[T758]The Sunday School Lesson

One of the most popular advertising slogans this generation will remember is ?Got Milk?? The National Dairy Council has effectively raised ?milk awareness? by putting milk ?mustaches? on American icons. While this article is not about raising one's lactose awareness, it is about raising one's ?milk? awareness biblically speaking. Let's revisit Paul's use of the term ?milk.? Though most people do know that Paul uses the word ?milk,? many do not know what that ?milk? actually is.
How is the term ?milk? popularly understood? Last year I attended a youth leader's forum. The workshop was devoted to sharing ideas related to activities, materials, programs, and discipleship. During this ?round-table? discussion the leader asked us what we were doing to disciple our teens. When I told them that we are teaching our teens the doctrines of Christ's lordship, election, sanctification, and perseverance, the leader responded with the diplomatic: ?Well ? that's good! But not every youth group is able to handle those doctrines. Teens need ?milk.?? This workshop leader revealed a common ignorance about Paul's use of the term ?milk? ? that ?milk? equals primarily nondoctrinal issues.

Over the past fifty years, many discipleship manuals have either given the impression or directly stated that the term ?milk? refers to a few basic teachings having to do with practice rather than doctrine.
In the discipleship booklet, This New Life of Yours, the author quotes 1 Peter 2.2 which states that a new believer is to desire the sincere milk of the Word. The author then describes what is involved in gaining the ?milk? of the Word: 1) Study the Bible at every opportunity; 2) Seek qualified spiritual help; 3) Establish daily devotions; 4) Memorize Scripture; 5) Understand yourself.
Another discipleship manual, Steps to Christian Maturity, outlines what is meant by receiving the ?milk? of the Word: 1) Assurance of Salvation; 2) Reading the Bible; 3) Prayer; 4) Obey-
Though these manuals contain some helpful discipleship material, I am simply making a point that our misunderstanding of the term ?milk? comes from books such as these. I do not want to minimize the necessity of Bible reading, prayer, witnessing, etc. The danger is that these books, rather than Scripture, has framed our generation's understanding of the term ?milk.?
What did Paul intend by the term ?milk?? The ?milk? metaphor is not difficult to understand. Most everyone rightly agrees that Paul intended the word ?milk? to refer to elementary biblical truths (cf. 1Co 3.2, Heb 5.12'13). Paul compared the easily digestible physical food (milk) with the easily understandable truths.

What should be noted is that Paul used the term ?milk? derogatorily.
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. Indeed, you are still not ready. (1Co 3.1'2)
When Paul called the Corinthians ?infants,? they were belittled. They thought of themselves as mature, spiritual Christians. But Paul criticized them for living and thinking like babies, mere juveniles in Christ. They had not progressed beyond the elementary truths of Scripture.

What were the elementary teachings Paul had in mind? The question that remains is, ?What were those elementary teachings?? Or, stated in another way, ?What did Paul expect them to know and to have progressed further in their understanding??

Consider the spiritual age of the Corinthians. The Corinthian church was established in approximately 50 ad. When Paul wrote this letter, five years later, we can safely assume that he was writing to Christians who were no older in the Lord than five years.

Consider the spiritual truths to which they were exposed. Knowing that Paul wrote to these young believers, read 1 Corinthians and consider the various doctrines. The table below identifies the various doctrines found in the first chapter. These are the doctrines the Corinthians already knew. Though they had an elementary understanding of these doctrines, they still knew them.

It is clear from the greater context of 1 Corinthians that the contemporary use of the term ?milk? is quite anemic. The infantile Corinthians already knew about the doctrines of election, the efficacious call, grace, perseverance, end times, spiritual gifts, etc. The problem is that they did not progress in their knowledge and application of those doctrines.

It appears that the theological illiteracy we find today is partly due to a failure to investigate Paul's term ?milk.? An assumption has been made that ?milk? is not much more than assuring, winning, and giving. Thus many disciplers have limited their training scope to these select few practical biblical truths. The shame is that the Apostle Paul expected more out of the newly saved Corinthian believers than many expect out of their Senior Saints.

The term ?milk? embraces all doctrines. The question is not: ?What doctrines are ?milk? and which are ?meat??? The question is ?To what degree do you understand and apply biblical doctrines??

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