For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:13-14).
The word "partakes" here is the present, active, participle of metecho. It refers to someone who is constantly feeding only on "the milk" of the Word, the basic doctrines. The author calls that person "unskilled." Apeiros is a Greek word that was used for an unskilled workman, someone lacking in experience, someone who was unable to make practical application of a certain tool or a certain amount of information.
He who partakes of milk is unskilled—he lacks experience—in the Word of righteousness. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:15 to study to show ourselves approved unto God. The only way we can be approved is through our study and application of the Word, but if we are lacking, unskilled, unable to apply the Word, then we are what the author here calls "babes," nepios.
Nepios does not refer to physical infants. Homer used the word to describe grown men who were childish and infantile ii their thinking—heroes who came home from battle and then could not handle life. The nepios in Homer's writings were military heroes who had the inspirational courage to stand firm on the field of battle, but who lacked the moral courage to stand in the day-to-day grind of normal life. The author is saying here that the believer who has had time to get to spiritual maturity, yet who is still feeding on milk, is childish, infantile, lacking in the perseverance that is the hallmark of moral courage.
In contrast to the nepios are the teleios, the people who have arrived at the goal or objective, in this case spiritual maturity. The solid food of the Word, the advanced doctrine, is for the mature. These people have discernment, but not by accident—they have sweat it out in the gymnasium of the soul.
"Practice" is the Greek hexis, which means "a habit resulting from consistent, perpetual discipline." Discipline produces habits. Good habits are just as easy to establish as bad habits. They come the same way; they come through repetition of decisions. Bad decisions, repeated over and over, lead to bad practice. Bad practice leads to bad habits. Bad habits lead to bad character.
But the mature have practiced making good decisions; they have established a pattern of personal self-discipline. They have their senses—their perceptive faculties—"trained." This is the Greek gumnazo, from which we get "gymnasium." Mature Christians have good habits because they live their lives in the gym. Every day they work with the Word; every day they function in the energy of the Spirit. Every day they strive for higher achievement in the spiritual realm. And because they work out in the Word, every single day they have their senses trained, they have learned discernment. "Discern" is diakrino. Krino means "to judge;" dia means "between." They have the ability to judge between good and evil.
*This material was originally a highlighted topic in "The Basics". Additional topics can be found here
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