BABY CHRISTIANS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still fleshly.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I remember when I first accepted Jesus as Savior and became a Christian. I had very little knowledge about Him or His life at that time. Ditto for the word of God. Like so many believers when they choose Christ, I was a raw beginner and, as Paul states so well, a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Early on, I remember having trouble understanding complex theological principles. I would hear sermons but a lot of it went way over my head because my knowledge of the Bible was very minimal. For me to really understand how I was expected to live as a Christian, the teaching needed to be very simple.

Now, after so many years of serving Jesus and not only studying but teaching God’s word, I am at a level of spiritual maturity that seemed far off back when I first got started. In fact, I don’t know if I would have believed I would be where I am now if someone had shared what my future held back then.

As far as Christian maturity and using it for the cause of Christ and the Gospel grounded in Him, I am joined by millions and millions of other experienced believers who have dedicated themselves over time to the same cause. And still, the number of people needed to fulfill the Great Commission is short of the demand. As it was in Jesus’ day, the harvest is plenty but the workers are few.

Now, if you think this is an issue now, consider what it was like in the first century AD after Jesus had ascended to sit in authority over everything in heaven and on earth. The number Christ disciples paled in comparison to the number of people who had never heard about Jesus before. And while Christianity is the dominant world religion today with believers exceeding two billion, back in the days of the Apostle Paul, the author of the first letter to the Corinthians, Christianity was a fledgling religious movement far behind other more established religious systems, most of which were polytheistic in nature with the exception of Judaism. As the Gospel message was being shared, most of those hearing it were already attached to a belief system based on their culture. This made the onset of Christianity even more challenging.

Despite these obstacles, Paul was undeterred. He was all in regarding his dedication and service to his Savior and he fully understood that new Christian believers would need to be mentored and encouraged properly once they made the commitment to follow Jesus. He also knew that his teaching needed to be fundamental to best ensure the fledgling Christians could find understanding and grow in their faith. Look again at these opening verses from chapter 3:

Brothers, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still fleshly. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3a

Note here the language Paul uses to label the new Christian believers in Corinth. He calls them “babies in Christ”.

Why?

He wasn’t trying to demean the new believers. Rather, he was using something they could easily relate to, the concept of a baby and its development, to their status as Jesus followers.

Paul knew the baby Christian of Corinth would not be able to understand complicated matters of Gospel theology, alluded to in our passage as “solid food”. No, just as a baby is not fed solid food until their digestive system has developed enough to handle it so too would the new Christian believers not be able to be fed solid spiritual food. Instead, Christian teachers like Paul had to keep it simple and provide basic instruction (the milk Paul mentions) to new Jesus believers so they would know about Him and what He required of His followers.

There would be a day when Paul could share more complex knowledge with them but at the writing of this letter, that time had not yet come. The new Corinthian Christians were still fleshly, not having departed long from their prior worldly ways of living.

Friends, today we need to remember this relationship that Paul had with new Christian believers and model his approach toward them. Instead of overwhelming these immature Jesus followers with complicated doctrine, we need to keep things simple. We need to talk about who Jesus was and tell about how He lived, not just telling but showing, as we help promote spiritual maturity.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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