Milk drinking Christians.

1 Peter 2:2-3 - "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

First Corinthians 3:1–9 describes Paul's rebuke of the Corinthian Christians as infants in Christ. As a contrast to a spiritually-indwelt believer, Paul uses the concept of being ''merely human.'' Such persons are not ready for solid food, still behaving as immature, undeveloped believers.

Instead of following Paul or Apollos, or some other human being, they should follow God, the master of all. Different leaders might be called to different tasks in God's will, but none are ultimately more important than others.

Paul cannot call the Corinthian Christians ''spiritual'' people. Though they are in Christ, they continue to live to the flesh. They are spiritual infants, not ready for solid food. Divisions among them prove they are still serving themselves, picking sides in a senseless debate between Christian teachers.

Paul insists that both he and Apollos are mere servants of the Lord and co-workers. They are not in competition. Those who lead the Corinthians must build carefully because their work will be tested on the day of the Lord. Christian leaders who build the church will have their work judged by Christ to see if they have built on the foundation of Christ.

All human wisdom will be shown to be futile and worthless

Spiritual milk refers to the basic, foundational truths of Christianity.
Every believer begins their spiritual journey by drinking milk.
We must progress from milk to solid food to become mature disciples.

Hebrews 5:13 .

Instead of eating solid food, you still have to drink milk. 13 Anyone who has to drink milk is still a child, without any experience in the matter of right and wrong. 14 Solid food, on the other hand, is for adults, who through practice are able to distinguish between good and evil.

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. - 1 Peter 2:2-3 (NIV).

The concept of “milk” in the Bible carries rich symbolism. Let’s explore it together:

Spiritual Milk:

In the New Testament, the analogy of milk is used to describe the nourishment and growth of our spiritual lives.

Just as a mother feeds her baby with milk, gradually introducing solid food as the child grows, spiritual milk represents the basic teachings and foundational concepts that help new Christians grow in their faith.

It’s like starting with the ABCs of Christianity—the fundamental truths that lay a strong foundation for our spiritual journey.

1 Peter 2:2:

The apostle Peter encourages believers to “crave pure spiritual milk” like newborn babies. This craving signifies a healthy spiritual appetite.

Just as humans never outgrow the need for pure food, Christians should never outgrow their need for God’s Word, which sustains and nourishes their faith.

Hebrews 5:13-14:

The writer of Hebrews speaks of moving from milk to solid food.
“Anyone who has to drink milk is still a baby, without experience in applying the Word about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by continuous exercise to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:13-14, CJB)3.

As we grow in faith, we transition from basic teachings to deeper understanding and discernment.

Spiritual milk represents the essential nourishment for new believers, while solid food represents deeper truths and maturity.

May we all continue to hunger for God’s Word and grow in our faith!

The hungry baby screams for milk with an intensity and an urgency that is virtually unparalleled in our world. We should crave spiritual nourishment with such urgency and desperation.

Not only is the baby’s cry loud and urgent, it’s also frequent! Most newborns insist on being fed every 2-3 hours. Imagine if we took in God’s truth with that sort of frequency.

I used to keep a stack of notecards containing memory verses on the passenger seat of the bus—a spiritual snack of sorts, to enjoy at red lights. Of course, it wasn’t a substitute for a full spiritual “meal”—something more in-depth and focused—yet, it offered the benefit of frequency.

It’s not enough to crave spiritual nourishment, generally. Many people seek “spirituality” and “spiritual” growth. Peter instructed his audience to crave pure spiritual milk. When a baby get milk straight from mom, she can be sure it’s not contaminated.

But milk that’s been sitting around and exposed to the surrounding elements could be very unsafe to drink. Likewise, we must be on our guard against contaminated spiritual food. Consider my young-in-the-faith Christian friends .

I wonder if Peter used milk in his comparison because milk is such a complete food. Milk is amazing in that it contains literally everything a baby needs nutritionally.

As Christians, do we believe God is the provider of the only spiritual food we’ll ever need? That his Word is complete and requires no supplementation from worldly sources or opinions?

First Peter 2:2 says, "As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation." For our physical growth, we need to drink milk. Likewise, for our spiritual growth, we need to drink the divine milk from the Word.

Every morning we need to drink a cup of milk from the Word. If you will do this, you will see the blessing. You will be healthy and will be a tree of life growing.

This tree will bear fruit, and all the fruit will nourish your wife, your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, your colleagues in your office, or your classmates in your school.

You will become the tree of life to all the people in your community. Today, the world needs this. the world needs Christ to grow in the neighborhoods, in the schools, in the offices, and among the families and the in-laws.

We should not merely attend the church meetings; we need to grow that we may be a tree of life to nourish today’s communities in the world. I am very grateful to the Lord that I live in Canada.

Here I have the full liberty to speak what I want to speak for the Lord. I am grateful for this, but whenever I look at today’s situation, I am saddened because of the shortage of Christ.

Needless to say with the unbelievers, even with the believers there is the shortage of Christ, the lacking of the growth of Christ.

Peter said that if we drink the milk of the word, we will grow unto salvation. We should not think that we are fully saved and have no need of any further salvation. Such a concept is wrong.

We still need to be saved every day, even every minute, from our temper, from our sorrows, and from our anxiety. We need to be saved from many things. I am not a quick person . It is not easy for me to lose my temper. When I was young, my temper was a trouble to me.

But later on I learned that I can be saved, and I have been saved through the drinking of the milk of the word .

Drinking the milk of the word causes us to grow unto salvation from our anger, our temper, our anxiety, our worry, our fear, and our trembling. Every day we need a daily salvation. We need today’s salvation in our daily walk.

Among today’s Christians it is difficult to find one who is mature. Many Christians are still childish. In their joking with one another we cannot sense God. Also, they are too free in having contact with the opposite sex . It is no wonder that there is fornication even among Christians .

A sister should not speak lightly to a brother. For a female to speak lightly is to sell herself cheaply. A sister must keep her female dignity (1 Tim. 2:9-10). This female dignity protects her from many sinful things.

Furthermore, in order to avoid falling into sin, a sister should not get too near a member of the opposite sex . Our need is to grow unto maturity, to be matured. Even one who is still a teenager in his physical age can be a mature believer in Christ. I have seen some young people like this.

We need to grow unto maturity to know God, to know the Bible, to know the church, and to know today’s situation and condition in a mature way. We should not be childish. In order to grow unto maturity, we need to eat solid food (Heb. 5:14; Col. 1:28). Drinking milk is for babes.

Every day we need to drink a cup of milk from the Word. We also need to take some solid food from the Word. In the Bible words such as "God so loved the world" (John 3:16) and "Husbands, love your wives" (Eph. 5:25) are like milk.

In contrast, those portions of the Word concerning God’s creation of man in His image and according to His likeness, His preparing a human spirit by breathing His breath of life into man’s nostrils, and His putting man in front of the tree of life, a figure of God Himself as life, are solid, like diamond. Nevertheless, we need to eat these portions.

We need spiritual teeth that can eat such solid food, and we also need a spiritual stomach to digest such words. We need to grow unto maturity by eating the solid food.