Hebrews 5:11-14: Failure to Mature
The author wants to continue his reflection on Christ being a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, but faces a dilemma because the congregation is spiritually immature
Why we do this?
The doctrine of divine knowledge should humble us—especially pastors and theologians, for we may be tempted to intellectual pride. We may think we have deep insights into God, but our minds, compared to God’s mind, are like a spark to the sun and a drop to the ocean.
Introduction
Quote
Here the author steps aside from his explanation of Jesus’ Melchizedek-like high priesthood. He will return to this topic soon (in 6:13–20) and then again in earnest in the next major section of the letter. This paragraph begins the exhortation section with a scathing admonition of the readers and their lack of spiritual maturity. They should be ready to hear and appropriate the rich theological message he has for them, but instead they still need to learn what they should be able to be teaching to others. This reprimand is serious, as evidenced by the warning of the next paragraph.
Scripture
Outline
Hebrews 1-2 - Jesus is Greater Than the Angels
Hebrews 3:1-4:13 - Jesus is a Greater Rest
Hebrews 4:14-7:26 - Jesus is Greater than Melchizedek
Purpose of Book
Christ, who has accomplished salvation through His atoning sacrifice, is greater than all things; therefore, persevere in true faith and encourage others to do likewise
Main Point
The author wants to continue his reflection on Christ being a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, but faces a dilemma because the congregation is spiritually immature
Warning Passages Thus Far
Hebrews 5:11-12a - Dull of Hearing
About this we have much to say,
2. much (amount) — a great amount or extent; a lot
And it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
to being difficult to tell the meaning of someth.
1. hard to explain — not easily capable of being understood or accounted for.
1. slow (dull) — slow to learn, understand, or react; lacking intellectual acuity.
5. hearing (recognition) — the ability to hear with understanding (and to act accordingly); understood by the act of hearing.
Greek had a specific word for “ear” (ous; Matt. 11:15), but the term used here fits Psalm 95’s warning against hearing God’s voice in unbelief.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers,
It was commonly believed that mature people should be able to teach the less mature. “Teachers” as used here probably does not denote the office of teaching, as the word is sometimes used in the New Testament. The meaning here is that mature believers have the capacity to teach, even if they are not filling the office of teacher.
You need someone to teach you again the basic principles
fundamental principles
Of the oracles of God
1. saying (collection) — a message that is stated or declared by a particular person; especially divine messages that are gathered together to form a collection.
Hebrews 5:12b-14 - Milk vs. Solid Food
You need milk, not solid food,
For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness,
to lack of knowledge or capacity to do someth.
In Greco-Roman culture instruction in righteousness meant being “trained to discern both good and evil” (Heb 5:14b; cf. Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.6.30–31). Right reasoning meant reasoning rightly about love of neighbors, truthfulness, modesty, and respect for oneself—all of which were basic to virtue (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.1, 10; 12.1).
Since he is a child.
1. infant — a very young child; often of a child still nursing.
But solid food is for the mature,
2. spiritual mature — being at an advanced stage of spiritual development; usually as a result of experience, teaching, and in most cases time.
For those who have their powers of discernment
1. perception (discernment) — the mental ability to understand and discriminate between relations; especially as acquired through experience.
Trained by constant practice
2. to be trained (state) — to be or become shaped or conditioned or disciplined by training.
1. practice (repetition) — systematic training by multiple repetitions.
To distinguish good from evil
① the ability to distinguish and evaluate
Closing Quote
Spiritual maturity, the author teaches, doesn’t depend fundamentally on intellectual ability. It isn’t correlated with theological depth or the ability to grasp theological truths. The readers were spiritual infants because they weren’t putting into practice what they had learned. They needed to be instructed in the fundamentals of the faith because they hadn’t progressed on to spiritual maturity. There is no idea here that we can be confident of the salvation of those who remain “spiritual infants” for years and years. The readers, because of their infancy, are slipping toward apostasy. Those who are spiritual infants can’t remain where they are. They will either go forward or fall away and be destroyed forever. Hence the warning that follows is urgent since death and life are at stake.