Grow Up! Hebrews 5:11-14

One of the simple and yet sweetest joys of my life as been to watch my babies learn new things and acquire new abilities. Although it fills me with pride to see Henry (7 months) hold his own bottle or listen to Audrey (2 years) recite a song in clear English J, soon this pride turns to fear—“Oh no!” I think to myself, “Don’t grow up too fast!” I’m sure that every parent identifies with this tension between wanting to see your kids learn and develop while at the same time hoping that all of this does not happen too quickly. Though this common tension is perfectly appropriate when we consider our children, this tension is inappropriate for the children of God. When it comes to being a child of God, we cannot grow fast enough, nor should we wish that anything would slow our development.

Unfortunately, as the preacher continues his sermon in Hebrews 5:11-14, we learn that he is addressing a bunch of infants. However, these are not the cute kind of babies that we enjoy to hold and love on; these are the awkward toddlers who insist on being held or the five-year-olds that still carry a pacifier. These are those who we would look at with confusion, wondering when they will grow up! Let us listen to what he has to say to these awkward spiritual babies so that we might learn how to spot immaturity and lazy faith in our own personal walk with God.  

“You are Hard of Hearing”-5:11

As chapter 5 nears an end, the preacher voices his frustration at having to explain relatively bottom shelf truths—especially concerning Jesus. You can almost hear the frustration in his voice when he says, “concerning him we have much to say and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing…” (5:11). Concerning who? Concerning Melchizedek and his relationship to Jesus’ unique priestly service (see 5:6 & 10). If the Jewish Christians receiving this sermon were having trouble with returning to Judaism and forsaking the gift of grace that was made perfectly clear in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no way that they were going to really comprehend the more intricate nuances of Jesus’ unique office of highest High Priest (in the order of this lesser-known Old Testament character).

Jesus Christ is a subject that is so massive, it could exhaust multiple terminal degrees with material. In fact, John says, “and there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.” One might major just in Christology, or get a PhD in His practical ministry, or accomplish post-graduate work in His Passion. There are not enough years in a lifetime to understand all that there is to know about the God-Man. And yet, the population that the writer of Hebrews is addressing is still in Jesus 101 and failing at it, trying to change their major and return to a degree in Judaism.

 Missing the fundamentals of the gospel made it exceedingly difficult for the preacher “to explain” what God had given him to explain about Jesus present ministry as highest High Priest. This was ultimately brought about because his audience had become “dull of hearing.” Literally, the word used means “lazy.” Other translations of this ancient term include “sluggish, dimwitted, negligent.” In other words, the people had become “lazy listeners” or coach potato consumers who were fine with the easily edible but nonconversant with more substantive nourishment. Their proclivity to the old ways of doing things discussed in vv. 1-10 of chapter 5 deafened them to anything new, including the very important fact that in Jesus, they had new and better representation before God –a representative king like Melchizedek. They were, in essence, not ready for the next course on Jesus that took their understanding of Christ further.

Their failure to understand Jesus made them unteachable—perhaps one of the most frightening tendencies for anyone trying to live the Christian life. If a pre-med student is not cutting it in Biology 101, he is she is not going to comprehend molecular biology. If a Bible major cannot get past Greek 101, then advanced Greek Grammar is going to prove to be jibberish. If one is majoring in engineering at Virginia Tech, they are going to go nowhere without mastering simple algebra and physics. Failure to master the basics renders any of these student deaf to the greater nuances of their field. The same is true of believers. If one fails to master the basics of faith, then they do not have much hope of growing in their faith.

 “You Ought to be Eating Solid Foods”-5:12-14

The preacher continues his admonition of the people by saying, in so many words, “You ought to be eating solid foods by now.” He makes this case by suggesting in the first part of verse 12, “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…” (5:12a). His audience’s condition is especially egregious in light of their long-term involvement in the church with no observable growth. These had been present but not discipled, these had attended but not matriculated out of spiritual kindergarten. While they should have, by this point, been serving as teachers, they still required elementary education themselves (“elementary principles of the oracles of God” could be woodenly translated as “the basic principles of the beginning of the words of God”). This would be comparable to repeating the same grade over and over again without ever advancing to the next level.  

While a bleak picture of the spiritual maturity of the congregation he is writing to is already in clear view, the image becomes even more humiliating when the preacher continues and says, “and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (5:12b). In no uncertain terms, the author calls out this church’s acute immaturity. Spiritually, they were behaving as babies who suckle at a mother’s breast, unconcerned with and altogether incapable of digesting solid foods found on an adult’s plate. These were not just in spiritual kindergarten, they were infants! According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, babies six months of age are encouraged to start eating solid food and even begin learning to feed themselves. If six month old children can eat table food, this should give you an idea of how immature the preacher believed this congregation was spiritually.

The preacher goes on to say, “for everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant” (5:13). How did the original congregation this was written to learn where they stood and how mature they were? The answer was based on how accustomed they were with the “word of righteousness.” However, what is this referring to specifically? Though many possibilities are advanced by scholars, what is nearest to the context and most appropriate given the nature of this admonition seems to suggest that Jesus Christ as the believer’s righteousness is what is in view. As He has already been called the greatest high priest who represents and intercedes on behalf of believers (see 4:14-15) and as His sacrifice has already been lauded as the greatest propitiation for sin (5:1-10), Jesus is the believer’s righteousness. Unfortunately, given what has already been suggested in verse 12, these new Jewish believers were regressing in their curriculum and trying to do things the old way by earning their righteousness through the law and good works.

Though immaturity was a problem in and of itself, especially for people who, we are led to believe here, have been in the church for some time, what made matters worse was that these infants were facing persecution. How were these spiritual babies supposed to persevere in the things of righteousness in a perilous world if they were still on a milk only diet, struggling to get past the first grade? The answer was, they were not going to be able to! This is why the preacher does not mince his words here.

Instead of being a milk-fed spiritual infant, the preacher wanted them to be eating solid food, “but solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (5:14). Examples of the solid food of God’s word proliferate the book of Hebrews and include concepts like: Jesus is the greatest high priest, the all-sufficient sacrifice, and the instigator of a superior new covenant. All-together, this solid food was intended to give believers boldness before God, assurance in their faith, and hope for the future. The mature (“adult”) understood these things and, in the course of their discipleship, had been trained by these things in an effort to discern good and evil. The word “trained” evokes the idea of vigorous training and control, with the implication of increased physical and or moral strength. The perfect form of the verb suggests a past regimen that suffers present and ongoing implications. The mature are those who have been trained, and as a result of their training are presently discerning good and evil (Louw Nida). These eat solid foods on their own and graduate to higher levels of learning, rendering them more fit to handle the trials and pressures of the world around them. When faced with critical decisions, these know right from wrong and chose the former.

So What?

What about you? Are you hard of hearing? Are you still nursing on the milk? Some might say, “of course not! I’ve been a believer for far too long to fall into that category!” However, longevity of faith does not necessarily mean maturity in faith. In fact, I’m sure you’ve heard it said, we come out of this world in much the same way as we entered this world. Just as little kids find it hard to listen, so do some of the elderly find it hard to hear. Just as infants are unable to handle solid food as they have no teeth, the same is true of some who lose theirs later in life.  Whether the believers the preacher in Hebrews was addressing were brand new or had been at the Christian faith for a long time, most were immature. How tragic! May it not be said of us! May we be those who have a firm handle on the fundamentals of our faith (understanding that Jesus paid it all and we have it all when we have Him). May we be those who matriculate appropriately in the process of discipleship. Then and only then will we be adequately prepared to persevere in the face of this world to the end.