Heb 5:12-13 milk and solid food
I'm trying to figure out just what is meant by milk and solid food.
In Heb 5:12-13 a comparison is made to needing milk, like needing milk is maybe not such a good thing. The Christians Paul is talking to seem to be at the point where they should be more mature and ready for 'solid food'.
Is it that their understanding has become dull, so they are no longer able to discern good from evil ( Heb 5:14), they need to remember the heart of the message? Go back to the foundation?
In 1Cor 1-3 the comparison is made again, it seems in the same way: "For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling amoung you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?"
Paul is saying that he could not talk to the Corinthians as spiritual people because they were still people of the flesh, like infants, needing milk, not solid food.
So far it doesn't seem like a good thing to be needin the milk.
However, in Isaiah 28:9-13 it seems like God will not teach to those who are weaned:
"Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from milk, those taken from the breast?
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line,'
line upon line,here a little, there a little.
Truly, with stammering lip
and with alien tongue
he will speak to this people,
to whom he has said,
'This is rest; give rest to the weary'
and this is repose';
yet they would not hear.
Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them,
'Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little';
in order that they may go, and fall backwards,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.
This sounds like it is a bad thing to be weaned from the milk. It seem like it means here to be disconnected from the truth as God wants us to know it, to have it, in fullness and richness, and unspoiled by human thought.
And in 1Peter 2:2 it talks about being infants and longing for the pure spiritual milk as it is a very very good thing:
"Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insinserity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."
So am I to take from these that
1: Spiritual maturity means being able to discern good from evil, which means the choices I make, how I behave, will reflect the spiritual principles Jesus brought to us, the commandments he gave.
2: Eating solid food means to be making the tough choices like choosing to love my enemy and to actually be digesting the Word in very real life-living ways, putting my fleshy desire below Jesus' commandments in my priorites,
3. While it was refered to in the first two passages as a refernece to immaturity, it is still critical to always take in the pure, spiritual milk, as a foundation to grow upon and out from. But to never really deny or stop taking in. We need to keep the purity of the message, while also being able to apply it in real life, when it might be tough. We need to be able to also start nourishing ourselves through the choices we make, without ever forgetting or distancing from the simple purity and beauty of God's truth for us.
What do you think? Am I on track?
I'm trying to figure out just what is meant by milk and solid food.
In Heb 5:12-13 a comparison is made to needing milk, like needing milk is maybe not such a good thing. The Christians Paul is talking to seem to be at the point where they should be more mature and ready for 'solid food'.
Is it that their understanding has become dull, so they are no longer able to discern good from evil ( Heb 5:14), they need to remember the heart of the message? Go back to the foundation?
In 1Cor 1-3 the comparison is made again, it seems in the same way: "For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling amoung you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?"
Paul is saying that he could not talk to the Corinthians as spiritual people because they were still people of the flesh, like infants, needing milk, not solid food.
So far it doesn't seem like a good thing to be needin the milk.
However, in Isaiah 28:9-13 it seems like God will not teach to those who are weaned:
"Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from milk, those taken from the breast?
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line,'
line upon line,here a little, there a little.
Truly, with stammering lip
and with alien tongue
he will speak to this people,
to whom he has said,
'This is rest; give rest to the weary'
and this is repose';
yet they would not hear.
Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them,
'Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little';
in order that they may go, and fall backwards,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.
This sounds like it is a bad thing to be weaned from the milk. It seem like it means here to be disconnected from the truth as God wants us to know it, to have it, in fullness and richness, and unspoiled by human thought.
And in 1Peter 2:2 it talks about being infants and longing for the pure spiritual milk as it is a very very good thing:
"Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insinserity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation - if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good."
So am I to take from these that
1: Spiritual maturity means being able to discern good from evil, which means the choices I make, how I behave, will reflect the spiritual principles Jesus brought to us, the commandments he gave.
2: Eating solid food means to be making the tough choices like choosing to love my enemy and to actually be digesting the Word in very real life-living ways, putting my fleshy desire below Jesus' commandments in my priorites,
3. While it was refered to in the first two passages as a refernece to immaturity, it is still critical to always take in the pure, spiritual milk, as a foundation to grow upon and out from. But to never really deny or stop taking in. We need to keep the purity of the message, while also being able to apply it in real life, when it might be tough. We need to be able to also start nourishing ourselves through the choices we make, without ever forgetting or distancing from the simple purity and beauty of God's truth for us.
What do you think? Am I on track?