Spiritual Maturity
SPIRITUAL MATURITY
HEBREWS 5:12–6:3
There is so much to know and enjoy in the Christian faith that we can never come to the end of it. Are you stuck at the simple ABC or have you moved on to more advanced teaching?
It is this passage above all that gives us a glimpse of the spiritual state of those for whom this letter was originally written. The writer expected them to have been teachers (5:12), which indicates that they had been Christians for some time, and that they were people of some ability. But they had not made the most of their opportunities. The result was that they were still in the kindergarten stage. The author uses a variety of metaphors to bring this out. He does not think that the teaching he is giving is necessarily obscure. But it is so to them since they have become “dull of hearing” (5:11). “Dull” is literally “sluggish” (see also 6:12). Since they were sluggish in hearing, the explanations tended to be difficult. Their position is further brought out by a comparison of the food used by the child with the “solid food” of mature adults. Milk is, of course, proper food. But it is proper only at a certain stage of development. If the physical body is to be built up to its full stature, it must have the solid food it requires. The spiritual parallel is not difficult. The immature Christian lacks skill in the teachings about righteousness (which might mean righteousness of life, but more probably has to do with the righteousness that comes by faith). By contrast, the mature have trained faculties and discern good from evil (5:14).
It is interesting to notice what the author counts as “elementary doctrines” when he goes on to appeal to his friends to go forward in the faith (6:1). Repentance and faith come first, for they are basic. A person must repent of their evil ways and really have faith, or otherwise they are not Christians at all. It seems that “ablutions” is a way of referring to rites with water practiced by religions in general. It is elementary that Christians should know what their religion teaches about baptism in distinction from the purifying rituals practiced by others. The laying on of hands may point to something like confirmation or ordination, or it may point to a general ceremony for separation to a particular work. We are handicapped by not knowing as much about the practice of the early church as the recipients of this letter. Resurrection and judgment (6:2) are doctrines to be learned early, as being fundamental to the faith. All this is a foundation and a necessary one. But it does not represent the last word. There is more to Christianity than that. And like the recipients of the letter we should go on to them.