THE MILK AND THE MEAT

by Dave Brown

Did you ever pick up a religious track and read something that was a little questionable in it.  But then they gave a scriptural reference for their assertion, so you just accepted that it was true and had to have come from the bible, right?  We hope not.  This is a very common ploy of false teachers, and we hope you do not fall for it.

OK, you did not accept it!  You went to the bible and checked it out.  Good for you!!!  But when you read it, it was quite difficult to map what was said in the passage to what the writer was asserting.  So you were just left in a puzzled state.  Again, this is the ploy of the false teacher, for many in this state come to the conclusion that they (the reader) cannot really understand what the bible says on this subject, and that the writer, being a scholar who has studied this for some time, understands.  So, perhaps we should just accept his interpretation.

The issue has to do with feeding meat to babes.  Now, we are not accusing you of being a babe, although to some extent we should all plead guilty to not being as mature in our bible knowledge as we should be.

Let’s first establish that this concept of milk and meat has a biblical foundation.  It is referenced in the following passages:

• 1 Cor. 3:2-3: “I fed you with milk , not with meat; for ye were not yet able (to bear it): nay, not even now are ye able; for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?”
• Heb. 5:12-14: “For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that some one teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk , and not of solid food.  For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe.  But solid food is for fullgrown men, (even) those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.”
• 1 Peter 2:1-2: “Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation; if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious …”

This is a simple concept and it is practiced in all secular education.  We do not teach calculus to first graders.  We start with simple addition and subtraction and build from there.

It is just as absurd to start your study of the bible in the book of Revelation.  It is essential to start with the milk of God’s word and build up the spiritual maturity that comes from a total understanding of it.

This leads us to a fundamental principle of biblical interpretation:

• Always reason from the milk to the meat; that is, always interpret the new and difficult passages in the light of what you KNOW from the simple passages; conversely:
• Never set at naught a simple, clearly understood biblical concept based on a passage that is clearly quite difficult to understand.

Do you see why false teachers start with the meat?  Their goal is to baffle you and convince you that you cannot understand it.  That being the case, your only hope is to depend on them for the answers.  That is what cults are made of.