NLT | Heb 5:11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. 13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
The Message | Heb 6:1 So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; 2 baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment.
We see in these verses that the people Paul was talking to lack an understanding of the milk issues of the faith. An this lack was affecting them in two ways:
• They were not able to grow into maturity.
• They were held back from operating in their calling to teach.
So the milk of the word is comprised of the foundational teachings of the Christian faith. Until that foundation is laid, it’s useless trying to build the rest of the structure! Another way to look at the “milk” teachings is to consider what milk is to an infant
A baby must first nurse on the milk of the mother in order to grow the teeth necessary to eat meat. The baby is not required to do anything in order to receive the milk. The mother has done it all. She has eaten the food necessary to prepare the milk. The baby must only nurse. So the milk of the Word is learning those things Christ has done for us.
Based on this, some of the “milk truths” are:
• He died for me.
• He delivered me from the power of sin.
• He seated me in heavenly places in Christ
• He provided me with the presence of the SHoly Spirit dwelling within me.
Like the child’s milk that is prepared by the mother, requiring nothing of the baby, so these are the things Jesus did for us, requiring nothing from us. We must “nurse” on these truths when we are saved.
The milk of the word is called “sincere” milk. “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word…”, This means it is received with a pure heart and without hypocrisy.
NLT | 1 Pe 2:2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,
The milk of the word is the precursor to becoming “skilled” in the scriptures. That means skilled in how to live righteously, in conformity with God’s will. So the writer of Hebrews says those who are still nursing on milk and have not yet laid the foundations of their faith.
The Message | Heb 5:13 Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; 14 solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.
Those nursing on milk have still not learned the ins and outs of Christian living. They are easily taken advantage of and easily tripped up. Paul described the spiritually immature as
The Message | Eph 4:14 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors.
You will choke on the meat of the Word until you understand the milk of the Word.
NLT | Is 28:10 He tells us everything over and over— one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!”
One truth leads to another, one stone is placed on another. We will never understand Algebra until we understand simple math. Likewise, spiritual truth begins with foundations that must be grasped before moving on to meatier truths. Before receiving the meat, you need enough knowledge of the milk of the Word so the meat will become digestible.
Jesus knew full well whether His hearers could handle meat or only milk. He told the disciples,
The Message | Jn 16:13 But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. 14 He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you.
There are things God wants us to know that we simply cannot handle until we have fed on the milk of the word in sincerity and had the spiritual foundation of Christ laid in our souls. Though the Corinthian church was loaded with the gifts of the Spirit, they were very immature. This frustrated Paul’s desire to feed them the meat of the Word. Listen to his exasperation as He writes to them in
NLT | 1 Co 3:1 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. 2 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, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.
Next, Paul uses an illustration to help us understand milk and meat, and why the foundation must be properly laid.
NLT | 1 Co 3:10 Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
Why is the foundation that comes from the milk of the word so important? And why must we be certain what we build on top of that foundation?
The Message | 1 Co 3:12 Take particular care in picking out your building materials. 13 Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. 14 If your work passes inspection, fine; 15 if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
If you lay a bad foundation, or you build improperly on top of your foundation, it will not last through testing. It will crumble under the trials of life.
The Message | Pr 24:10 If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place.
The foundation is laid by learning the about the milk, the building atop the foundation is built by growing into maturity through learning the meat of the word and walking in it.
The Message | 1 Pe 2:5 Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God.
NLT | Eph 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
The Message | Eph 2:20 He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone 21 that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God,
The Message | Eph 4:13 until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. 14 No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. 15 God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. 16 He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love
SUMMARY:
The milk of the word is comprised of the elementary teachings of the Christian faith as found in Hebrews 6:1-2.
• The milk of the word is received with a cleansed heart, without hypocrisy.
• Those yet nursing on the milk of the word are “unskilled” in Christian living.
• Until we understand milk doctrines, we will choke on meat doctrines.
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