Hebrews 5 – 7
Verse 5:2 is discussing the high priests:
He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
We are all human and cannot approach others like some superior being.Doesn’t matter what our position is in the church or business, if we let pride enter we blow our witness. I am not sure if the writer was pointing out the flaws of the Levitical system or warning against the new church, but either way it’s an important point. One cannot be impatient, loathing or indigent when ministering to people spiritually lost. If one does, that easily sets them up for a fall.
Look at the many fallen priests of the mega TV churches or even small local churches. When a priest falls, especially one that places themselves on a pedestal. We are all weak and need to acknowledge that, especially when ministering to the unsaved. Otherwise our past has a way of catching up with us. I know this is true raising children when they discover your past. Is it better that they find out or if you are up front? Same with a church, if you make it clear you are changed in Christ then that is the key to showing people what they are missing.
Verse 5:14 is a verse that constantly gets me thinking:
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
The writer is talking about how as we grow we cannot be living on milk alone, eventually we need solid food. This is true with our spiritual growth. If after 20 years of being a Christian you are still studying the Gospel, then your spiritual growth is stunted. I think the key is to ask questions and grow from there. For a long time I questioned the “trinity” and was just told to accept it since people much smarter have figured this out. Well that is wrong, if we question we should search. It took me 6 years to resolve the “trinity” and to accept it as truth. So am I eating solid food questioning or would I have already been on it just accepting?
Verses 6:1 & 2 have us moving forward:
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
One can read this two ways, either that we need to move from elementary teaching that are listed or that they are what we need to be focusing on after our initial learning. In today’s church this the foundation of dead works and faith towards God is all the basics they preach. Mostly because you get so many fresh faces that you cannot scare them with perceived occult acts, like healings. At the same time this list seems to be the doctrine that one needs to move past. It almost seems like the early church was teaching the basics, which including laying hands and resurrecting the dead!! Since they was not 2000 years removed at the time of writing the people had fresh memories of Jesus and the disciples doing just that.
Now 2000 years later many of these teachings are considered “meat” and not “milk”. We look at healings as advanced connection and resurrections are impossible. Our idea is to pray for the doctors to do the right thing, where the doctors were not doing this then. Also, if this is “milk” than what is “solid food” anyway? I think we can all learn, but need to be open to even more in our relationship with God!! There is more than just … fill in your “blank”.