What does spiritual maturity look like according to Hebrews 5-6?
Question 0018
The letter to the Hebrews contains one of the New Testament’s most direct discussions of spiritual maturity, and it comes with a sharp rebuke that still stings today. The author isn’t gentle about it—he tells his readers they ought to be teachers by now but instead need someone to teach them the basics all over again. It’s a wake-up call that every Christian needs to hear.
The Context: A Church in Danger
To understand Hebrews 5-6, we need to grasp the situation these Jewish believers faced. They had come to faith in Jesus as Messiah, but they were under intense pressure to abandon Christianity and return to Judaism. The Temple was still standing, the sacrificial system still operating, and their families and communities were pressuring them to come back to the old ways. Some were wavering.
The author writes to strengthen their resolve by showing them that what they have in Jesus is infinitely superior to what they left behind. Jesus is greater than the angels (chapters 1-2), greater than Moses (chapter 3), greater than Joshua (chapter 4), and greater than the Aaronic priesthood (chapters 5-7). The logic is clear: why would you go back to shadows when you have the substance?
But here’s the problem. Some of these believers weren’t mature enough to grasp this argument. They’d been Christians long enough to understand deep truth, but they’d never progressed beyond the basics.
The Diagnosis: Spiritual Infancy
The rebuke begins in Hebrews 5:11: “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” The author wants to explain how Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek—a profound and wonderful truth—but his readers can’t receive it. The word “dull” is νωθροί (nōthroi), meaning sluggish or lazy. They’ve become intellectually and spiritually lazy. It’s not that they lack intelligence; they lack effort.
Then comes the sting: “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” (Hebrews 5:12-14).
Notice several things here. First, time matters. “By this time you ought to be teachers.” These weren’t new converts. They’d been believers long enough that spiritual growth should be evident. Second, regression is possible. They “need someone to teach you again the basic principles.” They haven’t just failed to advance; they’ve gone backwards. Third, there’s a distinction between milk and solid food. Milk represents basic doctrines—the ABCs of the faith. Solid food represents deeper teaching that requires more developed understanding. Both are necessary, but you’re not supposed to stay on milk forever.
Characteristics of Spiritual Maturity
Skilled Handling of Scripture
The mature believer handles Scripture skillfully. The phrase “unskilled in the word of righteousness” is telling. The Greek ἄπειρος (apeiros) means inexperienced or unacquainted. The spiritually immature Christian doesn’t know how to use Scripture properly. They can’t connect passages, can’t apply principles, can’t distinguish what’s central from what’s peripheral. The mature believer, by contrast, has facility with God’s Word. They can teach others. They can feed themselves. They’re not dependent on being spoon-fed forever but have learned to dig into Scripture on their own.
Trained Discernment
This is perhaps the most important marker in the passage: “those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (5:14). The word for “trained” is γεγυμνασμένα (gegumnasména)—from which we get “gymnasium.” It refers to athletic training, the rigorous discipline of an athlete preparing for competition. Discernment isn’t a natural gift that some have and others don’t; it’s a skill developed through practice.
And notice what’s being discerned: good from evil. This isn’t just doctrinal discernment (though it includes that); it’s moral discernment. The mature Christian can look at a situation, a teaching, a course of action, and evaluate it biblically. They’ve developed spiritual instincts through repeated use.
Building Beyond Foundations
The mature believer moves beyond foundations to build upon them. Chapter 6 begins: “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” (Hebrews 6:1-2).
This doesn’t mean abandoning these truths—a builder doesn’t abandon the foundation when they start on the walls. It means not going back and re-laying what’s already been laid. The foundation is essential, but you don’t live in the foundation; you build on it.
The Warning: The Danger of Falling Away
What follows in Hebrews 6:4-8 is one of the most debated passages in the New Testament: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (Hebrews 6:4-6).
Dispensational interpreters have understood this passage in different ways. Some see these as genuine believers who lose their salvation—but this conflicts with clear teaching elsewhere that believers are eternally secure in Christ (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:38-39). Others see them as people who came close to genuine faith, experienced many of its blessings outwardly, but never truly received Jesus—like Judas, who walked with Jesus, saw the miracles, and yet was never truly converted.
The most satisfying reading, in my view, is that the author is speaking hypothetically to drive home the seriousness of apostasy. He’s saying: if it were possible to fall away after experiencing all these things, it would be impossible to be restored—because it would require crucifying Jesus again. The argument isn’t that true believers will fall away, but that if they could, there’d be no remedy.
This interpretation is supported by what follows: “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation” (Hebrews 6:9). The author is confident his readers won’t fall away. He’s used the warning to shake them out of complacency, not to suggest they’re actually lost.
The Encouragement: God’s Faithful Promises
The chapter ends on a note of tremendous encouragement. God made a promise to Abraham and confirmed it with an oath—two unchangeable things by which it’s impossible for God to lie. This gives believers “strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (6:18).
That hope is described as: “A sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:19-20). What a picture. Our hope is anchored not in shifting circumstances but in the very presence of God, where Jesus has entered as our representative. He’s already there, behind the curtain, in the Holy of Holies. And because He’s there, we’re secure.
What This Means for Us
Spiritual maturity according to Hebrews 5-6 involves several things. It takes time—but time alone isn’t enough. You can be a Christian for decades and still be spiritually immature if you haven’t been growing. It requires effort. The sluggishness the author rebukes isn’t cognitive inability; it’s spiritual laziness. It produces discernment. The mature believer can distinguish good from evil, truth from error. It’s built on but moves beyond foundations. You never outgrow the Gospel—it remains central forever. But you should be going deeper into its implications. It’s sustained by hope. The mature believer isn’t tossed about by circumstances because their anchor is fixed in heaven, where Jesus is.
Conclusion
The call of Hebrews 5-6 is urgent: press on to maturity. Don’t be content with spiritual infancy. Don’t coast on what you learned years ago. Don’t let laziness rob you of the depths available in Jesus. Let’s not be satisfied with milk when there’s a feast awaiting us. Let’s train our discernment through constant practice. Let’s move beyond foundations to build lives that honour Jesus.
“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.” Hebrews 6:1
Bibliography
- Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 1990.
- Constable, Thomas L. “Notes on Hebrews.” Sonic Light, 2023.
- Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. The Messianic Jewish Epistles. Ariel Ministries, 2005.
- Guthrie, George H. Hebrews. NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan, 1998.
- Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Eerdmans, 1977.
- Kent, Homer A. Jr. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Baker, 1972.
- Lane, William L. Hebrews 1-8. Word Biblical Commentary. Word, 1991.
- MacArthur, John. Hebrews. MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Moody, 1983.
- Morris, Leon. Hebrews. Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Zondervan, 1981.
- Pentecost, J. Dwight. A Faith That Endures. Kregel, 2000.
