In our previous post on this subject we noted the Apostle Paul in Heb 5:12-14 reproving some in his day because they were not growing as Christians, that they were yet still babes in Christ needing to be taught the milk of the word, the first principle doctrines.
Elsewhere he is found reproving some in the Church of Corinth of the very same thing, “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready”—you are still merely babes in Christ yet. (1 Cor 3:1, 2 “The New Living Translation”)
“The Apostle in Heb 6:1 calls our attention to what these first principles are. He says, “Therefore (in view of the fact that if we always partake of milk we will surely remain babes), leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.” What does that mean? Does it mean we ‘are to forget all about these first principles? Does it mean that we are to forget all about the “milk” when we begin to partake of the “strong meat”? Oh, not at all, my dear friends, the thought, rather, here is that having learned these first principles of Christ regarding God’s plan, having partaken of the milk of the Word, then don’t feel satisfied there; don’t sit down there and think you have everything needed. This is a mistake, this is the condition of the professing Church today viz. the Laodicean stage of the church, who says, ‘I am rich (spiritually), and have become wealthy (content with the meager scraps of truth they possess), and have need of nothing further…’ (Rev 3:17)
The Apostle says, “leaving (or advancing beyond) the first principles, let us now partake of the strong meat and grow strong in the Lord and be mature men, let us go on unto perfection.” Does this mean we can become perfect in the flesh then? Not so, my dear friends, the Apostle is not talking to those who are in the flesh. He is talking only of those who are “no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” He is talking about those who have sacrificed the flesh with all its present interests and hopes and who now are raised again as New Creatures. He is talking about those who are experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection and are dead to the human nature and alive to the spiritual things.
The “perfection” he speaks of is not perfection of the flesh; it is perfection of the heart, of the desire; perfection of love in our hearts… We are all imperfect according to the flesh, we are all poor creatures in the present time, but the Scriptures say God has made full provision for us – through his Word, providing for us not only the “milk” we need as babes meant to establish us and to get us started along the way, the way of truth and righteousness, but likewise “meat” that we may continue to grow both in the graces and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, grow beyond the mere stage of a babe into a full grown man, into the full stature of Christ. (Eph 4:13)
Understand not one Babe in Christ (an undeveloped Christian) will ever be admitted into the ruling phase of the Kingdom (i.e. the spiritual phase of the kingdom), a member of the very elect, the bride of Christ, only such as having made their calling an election sure shall attain to this honor. These all having finished their course as copies of God’s dear Son, fully matured and developed, (NOT in the flesh, but in the spirit) will be the only ones accounted worthy as joint heirs with their Lord.
Those who fall short of this attainment (the undeveloped, those still yet mere “babes”) not having reached their full potential and development at the appointed time will nonetheless reach the heavenly plane, but alas through much tribulation and on a much lower plane of existence then their elder and more faithful brethren.”
(1912 Bible Students Convention Report, Page 870)
Thus, “there is the penalty for lack of growth paid by those who remain content with the relatively weak diet suitable for infants… [Such] are unskillful in the word of righteousness. Infants cannot do anything for themselves; much less can they prepare food (to feed others)…Hence the Apostle writing to the Hebrews, upbraids some of them because, at a time when they ought to have been teachers (ought to have themselves been “establish in the truth”), they instead have need to be taught again the first principles themselves…
“Jeremiah says, ‘Thy words were found and I did eat them.’ (Jer. 15:16.) Thereby he . . . found strength to sustain himself in his most difficult and trying ministry, from which, because of his timid and sensitive disposition, he shrank back in agony of soul. To be a good and effective minister of Christ it is necessary that one be well nourished by partaking largely of the abundant spiritual food which the Living Word supplies. Thus Paul admonished his child in the faith, Timothy, to whom he wrote, ‘If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.’ – 1 Tim. 4:6.
(The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, May 1932, Page 36)
Elsewhere he is found reproving some in the Church of Corinth of the very same thing, “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready”—you are still merely babes in Christ yet. (1 Cor 3:1, 2 “The New Living Translation”)
“The Apostle in Heb 6:1 calls our attention to what these first principles are. He says, “Therefore (in view of the fact that if we always partake of milk we will surely remain babes), leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.” What does that mean? Does it mean we ‘are to forget all about these first principles? Does it mean that we are to forget all about the “milk” when we begin to partake of the “strong meat”? Oh, not at all, my dear friends, the thought, rather, here is that having learned these first principles of Christ regarding God’s plan, having partaken of the milk of the Word, then don’t feel satisfied there; don’t sit down there and think you have everything needed. This is a mistake, this is the condition of the professing Church today viz. the Laodicean stage of the church, who says, ‘I am rich (spiritually), and have become wealthy (content with the meager scraps of truth they possess), and have need of nothing further…’ (Rev 3:17)
The Apostle says, “leaving (or advancing beyond) the first principles, let us now partake of the strong meat and grow strong in the Lord and be mature men, let us go on unto perfection.” Does this mean we can become perfect in the flesh then? Not so, my dear friends, the Apostle is not talking to those who are in the flesh. He is talking only of those who are “no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” He is talking about those who have sacrificed the flesh with all its present interests and hopes and who now are raised again as New Creatures. He is talking about those who are experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection and are dead to the human nature and alive to the spiritual things.
The “perfection” he speaks of is not perfection of the flesh; it is perfection of the heart, of the desire; perfection of love in our hearts… We are all imperfect according to the flesh, we are all poor creatures in the present time, but the Scriptures say God has made full provision for us – through his Word, providing for us not only the “milk” we need as babes meant to establish us and to get us started along the way, the way of truth and righteousness, but likewise “meat” that we may continue to grow both in the graces and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, grow beyond the mere stage of a babe into a full grown man, into the full stature of Christ. (Eph 4:13)
Understand not one Babe in Christ (an undeveloped Christian) will ever be admitted into the ruling phase of the Kingdom (i.e. the spiritual phase of the kingdom), a member of the very elect, the bride of Christ, only such as having made their calling an election sure shall attain to this honor. These all having finished their course as copies of God’s dear Son, fully matured and developed, (NOT in the flesh, but in the spirit) will be the only ones accounted worthy as joint heirs with their Lord.
Those who fall short of this attainment (the undeveloped, those still yet mere “babes”) not having reached their full potential and development at the appointed time will nonetheless reach the heavenly plane, but alas through much tribulation and on a much lower plane of existence then their elder and more faithful brethren.”
(1912 Bible Students Convention Report, Page 870)
Thus, “there is the penalty for lack of growth paid by those who remain content with the relatively weak diet suitable for infants… [Such] are unskillful in the word of righteousness. Infants cannot do anything for themselves; much less can they prepare food (to feed others)…Hence the Apostle writing to the Hebrews, upbraids some of them because, at a time when they ought to have been teachers (ought to have themselves been “establish in the truth”), they instead have need to be taught again the first principles themselves…
“Jeremiah says, ‘Thy words were found and I did eat them.’ (Jer. 15:16.) Thereby he . . . found strength to sustain himself in his most difficult and trying ministry, from which, because of his timid and sensitive disposition, he shrank back in agony of soul. To be a good and effective minister of Christ it is necessary that one be well nourished by partaking largely of the abundant spiritual food which the Living Word supplies. Thus Paul admonished his child in the faith, Timothy, to whom he wrote, ‘If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.’ – 1 Tim. 4:6.
(The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, May 1932, Page 36)
