Milk vs. Meat

Paul tells the church at Corinth that they were not yet ready for solid food, for they were still mere infants in Christ who needed milk. It is interesting to me to see what it is that Paul calls spiritual milk. In Hebrews, Paul lets us know that spiritual milk consists in "the elementary truths of God's Word" (Hebrews 5:12). So what are the elementary truths of God's word? We see them spelled out later in the epistle to the Hebrews:

"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so." (Hebrews 6:1-3, NIV)

So according to Paul, it is a given that Christians should know (or be taught) that they are to lay hands on the sick. Wow--Is anyone else surprised? I don't think I've ever been taught to lay hands on a sick person before, except in recent months after I embarked on my pursuit of spiritual gifts and all. And yet, this is milk. This is for infants in Christ. Look at everything else Paul addresses in 1 and 2 Corinthians, and you may be surprised what else counts as milk.

So if teachings about basic theology and commands of Jesus count as milk, what counts as meat?

Jesus himself lets us know what spiritual meat is. At the time, his disciples did not understand Jesus' use of words, and they thought that he was referring to physical meat that he had eaten. Here is what Jesus said to them:

"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." (John 4:34, KJV)

Huh. I always thought that in order to mature spiritually, I needed to understand the "meat of Scripture." On the contrary, knowing what God has said in His Word is only milk. If I want to be more like Jesus--and if I want to come into spiritual maturity--I need to do the Father's work. What is the Father's work? Well, since we know Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing, we can follow His example. Jesus went about healing the sick, casting out demons, and proclaiming the kingdom of God. (Read Luke 4:16-20 if you want to see how Jesus summarized His duty on Earth.) If we want to grow up, we need to start acting like Jesus.