A sharp reproof for ignorance.
The apostle, having used the expression," after the order of Melchizedek," remembers that his readers will not be likely to understand it without careful explanation. So he pauses in his argument to chide them for their backwardness in religious knowledge.
I. THE TRUTHS OF REVELATION ARE PROFOUND AND FAR-REACHING. The story of God's love in redemption may, no doubt, be called with propriety "the simple gospel;" but, while it is so, it exhibits at the same time "the manifold wisdom of God." The Bible is not merely a book; it is a literature. It does not simply contain a message of mercy; it is the record of a long and gradually developing process of redeeming grace. It may be studied profoundly from many different standpoints, as e.g. those of history, of dogmatic theology, of morals, of ecclesiology, etc. The Bible deals, too, with all the deepest and most wonderful of themes, such as the human soul, the problem of sin, God, eternity, and immortality. So there is spiritual food in Holy Scripture, at once for the shallowest and the profoundest minds. Revelation supplies not only "milk" for "babes in Christ," i.e. the alphabet and rudiments of religious knowledge, but "solid food" for "full-grown men," i.e. materials for the more recondite study of Christianity as a great and harmonious system of Divine truth.
II. CHRISTIANS DIFFER IN THE DEGREE OF THEIR SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE. They differ because:
1. Some are "babes." Believers who are young in years, and those of maturer age who have newly come to the knowledge of the truth, require to be fed with the "milk" or simplest elements of religious instruction.
2. Some are "full-grown men," who can relish and digest the "solid food" of the Word. An advanced Christian who is a diligent student of Scripture will acquire so firm a grasp of truth as to become qualified to act the part of a "teacher" in the Church (verse 12). His proficiency in knowledge will sharpen his spiritual perceptions, so that he will learn readily to distinguish between "good and evil" in doctrine (verse 14).
3. Some are invalids. The apostle chides his Hebrew readers for having become such, as the result of their disregard of the laws of spiritual health. It was now many years since they had first believed, and by this time they should have been adults in Christian knowledge—quick of apprehension in relation to the higher reaches of truth. So far, however, from being able to assimilate the "solid food" of the Word, they had degenerated into spiritual weaklings and invalids. They heard the gospel indolently (verse 11). The "solid food" which they had once enjoyed now occasioned them the miseries of dyspepsia. They could digest nothing but gospel "milk." In our own time, too, there are many such invalids. What multitudes attend church through the years, and yet never get beyond the attainments of the sabbath school! How many otherwise intelligent men are quite ignorant of the organic structure of the Bible! How many betray an utter want of living interest in the doctrines and truths of the New Testament!
III. REASONS WHY THE RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE OF MANY CHRISTIANS IS SO DEFECTIVE. The Hebrews were "dull of hearing" because they had got divided in heart between Christianity and Judaism, and because they were beset with temptations to apostatize from a faith which had involved them in much trial. Now, our temptations are substantially similar. Our hearts are prone to try to serve both God and mammon; and we are tempted to avoid very intimate acquaintance with a religion faithfulness to which demands from us very serious sacrifices. In addition to these fundamental reasons others may be indicated, as follows:
1. The want of earnest Bible study. The hurry of the age acts on the side of spiritual ignorance. Other studies and pursuits are clamorous in their claims; those e.g. of business, politics, literature, philosophy, science, art. Thus many Christians do not read the Bible systematically, or with sufficient intellectual effort. The larger part of the Old Testament is, to their minds, a kind of desert of Sahara. Perhaps they interest themselves only in isolated texts, apart from the scope of the passage in which these occur.
2. Neglect of parental instruction. Every parent is bound to sow the seeds of Divine truth in the minds and hearts of his children. Where this duty becomes generally neglected the rising generation can only continue one of spiritual infants.
3. Irregularity in attendance upon God's house. (Hebrews 10:25) Church-going is not religion, but as it is a divinely appointed ordinance, a man need not expect to grow in grace and in Christian knowledge without it.
4. Unedifying preaching. The consecutive exposition of Scripture from the pulpit, when wisely and skillfully done, trains a people into "experience of the Word of righteousness." The congregation which receives no instruction of this kind may be expected to become "dull of hearing."
5. Misconception of what adequate religious knowledge is. Many good people judge that, having apprehended and embraced "the simple gospel," they have finished their spiritual education. They love a few pet texts which express "the rudiments of the first principles" (verse 12), and are content to leave the rest of the Bible alone. They count it a virtue to relish only "evangelistic preaching," and seem even proud of occupying always only the first form in the school of Christ. But the fruit of their neglect of the truth in its higher and deeper and broader aspects becomes apparent in the imperfection of their Christian character, and in their lack of progress towards perfection.
IV. THE IMPORTANCE OF AN INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH,
1. Reverence to God requires it. He has not given any portion of his Word in vain. Intelligent Christians dishonor him when they do not "press on unto perfection" as students of the Bible in every department of its glorious design and drift and method.
2. Duty to our own souls requires it. If we would not become spiritual dwarfs, but "full-grown men," we must "search the Scriptures." If we would be truly happy and. prosperous, we must "meditate on God's law day and night."
3. Usefulness to others requires it. Believers who have become established in knowledge and grace are expected to serve the Lord Jesus as "teachers" (verse 12). A Christian, too, should be "ready always to give answer to every man that asketh him a reason concerning the hope that is in him."
HOMILIES BY W. JONES