"Concerning him [Jesus] we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull and negligent. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the Oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." (Hebrews 5:11-14, NASB)
I have read these verses many times, but they came around again this week in a Bible study I'm in. First, I want to look at what the passage says, both contextually and specifically and then talk about what can be learned.
I think it's good to start out by sharing what follows this in Hebrews 6 (Blessed Hope Translation):
"That is why, progressing beyond the elementary teachings about Messiah, we must move on to maturity, not having to go back and re-lay the foundation: Repentance from acts that lead to death and faith in God, instruction about baptisms and commissioning through the laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of the coming age." (Hebrews 6:1-3)
The reason I start here is because the obvious question after reading Hebrews 5 is 'what are the oracles of God' or 'what is the milk'? The writer of Hebrews helps explain that in Chapter 6; the milk, or foundations of the faith - repentance, baptism, going/sending (Holy Spirit?), the coming judgement, and the hope of resurrection and eternal life. In other words, these are the basics - understanding these things is crucial to a well-grounded faith, and understanding of these things is key to helping one move towards maturity. The 'oracles' were commonly understood to be the words of God, or the law (Torah) and the promises of God (the Covenants, God's word spoken through the Prophets).
The broader context is a discussion of Jesus as the High Priest - or the Mother of All Priests (MOAP?). It is a thick discussion, as is most of Hebrews, outlining who Jesus is and how He fits into the broader narrative of Scripture.
One comment I find very interesting in Hebrews 5:12 is: "For though by this time you ought to be teachers..." Considering that the audience of Hebrews is likely Jewish believers, this statement is even more interesting to me. This motif is indirectly continued a few verses later when it says, "but solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained..." (v.14). To me the writer seems to allude here to a lack of practice and discipline which led to a need to revisit basics..."since you have become so dull and negligent" (v.11). This might seem like a stretch, but I feel that this statement is connected to Israel's unique calling from God, to be a 'light to the nations' (Isa 42:6, Isa 49:6, Acts 13:47). How can someone be a light if they do not understand even the basics...using the language of the text, how can someone teach what they do not themselves understand?
Admonition
I feel like there is an easy point of application here for the modern believer. How can you be an effective disciple of Jesus without regularly spending time in the Word, whether simply by reading or by serious study? Furthermore, how will you be able to explain your faith, or teach someone else if you yourself don't understand? I say these things rhetorically because I have very much been the person who didn't read up until a year ago or so. I loved studying (occasionally) and I loved finding something new, but I didn't read with any regularity and thus, I had only a shallow understanding. I would have been hard-pressed to give someone else much detail in terms of what I believed, outside of vague references to things that are mentioned in the Bible. By saying this, I don't mean to beat people with the stick of 'woulda, coulda, shoulda'. That's not it - but on the other hand - active faith involves responsibility. Our trajectory of growth isn't going to be perfect, but it should still resemble a trajectory of growth, right? If we have a consistent problem with mustering either the time or the commitment to sit and read and study Scripture, then it is possible that something might need to change to fix that problem.
Ultimately it comes down, again, to the calling of God. In this case, it is the calling Jesus gives to those who would follow him - a command to 'make fishers of men' and to go and 'make disciples of all nations'. Discipling others will require teaching them, about who God is, about what He has done, about what He is doing now and about what He will do in the future. If we don't understand the milk of our faith and some of the structure that supports it, how effective will we be at sharing it with others? For that matter, how effective will faith be in our lives when things get difficult or uncomfortable?
Encouragement
The encouragement here is that neither God, not the writer of Hebrews, will give up on us. He says, "ok, if we have to keep re-laying the foundation, then we will, so that you will grow up to maturity in faith" (AK paraphrase). I love this section at the end of Chapter 6:
"Yet we are confident in regard to you, dear friends, of the better course belonging to salvation, even though we speak like this. God is not, after all, unjust ; he will not forget your hard work and the love you have shown for the honor of his name in having served the saints and in continuing to serve them. Yet we earnestly desire each of you to keep on showing the very same goodwill and concern, aiming to retain full conviction about the reliability of our hope all the way to the finish, so that instead of being so dull and negligent, you may follow the example of those who inherit the promises through faith and patient endurance." (Hebrews 6:9-12, BHT, emphasis added)
