "who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." The word "practice" refers to the development of regular habits. These are godly habits of the mind, attitude, thought life, and moral actions. One's "senses" are "trained" or trained by the exercise of the truths of God's Word. Understanding and obeying God's Word develops the believer's capacity to "discern good and evil." In other words, the kind of living that redounds to the glory of God is that which is honed by the study and practice of God's truth. "The pathway to maturity and to solid Biblical food is not first becoming an intelligent person, but becoming an obedient person" [Piper].

 

Conclusion

 

Let me close by offering an adaptation of Jonathan Edwards' seven directions for the acquisition of Christian knowledge:

 

1. Be assiduous in reading the Holy Scriptures.

 

2. Do not content yourself with only a cursory reading of Scripture but seek to observe the meaning of what you read.

 

3. Procure, and diligently use, other books which may help you grow in this knowledge.

 

4. Discuss the Word in conversation with others.

 

5. Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause, and to enable you to dispute with others; but seek it for the benefit of your souls, and in order to practice. If applause be your end, you will not be so likely to be led to the knowledge of the truth.

 

6. Ask God to direct and bless you in the pursuit after knowledge.

 

7. Practice according to what knowledge you have. This will be the way to know more [162-163].

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