For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Hebrews 5:12
I can recall the first time I saw one of my cousins, when she was a little baby, just a few months old. She was a very healthy and happy baby, obviously thriving on the milk that her mother was feeding her. At that stage, milk was the sole item in her infant diet. Today, that same cousin is still healthy and strong, and participates in marathon races. It is very obvious that she is no longer relying only on milk for her nourishment. It is also very obvious when Christians advance beyond the stage of consuming only the milk of the Word of God.
There is nothing wrong with a newborn baby wanting, and demanding, the milk that its mother provides. In fact, there is something very wrong when a baby doesn’t cry to be fed. It is also appropriate for a new Christian to want to be fed with what our text calls the first principles of the oracles of God. This is what the apostle Peter had in mind when he wrote to the new Christians,’As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby’ (1 Peter 2:2). These expressions are referring to the fundamental and basic truths concerning the faith. This includes the simplicity of the Gospel message, the need for a Christian to obey the Lord in the water of baptism, the need for Christians to enjoy fellowship by not forsaking the assembling of themselves together (Hebrews 10:25), and so on. There is nothing difficult to understand about these truths. And yet, our text is speaking of Christians who need to hear these things again, because they don’t grasp them as they should. They are at a stage when they should be able to teach these things, but instead they need to be retaught them for themselves. These are not healthy Christians. And we have many like them with us today.
Many of us remember listening to the late Albert Ramsay, a preacher who was often referred to as the kindergarten teacher. Albert’s messages were always easily understood by all; he used to go over and over the basics. Everybody enjoyed listening to Albert and it was good to hear the fundamental truths again. But there were other preachers who delved deeply into the Scriptures and who served us with the meat of the Word. Their teaching usually went over the heads of the younger and lesser learned in the audience, because they were talking about doctrines and principles that are more advanced. And yet, the Lord would have us to learn the deeper truths of His word. The Bible is a book of unimaginable depths, so profound that the greatest Bible scholars of all time will confess that they have barely penetrated its surface. The Bible is inexhaustible and infinite, which is why it will be from the Scriptures that the Lord Jesus will unfold to us for all eternity the riches of His grace. The more we know of it now, the more wonderful will be its unfolding in the Glory.
Do you have an appetite for the strong meat of the Word of God, or are you content to continue sipping at the milk? -Jim MacIntosh