The Bible itself classifies God’s word into two categories— milk for babes and solid food for the mature (5:12-13). Paul told the Corinthians that because they were babes he could only feed them with milk (1 Cor. 3:1-2), and Peter, holding the same concept, said, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word” (1 Pet. 2:2). In Hebrews 5:12, milk refers to “the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God.” The Greek word translated “rudiments,” which also may be rendered as “primary elements,” denotes elementary things. For example, learning the twenty-six letters of the alphabet and the numbers from one to ten are the rudiments. If you were to talk with children in a philosophical way, they would be unable to understand. Recently, one of my grandchildren was pleased to show me how he could write the letters L E E. He was very happy with his elementary “candies.”
In Christianity there are many old babes who can barely write the letters of the spiritual alphabet. If you were to talk with them about Matthew 25, they would say, “Oh, that is too difficult. As long as I have been redeemed and will go to heaven when I die, that is enough for me.” They are content with “candy bars.” They can only take the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God, not solid food.
The “rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God” in 5:12 are “the word of the beginning of the Christ” in 6:1. These are special terms found in the book of Hebrews. Even Christ, like your education, has a beginning. Some little children only know the ten numbers, being unable to do even the simplest addition. Likewise, in our spiritual education we have the word of the beginning of Christ. Many Christians can only say, “Christ died for me. I am a sinner and I should go to hell, but God loves me and sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins. Now I believe in Him and I am saved.” This is the word of the beginning of Christ. How poor is the situation among most Christians today! They are even unable to discern the difference between the human spirit and the Holy Spirit. Whenever they see the word “spirit,” they take it to mean the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, regarding the Holy Spirit, they are unfamiliar with the term “life-giving Spirit.” Many of them do not even want to hear about it. It seems that when they read 1 Corinthians 15:45, which tells us that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, they cover their eyes and pass it by. Have you not also passed by many verses in your reading of the Scriptures? I am quite sure that many of you have skipped over the first seventeen verses of the Gospel of Matthew. Perhaps you never paid attention to these verses before coming into the church life. Others might even have advised you to begin your reading of the New Testament with Matthew 1:18. Then you might have proceeded to read a little of chapter two regarding the visit of the wise men and chapter three concerning the baptism of Jesus. Perhaps you skipped chapters like thirteen, twenty-four, and twenty-five, finding them too difficult to comprehend, and gave some attention to chapter twenty-six. Maybe you shed a few tears for the crucified Jesus in chapter twenty-seven and then were happy to hear that He was resurrected in chapter twenty-eight. As you came to the end of Matthew, you thought of the Lord Jesus as ascending to the heavens, although Matthew does not speak of His ascension; yet, according to your traditional mentality, you added an extra point about Christ ascending to the heavens. This is the way many Christians understand the Bible today.
There is only one Bible. However, nearly every Christian has his or her own version of the Bible. It is not the Bible printed with black and white letters as God revealed; it is the “Bible” printed with their kind of mentality. They have their own mental version of the Scriptures. Very few Christians care for the solid word of God. They only take the rudiments, the word of the beginning of Christ. Perhaps some would argue with me, saying that the word of the beginning is not wrong. Of course it is not wrong, but it is simply the A B C’s. We need to go on!
The word of the beginning of Christ is the good word of God (6:5). We all have tasted this good word. John 3:16 and Romans 6:23, both of which speak of eternal life, are examples of the good word. But even many Christians misinterpret these verses, taking eternal life to mean blessing and happiness in a heavenly merry land. What poverty in understanding the word of God! What a pitiful way of dealing with God’s holy oracle! This is the reason that in the Lord’s recovery we are burdened for the release of the richer, higher, and deeper word. In His mercy, the Lord is opening His word to us.
Please keep in mind that in this portion of the Word, milk refers to the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God and to the word of the beginning of Christ. May we all, especially the young people, become familiar with these terms and use them in our fellowship. We all need a new vocabulary. We should not stay in the region of old religious terminology, but cross the river into a new way of conversation and use the terms and phrases found in God’s pure word.