“…Solid food is for the mature…”

Hebrews 5:11-14 (ESV)

¹¹ About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

In this second section of Hebrews chapter five, the writer is frustrated. He wants his readers to understand the significance of Christ being High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. The problem is, his readers have not sufficiently grown in their knowledge to take this in.

To point this out, the writer uses intense language, saying they are “dull of hearing.” “By this time,” the writer says, “you ought to be teachers.” They needed a tutor to train them in the fundamentals again. They were not ready for strong meat. It was their fault for not advancing and growing.

For Christians today, this is a call to pursue knowledge and growth. to be skilled in righteous and discerning between good and evil.

This reminds us of all the other passages that pertain to growth, like 2 Pet. 3:18. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

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