Articles
Is the Bible a Simple Book? - 4
Spiritual concepts are similar to any other concepts encountered in daily life. There are some things that can be functionally understood on a simple level, but further examination reveals deeper elements that challenge the mind.
For example, a teenager can easily learn the rudiments of driving: key goes in the ignition; “D” is for drive; hit the brake to stop; add gas when needle nears “E”; etc. Further, there are traffic rules to be understood and obeyed when first driving. But experience tells us many people do not understand deeper nuances of driving. And few comprehend the real connection between turning the key and how the motor actually starts. This “elementary vs. complex” principle applies to most everything.
We should not be surprised, then, when Scripture is likened to “milk” and “solid food” (1 Cor 3:1-4; Heb 5:13-6:3). Both of these references rebuke Christians for remaining immature and incapable of feeding on more complex aspects of God’s word.
1 Corinthians 3:1-4. In 3:1 Paul contrasts “spiritual” with “carnal” and calls the Corinthians “babes in Christ.” Of this condition R.C. Trench comments: “they were intellectually as well as spiritually tarrying at the threshold of the faith … making no progress, and content to remain where they were, when they might have been carried far onward by the mighty transforming powers of that Spirit freely given to them by God” (cited in Willis, A Commentary on Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 91).
But this is not merely benign mental failure, that is, not having Bible data stored in their heads. It made them vulnerable to the fault for which Paul was rebuking them: division over men. He said, “for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and division among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” (3:3). It is a carnal or purely human thing to divide up into factions and follow our favorite candidate/athlete/teacher/author/celebrity/authority on whatever is important to us.
But those who have matured in spiritual concepts should have discerned that Paul and Apollos and all other servants of Christ are on the same team and striving to accomplish the same goals – albeit by individual differences that are a product of the Spirit. Division is ego-driven, self-centered and destructive. Paul acknowledged that while he was with them he “could not speak to you as to spiritual people” (3:1), but “even now you are still not able” (3:2). In other words, they could start the car and put it in gear but had no clue how to change a flat.
Hebrews 5:13-6:3. The occasion for this rebuke was that the readers were drifting from the faith and in danger of complete apostasy. To help their vulnerability the author wanted to make some connections between Christ and the priestly order of Melchizedek, “of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing” (Heb 5:11). He knows them well enough to assume that there should have been greater maturity in them, yet “you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God” (5:12). This phrase is a sharp criticism in that he essentially says, “Not only can you not read; you need to go back and relearn the ABCs.”
The writer continues : “For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (5:13-14). Lightfoot notes: “Babies do not have the ability to discriminate. They cannot choose for themselves but must take what is put before them. But grown-ups are able to make proper distinctions … the senses are sharpened by experience … it is a mark of maturity to be able to discern truth from error, just as it is a mark of maturity to be able to teach. The two are linked inseparably” (Jesus Christ Today 113-114).
It is ever the tendency to remain comfortable where we are, to content ourselves with what we know so long as it gets us by. A.B. Bruce pointedly comments on this passage: “All Christian teachers have reason to thank him; for what he has written may be regarded as an assertion of the right of the Church to be something more than an infant school, and as a defense of the liberty [to teach – jj] on all themes pertaining to Christ as their centre against the intolerance always manifested by ignorance, stupidity, indolence, and prejudice towards everything that is not old, familiar, and perfectly elementary” (ibid 111). Yes, the Bible is “simple” in sense that an unbeliever can easily understand basics of Christ and be saved. But as a new convert, if he remains in an infantile spiritual state he will be a sitting duck for a wily adversary who will take advantage of his inexperience.
