Commentary - Hebrews 5:11-14

Bird's-eye view

In this sharp pastoral rebuke, the author of Hebrews pauses his deep exposition of Christ's Melchizedekian priesthood to address the spiritual condition of his audience. He essentially tells them that he has much more profound truth to unpack, but he is hindered because they have become spiritually sluggish and hard of hearing. This is a diagnosis of arrested development. They have been Christians long enough that they ought to be mature teachers, capable of instructing others. Instead, they have regressed to a state of spiritual infancy, needing to be re-taught the absolute basics of the faith. The central metaphor he employs is the distinction between milk, fit for babies, and solid food, necessary for the mature. The passage serves as a severe warning against spiritual laziness and a powerful exhortation to press on toward maturity, which is defined not as mere head-knowledge, but as the trained ability to skillfully discern between good and evil in the real world.

This section is a crucial hinge in the book. It explains why the author must labor so hard to explain the significance of Melchizedek and it sets up the severe warning against apostasy that will follow in chapter 6. The problem is not the difficulty of the doctrine, but the dullness of the hearers. Their failure to grow has put them in a perilous position. True Christian maturity is demonstrated by a developed palate for the "word of righteousness," an ability to digest and apply the "solid food" of God's truth to the complexities of life.

Outline

Context In Hebrews

This passage comes immediately after the author has introduced the profound concept of Jesus as a high priest "after the order of Melchizedek" (Heb 5:10). This is a weighty theological point, central to his argument that Christ's priesthood is superior to the Levitical priesthood. However, before he can dive into the rich details of this comparison (which he will do in chapter 7), he must first issue this pastoral warning. He recognizes that the spiritual state of his readers is a barrier to their understanding. They are not ready for the "solid food" of this doctrine because they have become "dull of hearing." This section, therefore, functions as a necessary parenthesis, a pastoral intervention designed to awaken his audience from their spiritual lethargy. It directly precedes the stern warning of Hebrews 6:1-8, which describes the danger of falling away. The dullness described here in chapter 5 is the very condition that makes apostasy a real and present danger.

Key Issues

Dull Ears and Arrested Development

Every pastor knows the frustration described in this text. You have a glorious, weighty, magnificent truth from God's Word that you are eager to serve up to your people. It is a feast of solid food. But as you look out at the congregation, you realize that many of them have shown up to the banquet with bibs and bottles. They are not ready for what you have to give them. It's not that the food is bad; it's that their spiritual digestion is shot.

The author of Hebrews is facing just this situation. He wants to talk about Melchizedek, about the eternal priesthood of Jesus, about the foundations of the new covenant. But he has to stop and say, in effect, "I have so much to tell you, but you've gotten lazy in your listening." The word for "dull" here is nothros, which means sluggish, slow, lazy. It's the same word used in Hebrews 6:12, where he urges them not to be "sluggish." It's a culpable condition. They weren't born this way; they have "become" this way. This is a rebuke for spiritual backsliding, a warning against the kind of spiritual coasting that leads to a state of perpetual infancy. God intends for His children to grow up, and when they refuse, He sends sharp-elbowed pastoral rebukes like this one to jostle them awake.

Verse by Verse Commentary

11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

The author signals a shift from exposition to exhortation. The "him" refers to Melchizedek, and by extension, to Christ's priesthood in that order. The author is bursting with things to say on this topic; it is a rich and profound subject. But he hits a roadblock. The difficulty is not in the subject matter itself, but in the audience. The message is "hard to explain," not because it is inherently incomprehensible, but because their ears are out of practice. They have "become" dull of hearing. This is not a congenital defect; it is an acquired condition. Spiritual hearing, like physical muscles, atrophies with disuse. They had once been sharp, but had allowed themselves to become lazy listeners, spiritually sluggish. This is a pastoral diagnosis of a serious problem.

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

He now spells out the practical consequences of their dullness. Based on the amount of time they have been believers, their spiritual resume should look very different. "By this time" implies a significant period has passed since their conversion. The normal Christian life is one of growth, and the expectation is that a student will eventually become a teacher. They should have been veterans, capable of discipling others. But instead of graduating, they have flunked back to kindergarten. They need someone to teach them the "elementary principles" all over again. The "oracles of God" refers to the Scriptures, the very words of God. They need the ABCs of the faith, the basic building blocks of Christian doctrine. He drives the point home with a dietary metaphor. They have regressed to the point where they can only handle milk, the simple nourishment for a newborn, when they should be feasting on solid food, the robust doctrine for a mature man.

13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

Here he defines what it means to be a milk-drinker. A person who lives only on milk is "not accustomed to the word of righteousness." The "word of righteousness" is a rich phrase. It is the gospel message in its fullness, which not only declares us righteous in Christ (justification) but also teaches us how to live righteously (sanctification). It is the doctrine of God's righteousness and the ethical demands that flow from it. The spiritual infant is unskilled in this. He may know the basic gospel slogan, "Jesus saves," but he is clumsy and inept when it comes to applying God's righteous standards to the complexities of life, business, family, and politics. He is a babe, an infant. This is not a compliment. In the Christian life, to remain an infant is a sign of sickness.

14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.

In contrast to the infant, we have the "mature." The Greek word is teleios, meaning complete, or full-grown. And what do the mature eat? Solid food. This is the deeper, weightier teaching of Scripture. And who are these mature ones? They are those who have trained themselves. Maturity is not automatic; it comes "because of practice." Their spiritual "senses" have been exercised, put through a workout regimen. The word for trained is gegumnasmena, from which we get our word gymnasium. Spiritual maturity is the result of diligent, consistent training. And what is the goal of this training? To "discern both good and evil." This is not about telling the difference between obvious right and wrong, like murder versus charity. An infant can do that. This is a finely-honed moral and spiritual discernment that can distinguish between good and evil when they are subtly mixed, when the choice is between the good and the best, or between a sinful compromise and a costly stand. It is the ability to distinguish between white and off-white. This is the mark of a grown-up Christian. They have practiced applying the word of righteousness so consistently that their moral instincts are sharp and reliable.

Application

This passage is a bucket of ice water for the comfortable, coasting Christian. It confronts us with the non-negotiable reality that God expects us to grow up. The Christian faith is not a playground where we can remain toddlers forever; it is a gymnasium for training spiritual warriors. We must ask ourselves the hard questions that this text forces upon us. Have we become dull of hearing? When our pastor preaches a sermon that requires careful thought, do we tune out, wishing for simpler platitudes? Are we still drinking the same milk we were on ten years ago, or have we developed a taste for the solid food of God's Word?

By the time that has passed, ought we to be teachers? This doesn't mean everyone must have a formal teaching ministry, but it does mean we should be capable of giving a reason for the hope that is in us, of instructing our children, of encouraging a younger believer. If we are not, it is because we are still on milk. We are unskilled in the word of righteousness.

The path to maturity is clearly laid out: practice. We must exercise our senses. This means we must be in the Word, not just as a daily devotional exercise, but wrestling with it, studying it, and most importantly, applying it. We must practice righteousness. We must engage in the difficult work of discerning good and evil in our own hearts, in our families, in our culture, and then acting on that discernment. This is how we grow. There is no shortcut. The goal is to become mature believers who can handle the solid food of doctrine and who possess the sharp discernment needed to navigate a crooked and perverse generation to the glory of God.