Hebrews 5:11-14 – Don’t stagnate in our journey with Christ

The author would have loved to talk more about Christ and His priesthood, but he felt that the readers were not ready to receive the information at this juncture. They were too spiritually immature. They had become dull of hearing and had already stagnated and not growing. Seeing that they were at risk of losing their salvation, he turned to warn them of the danger of it. He began by candidly pointing to the spiritual state they were in.

The three words “you have become” in verse 11, tell us that the readers were not always like that. It was a state into which they regressed into over time. It suggests that they were once vibrant but had become sluggish. They could not endure the pressure of persecution, and before long they began to wind down on their fervency. They could no longer discern and value the truth of the Word of God.

The believers whom the author was addressing had not progressed since they were taught the message of Christ. It had been so long, and though they should be able to teach others, yet they were still dependent on others to teach them. The author was not talking about being teachers in a formal sense, but rather about their ability to share with someone the basics of the faith that they had experienced. They should have been a matured people, but they were still teetering at the elementary level, and needing someone to teach them the basic rudiments of the message. To their shame, the author declared that they could only feed on "milk," and not "solid food." In referring to the "elementary principles of the oracles of God,” the author was talking about the ABC’s of the faith. The Jews prided themselves as people who were accustomed to the Law. For as long as they had not fully comprehended the message of Christ, they had not fully known the Law because the Law would point them to Christ. 

Notice here that the writer used “milk” and “food” to indicate the maturity level of the Hebrews. He told them "... you have come to need milk and not solid food." In saying that they could be fed only with milk was to indicate that they were still spiritual infants, who could only take pre-digested food. If they were mature people, they would be able to eat solid food, the Word of righteousness.

Here, the writer went on to compare between the mature and immature believers. The mature believers not only could hear the Word, but they would also digest and practice it. As a result, they cultivated the ability to discern between good and evil. This implies that gaining information alone does not make a person mature. It is using the acquired information to make decisions that are congruent with God's will that will develop maturity in a person. In fact, maturity comes from a steady application of spiritual disciplines. From this passage, we learn of four marks of spiritual immaturity: dullness toward God’s Word (verse 11); inability to share the truths with others (verse 12); dwelling on the elementary of the truths (verses 12-13); and slack in applying the truths (verse 14). 

Are we progressing? Like Paul, let us forget what lies behind and press on towards the mark of the prize of our high calling in Christ!