Dr H Reflections

Developmental delays ∙

We would like to say much more about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you the basics of God’s word again. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. – Hebrews 5:11-12

1 Corinthians 2:14-3:3

 14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them, and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.

 15 Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.

 16 For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

 1 Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life.

 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,

 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove your sinful nature controls you? Aren’t you living like people of the world?

Children progress through developmental stages at varying speeds. However, when a child falls notably behind their peers in emotional, mental, or physical development across one or more areas, and this gap is more than just slight, it is considered a developmental delay.

Such delays are expected in early childhood, affecting between 10% to 15% of children in their preschool years. A developmental delay is identified when a child does not achieve the developmental milestones expected for their age group. This condition can be categorized into three types based on how a child’s functional age compares to their chronological age.

• Mild (functional age < 33% below chronological age)
• Moderate (functional age 34%-66% of chronological age)
• Severe (functional age < 66% of chronological age)

In cases of developmental arrest, children struggle to acquire new skills, and distressingly, some may even experience regression, losing skills they had previously mastered. This can result in profound, long-term disabilities.

Spiritual developmental delays are sadly prevalent amongst the children of the King. They are documented and elaborated in the book of Hebrews and 1 Corinthians.

REFLECT & PRAY

Sadly, numerous children of the King find themselves trapped in spiritual developmental delays, with many showing a reluctance to mature. Many get locked up and simply refuse to grow up.

Father it’s all too simple for us to settle into our comfort zones. Instill in us a deep desire and passion to know Your Word and to advance toward spiritual maturity.

INSIGHT

Paul’s grasp of human nature is intricate and layered, capturing the nuanced complexity of the human experience. Once comprehended, the subtleties inherent in the Greek language unveil critical differences that often go unnoticed in English translations.

In this passage, two Greek suffixes are affixed to the ends of four pivotal words. The first suffix, ikos, implies being characterized by suggesting the way someone or something behaves or appears to be. The second suffix, inos, means made of. It denotes what something actually is.

We can be babies [inos made of flesh] who eventually grow up. But sadly, we can act like babies [ikos characterized by] who refuse to grow up. Paul speaks of individuals who were babes in the faith. Despite the passage of enough time for them to have reached spiritual maturity, they haven’t. They continue to behave like babies.

The Greek word that is translated without the spirit, aren’t spiritual, natural man, soulish, unbeliever is psuchikos. Psuchikos has the sense of being characterized by merely soulish reasoning. It is often translated as natural, sensual, or soulish.

Paul uses the Greek word pneumatikos for spiritual. Pneumatikos means to be characterized by the spirit, to be a spiritually mature person.

The Greek word for flesh [belonged to this world], is sarkinos. Sarkinos means to be made of flesh; people of the flesh belong to this world, worldly and carnal. In this context, it has the sense of a baby or infant. Paul refers to new believers as spiritual babies. They are similar to human babies: weak, dependent, sinful, and transitory.

The Greek word for fleshly, of the flesh, influenced by the flesh,controlled by your sinful nature, worldly, carnal is sarkikos. Sarkikos means to be characterized by the flesh. “Although the Corinthians are Christians indwelt by the Spirit, their divisive behavior shows that they are acting like the unbelieving world around them” (ESV Study Bible).

Paul recognizes four categories of people: soulish people (unbelievers), baby Christians (new children of the King), carnal or fleshly Christians (children of the King who have had time to grow up but still act like babies), and the spiritually mature (children of the King who is growing to spiritual maturity in Christ).

There is another subtle danger: the possibility of advancing toward spiritual maturity only to regress or move backward. This is precisely the scenario that unfolded among the Jewish believers mentioned in Hebrews 5. They had become spiritually “dull of hearing.” They began their “backward journey” by drifting from the word (Hebrews 2:1-4) and then doubting it (Hebrews 3:7 –

13) (Wiersbe).

The Greek word translated as dull of hearing or spiritually dull is nothros. Nothros means slow to learn, understand, or react. It is only used twice in the New Testament (Hebrews 5:11, 6:12). It means slow-moving in mind, sluggish in understanding, dull of hearing, and stupidly forgetful. It can be used for the numbed limbs of an ill animal. It can be used of a person with the imperceptive nature of a stone (Barclay).

Hebrews 5:11-12

 11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.

 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.

In the eyes of the Father, simply getting older does not equate to maturity. Spiritual growth demands an active and diligent pursuit of the Father (Stanley). Engaging deeply with His Word is essential for this pursuit. It involves not just reading, but accurately interpreting and clearly explaining it, as emphasized in 2 Timothy 2:15. Achieving this level of understanding necessitates practice – a continuous and repeated effort.

Sadly, many children suffer from a spiritual developmental delay. They have surrendered the dream that the Father has for them to pursue maturity. It is incumbent upon each of us to leave our childish trappings and practices behind and strive for spiritual growth. We will never completely arrive on this side of eternity. Knowledge of the Word and the ability to articulate it are insufficient. We have to live it.

The stunted spiritual growth of many is often due to a deficiency in the spiritual nourishment provided by the “milk” of the Word, which should be a staple in our daily “diet.” Just as physical infants transition from milk to solid food, we, too, must move on in our spiritual nourishment. Unfortunately, both newborn children of the King and those who have been part of God’s Forever Family for many years still subsist on merely spiritual infant formula.

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© Dr. H 2024