STILL BABES IN CHRIST

Proclamation:

“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by The Spirit but as people who are still worldly, mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.  Indeed, you are still not ready.  You are still worldly.”  1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the Apostle Paul under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God to the believers in Corinth.  Paul told them that they had not grown since they accepted Christ as their Savior.  He told them that they were still babes in Christ.  He said that he could not address them about spiritual issues because they were still concerned about worldly issues.  Their conversations and arguments reveal that they have not grown spiritually.

Application:

When it comes to The Word of God, are you ready for more meat, or are you still drinking milk?  Have you grown in your knowledge and understanding of Christ and The Word of God, or are you still a babe in Christ?  Just because we have been in church, or physically attending church services, for a number of years, does not mean that we have matured spiritually.  It does not matter how old we are chronologically, we can still be a babe in Christ.  Paul makes it clear that sometimes preachers have to preach and teach the people in church like they are the lost folk of the world. (1 Corinthians 3:1)  They had heard The Word of God and believed it, but they had not grown in their understanding of it.  That is why he called them babes in Christ.  The same point is made in The Bible Book of Hebrews.  Some people had been exposed to The Word of God often enough that they should be able to teach it to someone else, but they were still babes in Christ themselves. (Hebrews 5:12-13)  Some of us are still just listening to The Word of God every Sunday and not making any effort to dig any deeper and to learn and understand more about it.  After all of our years in church, we are still babes in Christ.  We need to read and study The Word of God and live it in order to correctly explain it and to grow spiritually. (2 Timothy 2:15)