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A Reproof of Spiritual Ignorance.
v. 11. Of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
v. 12. 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.
v. 13. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the Word of Righteousness; for he is a babe.
v. 14. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
According to the tendency of the last passage, we might now expect a complete discussion of the high-priesthood of Christ to begin at this point. Instead, however, the sacred writer inserts here a reproof and an exhortation which is calculated to convey to his readers the necessity of giving proper heed to the doctrines included in this letter. The reason for the censure is first given: Concerning whom there is a great deal to say and difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in your sense of hearing. The entire subject which has now been broached, that of Christ's being a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, is a topic upon which one could write a great deal. The author intends, also, to discuss this important comparison at length, chap. 7, even though, on account of the difficulty of the subject, an explanation could not be given in an offhand manner. And the reason, in this case, is not to be found in the essential, inherent unreasonableness of the teaching, but in the fact that the readers have become sluggish in their hearing and understanding. The censure strikes the fact that the Jewish Christians to whom the letter is addressed had gone backward in knowledge, in the study, the understanding of doctrinal topics. This is the case in many a congregation or community where the Word of God has been preached for some time. There is always danger that men assume the self-satisfied, self-sufficient attitude toward instruction in spiritual matters which resents any implication as to their being in need of such teaching. Wherever this "know-it-all" attitude is assumed, a retrogression in spiritual knowledge and life is bound to follow.
This condition is pictured by the inspired writer: For, indeed, though on account of the length of time you should be teachers, you have need again of having someone to teach you the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God, and you have become as having need of milk and not of solid food. If one considered the length of time since the Gospel had first been preached in Judea, more than a generation before this, and the many opportunities which the Jewish Christians had had to become familiar with all the branches of Gospel teaching, it was by no means an unreasonable expectation that they should all have had the ability to teach others, to impart to them the wonderful truths of the Word of God, both the simple doctrines and those that required some measure of spiritual understanding. But the writer is obliged to censure his readers because it had become necessary once more to teach them the very rudiments of the Christian doctrine, the fundamental facts, whose knowledge was expected of the catechumens when being received into the Church. Then, as now, the central doctrines of Christianity constituted the basis of instruction and were expected to be mastered by the applicants for membership in the congregation. Therefore it was a disgrace, indeed, that these Jewish Christians, who should have been veterans in Christian knowledge, lacked the understanding demanded of the novices. They were, in the matter of spiritual knowledge, like infants unable to partake of solid food, dependent entirely upon milk. See 1Co_3:2. "Instead of becoming adults, able to stand on their own feet, select and digest their own food, they had fallen into spiritual dotage, and entered a second childhood, and could receive only the simplest nourishment. " (Dods.) Mature Christians should be able to understand also the more advanced and complicated doctrines of the Christian faith, and to consider them with benefit to their faith.
The language of the sacred writer is not lacking in clearness at this point: For every one that still partakes of milk is inexperienced in the Word of Righteousness, for he is a babe. So long as a person is obliged, for want of a more thorough understanding, to rely upon the simplest exposition of the fundamental truths of Christianity as his sole diet, he is a spiritual babe and infant. He has no conception of the wonderful scope, of the manifold beauties contained in the Word of Righteousness, the Gospel, which teaches the righteousness that is accepted by God, being that righteousness of Christ which is imputed to men by God through faith. With the proper detailed study of the Word, a person will enter deeply and ever more deeply into the mysteries of God and constantly receive new nourishment for his faith.
Of this the inspired author says in conclusion: But solid food is for the mature, those who, by reason of their mental exercise, have their intellectual abilities exercised to discern good and evil. Christians that have reached some degree of spiritual maturity have done so by virtue of the habit which they have developed by constant exercise in the Word of God, the result finally being that their intellectual faculties, controlled by their faith and love in Christ, grasp the distinction between good and evil readily, between things that are beneficial and such as are harmful for their spiritual life. Their perception is so sharpened, their taste is so developed that the wholesome and the hurtful are readily discerned. Note: All Christians have the opportunity of growing in spiritual knowledge. If they actually study the Word of God day after day, if they take every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ, then there will soon be evidence of maturity in the understanding of all the Scriptural doctrines, and a proper discrimination between the wholesome and the morbid and hurtful in doctrine and life. The censure probably applies just as sharply today as it ever did, and our humble acknowledgment of that fact may pave the way for needed improvement.
Summary
The inspired author shows that Christ has the necessary qualifications to be our High Priest, and that a perfect salvation was earned by virtue of His obedience; he inserts a sharp reproof on account of the spiritual immaturity of his readers.