10 Spiritual Immaturity

The second part of chapter 5 covers why certain remain immature and do not grow.

The author addressed the subject in light of his previous teaching, in the first half of the chapter, on the connection between Jesus and Melchizedek. He stated then that he was unable to delve further into the matter because the people had become dull of hearing:

Hebrews 5:9-11

1 Stunted Growth

It’s true for every believer, if we’re no longer moving forward and growing, then we’re drifting backward.

• The phrase “dull of hearing” can be interpreted as “distracted”.
• But it has another meaning in the Greek, as it can also be interpreted as “ignorant”. An ignorance that comes from ignoring the facts or truth.

Sadly, this often leads individuals to say, “they don’t get anything out of the Bible”.

We must remember that the Bible is a truly living document, separating it from every other book:

Hebrews 4:12

Church movements such as the “Seeker-friendly Movement” have developed because of those attitudes.

They have proven to be the work and vision of man and not of God.

2 Spiritual Maturity

The author then shows, the reason why these individuals weren’t growing is because they were spiritually immature:

Hebrews 5:12-14

Some characteristics of an immature believer:

• Unwilling or unable to help others
• A person who creates division

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

• They display gifts without grace

We see examples in Scripture, as even the apostles often acted that way while busily serving yet having a lack of compassion or sympathy for the people in need.

It requires being filled with, and then submitting the Holy Spirit for that to change. The apostle Paul showed that the Spirit thus enables us to show that love for others:

Romans 5:5

The author was very direct in showing that the problem was that these believers had been negligent in not doing their part to maintain a growing relationship with the Lord:

1 Corinthians 3:1-2

In the passage from Hebrews, the author makes it clear that these weren’t new believers, they should have been exhibiting growth by this time, however their growth had been stunted.

Instead of being able to faithfully share the Gospel themselves, they were struggling to master the basics of the faith.

They were much like infants, which require milk, and are unable to digest solid foods. Yet, these were not spiritual newborns, but were believers who failed to properly grow because of their “dull hearing”.

Peter used similar language to those spoken by the author to the Hebrews:

1 Peter 2:2