"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 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. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. . . . But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (NKJV)
"Let us go on to perfection . . ."
Perfection. Teleiotes. Strong’s translates this as "the state of the more intelligent, moral and spiritual perfection" (Strong’s G5047).
"One of the most serious problems facing the Church in the 21st century is the problem of Biblical illiteracy. Simply put, most professing Christians do not possess a sound and coherent understanding of the Bible, beginning with sound doctrine and general Biblical history" (Henry B. Smith, Jr., "Biblical Illiteracy," from http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/09/Biblical-Illiteracy.aspx#Article).
One of the reasons that Satan wanted Christianity out of public schools is because Christianity is, on the whole, dependent upon a literate society. People need to be able to read, and read fairly well, in order to read and study their Bibles. Oh yes, there are Bibles "on tape" and videos galore to watch, but the fact is, if you really want to know what the Bible says, you need to be able to read and to understand what you read. If you can’t, it is highly likely that you aren’t going to mature as a Christian unless you devote an enormous amount of time being discipled by someone who is very knowledgeable about the Bible. Once our society began to dumb down education, Satan knew he had a foothold in the Church.
This isn’t about Christianity being reserved for the somehow-more-intelligent. This is about Christians wanting to learn about God’s Word. Everyone can become more intelligent; intelligence is rarely static. Our brains are wonderfully created and they can change and grow if we challenge them. Paul says, "Let us go on to perfection." Let us go on to becoming more intelligent about our faith, about our Lord. Let us learn and learn and learn and learn. Let us take notes and discuss and read and learn some more.
One of the problems is the Internet and ease with which we are connected to the ideas and thoughts of others. Now, don’t get me wrong. I was accessing the Internet long before most of you and I see and enjoy the idea that we can have access to so much so easily. But because of the Internet and the easy access to "quick" knowledge, we have become a Church of the sound bite, a Church that would rather watch a 30 second video than take 30 minutes to truly study what the Word says. Pastors have been taught to reduce their sermons to three points (or one point) because our weak brains can’t seem to process any more. And somewhere between our sip of that delicious latte, responding to a tweet a friend sent, and our glance at Instagram, the pastor is hoping to drive his "one" point home firmly enough that we can at least remember the sermon from the time we leave the church until we start our car.
As an educator, I can tell you that serious learning doesn’t happen that way. Serious learning happens with intense, over and over and over again practice. We only learn if we do or hear or read it again and again and again. And it happens even more firmly and more quickly if we are reading and writing and discussing it with others.
Paul talked about going on to perfection, about going to that point when we know that we know what the Bible says and we are regularly and easily applying it to every situation in our lives. That kind of perfection. That kind of spiritual maturity.
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me" (Hosea 4:6 NKJV).
We are called to a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), but a priesthood must embrace knowledge. And not just any knowledge. The knowledge that comes from interacting on a personal and daily basis with the Word of God. A knowledge that comes from digging into the original languages, culture, and context and throwing off the easy interpretations to come to understand what God is really saying. Now am I requiring that everyone take Greek and Hebrew classes? Of course not! There are a wealth of resources available to the English-only students to help all of us understand what the Holy Spirit meant as He breathed through the authors of the Bible. But we need to access those resources, to learn to use them, to discuss with others which resources they trust, and then to read, read, read those people whose lives we can trust (usually the great people of the faith who are now Home) so that we can come to understand what the Bible really says.
But that’s only the first step. Then we must begin to seriously apply what the Bible says to our lives, to our daily choices and behavior, taking every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) until our very thoughts line up with the righteousness revealed in scripture.
This certainly isn’t an easy journey, but this is the narrow road. This is the journey we must take if we want to present ourselves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) and press on to spiritual maturity.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
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