Stages of the Spiritual Life

So far in this letter John has been answering some of the claims of the false teachers. It seems that there was serious heresy that threatened the believers. Now John encourages believers who are in the church. He uses three different phrases to describe three different phases of spiritual growth in the lives of Christians. Spiritual growth is absolutely necessary to the life of any believer. The Bible teaches that we begin our walk with the Lord as “babes” (1 Peter 2:2). Spiritual growth begins at the inception of our spiritual life.

The goal of spiritual growth is Christ likeness. Romans 8:29 teaches us that the purpose of our salvation is to conform us into the image of the Son of God. That will not fully happen until we are with the Lord (1 John 3:2). However, it is our responsibility to pursue the goal of being like Christ while we live on this earth (Phill. 3:12-14).

Spiritual growth can also be known as sanctification. While salvation is completely the work of God (Jonah 2:9), man is involved with God in the process of sanctification. In other words, we must cooperate with God in order to grow in grace. We must obey the commands of Scripture and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in order to grow in grace (Phill. 2:12-13). Refusing to do those things can lead to a perpetual state of spiritual infancy for us (1 Cor. 3:1). That could lead to carnal behavior (1 Cor. 3:3), loss of heavenly reward (1 Cor. 3:15), and even doubting our own salvation (2 Peter 1:9).

Spiritual growth does not happen automatically. As mentioned before, we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit if we want to grow. It doesn’t matter how long we are saved, if we do not learn the Word and apply it to our life, we won’t grow in grace. It takes effort. That effort leads to wonderful blessings. As we grow in grace we are pleasing the Lord. We are able to discover our spiritual gifts and use them for the good of the kingdom. We begin to conquer sin in our lives which leads to great joy. We begin to see fruit as we recognize the influence we are having on other people. Pursing spiritual growth takes effort but the effort is well worth it. Let’s look at John’s encouraging words on the subject.

The first level of spiritual life he mentions is infancy. In verse 12 he says he writes to the “little children”. He mentions “little children” in verse 14 as well. The term for children in verse 12 is a general term meaning “offspring”. The term used in verse 14 is a word that describes a very young child. This child would be immature and in need of instruction and daily provision. John’s reference to “little children” is a symbolic description of the newly saved in the church as well as the spiritually underdeveloped and immature in the congregation. They were spiritual infants. Let’s look at what he says about them.

1) Their sins were forgiven. No matter where the believer is in his spiritual journey, his sins are forgiven. The moment we are born again our sins are forgiven. We don’t have to grow into that. When we become the children of God our sins are wiped away (Acts 10:43). John says that our sins are forgiven “for His names sake”. That, of course, refers to God’s name. Our salvation is ultimately to bring glory to God (Eph. 1:5-6). God births us into the kingdom and wipes away our sins to bring glory and honor to His own name.

2) They knew the Father. John says that at the end of verse 14. The picture here is of a baby that knows and loves its parents. The youngest of children recognize their parents. They have a unique union with them. So it is with new believers. Babes in Christ know the Father (John 17:3). That is they are united with Him and experience a kinship by virtue of their salvation. They love God because they recognize what he has done for them.

The stage of spiritual infancy is a beautiful stage in the Christian life. Everyone in the kingdom experiences it. It is the stage in which we first experience the joy of our sins being forgiven and our union with the Father. I love to see new believers. They are generally hungry for the Word. They are not ashamed of their salvation. They are curious about the Bible. However, we cannot stay in this phase of spiritual growth too long or we will run into serious problems. Being a baby is natural, but so is growing up. This leads us to our next phase.

The second level of spiritual life is described with the phrase “young men”. They are mentioned in verses 13 and 14. This stage is the time in a believer’s life when he begins to learn truth from scripture and apply it to his life. He becomes a soldier for the Lord. He recognizes the dangers and delights of the spiritual life. As an infant he only recognized the delights. John says two things about the young men in the Lord.

1) He says they have overcome the wicked one. This implies that they have recognized there is a battle to fight. They have seen the battle of sin waged in their souls (1 Peter 2:11). They have witnessed the battle of demonic forces (Ephesians 6:10-18). They have learned to fight the good fight of faith. Through faith and the Word of God they have experienced spiritual victories. These victories led them to grow in grace.

2) He says they are strong and the Word of God abides in them. That’s why they are strong. The Word of God has become important to them. They have studied and applied the Bible to their lives. We will never grow in grace until we recognize the importance of God’s word. It is what strengthens us for growth.

We need young men in our churches. We need people that have devoured God’s word and reaped the benefits. There is a serious battle being fought around us. If our churches are full of spiritual babies we will be in trouble. We need young men because they protect the church and are involved with the ministry. They are soul winners. They are teachers. They are ministry leaders. They are earnestly contending for the truth. Until we are doing these things we can consider ourselves at best spiritual infants.

The third level of spiritual life is described by the term “fathers”. We see it in verses 13 and 14. They are described very simply as “having known Him that is from the beginning”. A deep and intimate relationship with God is implied by this. Here are people that have moved from infancy to adolescence to fatherhood. They haven’t done this simply because time has passed. They have arrived at spiritual maturity through clinging to their heavenly Father, battling daily and seeking to know God intimately. Because of their level of maturity they are to be respected by the church and sought after for wisdom. The fact that they known the Ancient of Days shows that they should be sought out for spiritual guidance. They should not be quickly rebuked (1 Timothy 5:1) and their prayers should be coveted (James 5:14). They often serve as pastors, deacons, Sunday School Teachers, elders, etc. Their knowledge of God overflows into service for the Lord through the local church.

We should all be striving for the “father” phase. Not simply for the title. But because of what qualifies them for the title. They are fathers because of their deep knowledge of God. The greatest passion that we have as believers should be to know our heavenly Father (Phill. 3:8-11). I don’t mean that we are to merely try and learn facts about Him. Doctrine must be coupled with devotion. We can’t lose the excitement of being a child as we grow in grace. Being a father is actually learning to combine the overriding characteristics of each phase into one. We should love God like an infant, fight for God like a young man and know Him like an aged wise man. That’s what brings us to spiritual maturity. That’s where we need to be.

We need to look at our lives and determine where we are. Once we do that we should determine to be more for the Lord. Through love for God and His word we will eventually become the spiritually mature people the Lord longs for us to be. But it won’t happen automatically. We have to purpose to grow in grace, and then we will see the benefits.

Thoughts to Consider

1. A refusal to grow in grace will seriously hurt a local church.

2. God’s children know and love their Father.

3. Spiritual babes fight each other, spiritual young men fight the devil.

4. The process from infancy to father is a natural one that can be experienced by all believers.