Spiritual Milk

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly - mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.

-1 Corinthians 3:1-2

What is Paul talking about when he describes spiritual "milk"? Paul describes new believers as being "infants in Christ". Taking up this analogy, I am left wondering what Paul's recipe for spiritual "milk" might include - what kind of food do we, as Christians, have to offer those who are believers and yet are still worldly?

Augustine of Hippo (354-430), commenting in his Confessions on 1 Corinthians 12, argues that there is a distinction between a gift of wisdom ("like the greater light which [God] made") and a gift of knowledge ("like the lesser light"):

Yet [a gift of knowledge is] needed for such as those whom Paul, your far-sighted servant, had to approach as men with natural, not with spiritual thoughts (1 Cor 3:1), though there is a wisdom which he makes known among those who are fully grounded (1 Cor 2:6). Man with his natural gifts alone is like a mere infant in Christ's nursery. He must be fed on milk until he is strong enough to eat solid food, and until his sight is fortified to face the sun, if he is not to be left in a night of utter darkness, he must be content with the light of the moon and the stars.

- Augustine of Hippo, Confessions XIII.xviii.23

Augustine's argument is that some of the gifts are for use in appealing to those who are worldly - specifically the gift of knowledge. This parallel's Paul's own argument in 1 Corinthians 14 about gifts of tongues vs. gifts of prophecy:

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers

- 1 Corinthians 14:22

Returning to Augustine's premise, let us consider these gifts of knowledge and wisdom, and how they might apply to an unbeliever, an "infant" believer and a "mature" believer.

Some would argue that the spiritual gift of knowledge refers to a supernatural knowledge of things otherwise hidden. For example, when Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well (see John 4:1-26), he knows through the Spirit that she has had a number of husbands and is now living with a man not her husband. This then becomes the basis of her testimony about him - "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" (v. 29).

I believe that this is an overly narrow definition of the gift of knowledge, however. Knowledge need not be supernaturally obtained in order to be a witness to unbelievers. For example, Philip, whilst he is told by the Spirit to approach the Ethiopian eunuch (see Acts 8:26-40), appears to be left to his own devices in explaining the Scriptures. His gift to the Ethiopian was one of knowledge, one he was able to give because the Spirit first imbued him with that knowledge. Once again, this was a testament to Christ, yet probably doesn't of itself fall into the 'supernatural' category.

Certainly, I believe this is more in line with Augustine's interpretation - knowledge is the "lesser light" (moon/stars) compared to the "greater light" of wisdom.

So, from this we understand that the gift of knowledge is an important tool in the evangelist's chest. Consider Paul's earlier argument:

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

-1 Corinthians 1:22

Clearly knowledge is important in the growth of young believers too. I believe that the essential journey of every Christian is from "knowing about God" to "knowing God". For this reason, I believe that Paul's spiritual milk is to be teaching about the heart of God, based on his own revelation of himself through his Word.

For in the garden are planted both the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life - for it is not the Tree of Knowledge that causes death; the deadly thing is disobedience. Scripture clearly says, In the beginning God planted in the midst of the garden the tree of knowledge and the tree of life; thereby showing that the way to life lies through knowledge. It is only because the first-created couple used it improperly that, through the wiles of the serpent, they were stripped of all they had. Without trustworthy knowledge there can be no life, and without life there can be no trustworthy knowledge; which is why the two trees were planted side by side. The Apostle saw the force of this when he told us, knowledge makes a windbag, but love is a builder; that was his rebuke to the knowledge which is exercised without regard to the life-giving precepts of the the truth. For a man who claims to know, but is without the knowledge which is real and attested by life, knows nothing; the serpent has tricked him, because his heart is not set on life. But he who possesses knowledge coupled with fear, and whose quest for life is earnest, may plant in hope and look for fruit.

-The Epistle to Diognetus xii

This is why it is fruitless to preach a "social gospel" to non-Christians or new believers, unless it is clearly presented as being God's nature to stamp out poverty, oppression and injustice. Good works (and less still, good words) will not win people for Christ unless it is clearly understood that they are simply an outworking of God's own character. Speaking out on abortion, fault-free divorce, same-sex marriages - all of these will be perceived as arbitrary meddling and interference, unless we are able to clearly show that God has both desire and authority to speak into those issues.

Of even less interest are arguments about doctrine and theology. Of what use is a sound understanding of trans-substantiation vs. con-substantiation to someone who doesn't understand that Jesus was broken for them? Who cares about whether baptism happens in one or two stages if they don't know that the Spirit is the gift of God to believers?

So consider carefully then the message that you present to non-Christians. Are your words and actions geared towards revealing Christ? Do your priorities reflect his? Are you teaching new Christians in a way that puts them in touch with the God of the Bible, rather than the God of your own imagination or of popular culture?

Let the heart of you, then, be knowledge, and let your life be true inward reception of the Word.

-The Epistle to Diognetus xii

(More on Wisdom, the "solid food", another time)