In the life aspect of the full salvation prepared by God for us, the transformation in life which we experience spontaneously causes us to grow in the spiritual life unto maturity. Thus, our experience also enters into the aspect of maturity in the growth of life.
The meaning of the word “mature” in Greek is “at the end point.” When the word is used to describe organisms, it denotes completion, full growth, and maturity. This word is used many times in the New Testament, referring to the believers’ being full-grown, mature, and perfected in the life of God, which they receive at the time of regeneration. It indicates that although we receive the life of God when we are regenerated, after regeneration we still need to grow and mature unto perfection in this life.
1) “...have become those who have need of milk and not of solid food. For everyone who partakes of milk...he is a babe; but solid food is for the mature” (Heb. 5:12-14).
These verses show us our need to grow and mature in the spiritual life. If we do not grow and mature, we will remain in the childish stage, unable to comprehend God’s word of righteousness, which is like solid food. Hence, like the Hebrew believers in the early days, we will be unable to comprehend the revelation of God’s deeper word and thus be unable to participate in God’s New Testament economy. The wisdom in God’s economy can be spoken only to the full-grown (1 Cor. 2:6). To enter into God’s New Testament economy, into God’s eternal plan, requires that we grow and mature in the life of God.
2) “At a full-grown man...that we may be no longer babes tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error” (Eph. 4:13-14).
After our regeneration as believers, although we may no longer be newborns in the life of God, we still may be babes, easily tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, deceived and led in craftiness with a view to a system of error, being tricked by Satan. We need to grow and mature in order, on the positive side, to comprehend the revelation of God and to know His economy and plan, and on the negative side, to not be deceived or tricked by Satan.
1) “Whom [Christ] we [the apostles] announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ” (Col. 1:28); “Who [a co-worker of the apostle]... always struggling on your behalf in prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12).
In the Greek text, the word “stand” in the second verse is in the passive voice, meaning “placed,” or “presented and displayed,” which corresponds to the word “present” in the first verse. These two verses in the book of Colossians show us that the laboring of the apostles in Christ for the believers and their struggling in prayers for them are all for the believers’ growth and maturity, that they may be presented and displayed full-grown and mature before Christ.
1) “You, therefore, shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).
The word “therefore” at the beginning of this verse indicates that this word is the conclusion of the law of the new life in the kingdom’s constitution, which the Lord decreed in the preceding text, verses 17-47. In this conclusion, the Lord commands us to be perfect (in life) as our heavenly Father is perfect. To be perfect in life is to grow and mature in life. The Lord commands us in this way in the conclusion of the law of the new life in the kingdom of the heavens because we are children born of our Father with our Father’s life. This life is able to make us perfect in the life of our Father, as our Father is perfect. Therefore, this commandment of the Lord is based upon the divine life of the Father. It is also fulfilled by the divine life of the Father. The divine life of the Father is able to make us perfect in life as He is perfect. This is not only the Lord’s commandment to us but also the Lord’s expectation concerning us. We should care for the Lord’s heart’s desire, keep His commandment, and grow and mature by the Father’s life within us, thus accomplishing the will of the Triune God.