I Don't Get It - Part 3

We’ve considered why Christians sometimes have difficulty understanding the Bible on their own, and I didn’t want to end that examination without taking a look at the following verses.

Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary 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 not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Hebrews 5:11-14 (NASB)

This passage contains several insights about understanding Scripture.

 

First, there are some things in the Bible that are harder to understand than others. The author wanted to give additional teaching regarding Melchizedek, and he identifies the topic as one that is hard to explain.

Second, some Christians are not prepared to understand the more difficult concepts of the Bible. The writer implies that some Christians would be ready for this difficult teaching, but these Christians were not.

Third, there is not always a valid excuse for not being prepared to understand the difficult concepts. It’s logical for a baby (Christian) to need milk and not be ready for meat. These Christians, however, were no longer babies. They should have been ready not only to eat spiritual meat, but to teach it to others also. They had at the very least stagnated, but more likely regressed to the point of not being able to take in more than very basic teaching (and they needed reminders even of that).

Fourth, there was a reason for their stagnation or regression. They were dull of hearing. Many things are sharpened with use or are kept effective by care and regular use. These Christians had been so lax in their listening that they had lost their mental sharpness when it came to spiritual things. All they could manage now were the fundamental, foundational principles.

Fifth, there is a remedy for dullness of spiritual understanding. The dullness of these believers was because they were not accustomed to the Word. They weren’t used to it or familiar with it. They were not used to studying it and therefore didn’t have the skill to understand it. In order to eat the meat of the Word, they needed to be mature, and the verse tells how to arrive at maturity. It is by training the senses through practice. If they were weak because they weren’t used to studying the Word, the way to become strong was to train through practice. They needed to work and give effort. People don’t become mature overnight, but they will never become mature if they don’t start to exercise and start making attempts at a more solid diet.

This passage seems a bit negative in its approach. In fact, the writer was scolding the Christians for their dullness in understanding. We can view the passage, however, from a very positive standpoint. The passage reveals what to do to turn things around. Many of the reasons that we saw last in the previous post for why people have trouble understanding the Bible (and therefore many of the solutions to improve understanding) have to do with precisely what this passage is talking about – practice.

With practice comes improvement in the skills needed to enhance understanding. With practice the confusing wording becomes more familiar. With practice come increasing levels of success. With greater success, Christians start to expect more from their reading and therefore start to give greater effort. They have hope as they begin to understand that they can profit from the Word. All of these are issues addressed in the previous post. All of them, along with this passage from Hebrews, are tied to the final and most critical issue mentioned last time – the aspect of time spent in the Word. We can’t practice and build our spiritual senses without time. The more time we spend training, the better we will become at chewing solid food. We need to become accustomed to the Word and to spending time in it. If we spend the time seeking, God will help us to mature, and our understanding of the Word will increase.