Maturing Our Theology in the Infallible Word

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 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 toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.” (Hebrews 5: 12-14, Hebrews 6: 1-3, ESV)

I prayed the sinner's prayer when I was about 10 years old, or at least, that’s the first time I remember praying it with a full realization of what I was doing and committing to. Before that, I was parroting along the words my teacher asked us to repeat during Sunday school “altar calls.” 

I went to the same church until I was 25. I sat under the same pastor, worshiped in the same building, and learned most of what I knew about the Bible in that church. I feel it’s very important to note: I love that church. I still have nothing but deep gratitude to the man that pastored that church while I was there and led a community where ultimately, I found a place of my own.

But one of the most beautiful things about faith is that it’s ever growing. We dive deeper and deeper into who God is and the riches of what he’s done for us; and, if we allow ourselves to be teachable, we continue to mature in our faith. So naturally, my own faith is deeper than it was on the day that I parted ways with that church. Over the past two years, I’ve discovered a deeper passion for reading the Bible and studying what it says. I notice more maturity in knowing the things I believe and how to defend them. I’m less defensive and dismissive about scripture that used to make me uncomfortable because it went against my worldview at the time.

The fact is this: At the point of salvation, we begin to seek God and honor Him in the ways we know how: going to church, making ourselves holier with the things we entertain and participate in, reading the Bible. We learn about God’s love, His kindness, His patience, His goodness, and His ultimate character; those all being the things that drive us to want to live life transformed in Christ. 

We learn, little by little, about the God we serve, and let our convictions be the indication of how to weed out unholiness in our lives so we can better glorify the One who gave all of Himself to have us.

In the beginning of learning about God, we drink spiritual milk. That’s the basics– the rudimentary fundamentals of faith. But the issue is, if we’re not also backing up what we are learning from other teachers with studying the Bible, then how are we to know when someone is teaching unbiblical doctrine? 

You see, we always have to make sure that we’re in our Bible. Why? Because the Bible is the infallible Word of God. It is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), meaning that there is no part of your Bible that is contrary to what is pleasing to the Father. It is all Him. There is no single scripture that can or should be thrown out as a contradiction. In John 1, it goes so far to say that the Word was with God in the beginning, and was made flesh through Jesus Christ. So if the Bible is the Word, and the Word is basically God Himself, then we can only conclude that the Bible is the unshakable, unchanging, infallible Truth.

You know what is fallible? Me. Man. Humanity. 

So when we’re spiritually young, feeding on spiritual milk, being called ever-deeper into spiritual maturity, we need to be sure that every teaching we hear via podcasts, see in Youtube, and sit under on a Sunday is fact-checked and lines up against the unshakeable. Don’t just take something as truth, just because it comes from someone you trust. Just like it says in Ephesians 4, if we choose to remain spiritual infants– never reading and studying and seeking for ourselves what the Bible truly says– drinking only spiritual milk from what others say and adopting theology off of the mere words of others, then you will be tossed to and fro on every wind of doctrine.

Because what do babies do? They accept everything that the parent gives them, trusting that it is good. So someone that is brand new to the faith might make the mistake of trusting every doctrine from every YouTube message, Tiktok preacher, and Christian friend out there and calling it gospel. 

But in Hebrews, we’re encouraged to go deeper. We’re told that at some point in our Christian life, we need to graduate from spiritual milk to spiritual food. A baby can’t grow into a strong, healthy man on milk alone. It needs to graduate from milk to something more substantial.

So I say this as your friend: At some point, you need to graduate from the comfortable, trendy, easily packaged gospel that social media would lead you to believe is sound theology. You need to test everything against what the Bible says, even the uncomfortable subjects: free will vs. predestination, wives submitting to their husbands, baptism, gay marriage– whatever it is. 

The truth is, if you’re just taking other people’s word for it, you’re being indoctrinated into something that isn’t altogether true. People craft sermons all the time where they are just taking scripture and bending it to their own, already established worldview, rather than allowing the scripture to inform the sermon. 

Again, friends. We are fallible. The Bible is unchangeable. Test what you believe against the steadfast Word of God, not on your own emotions or what modern society says is acceptable. Even the things you’ve believed all your life were God. You need to make sure that you’re holding everything up to scripture, and interpreting scripture in the context of who God is, not what you would like to make Him out to be.

That’s how we reach spiritual maturity. That’s how we go deeper with God.