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Give the sense so that the word spoken shall minister to the edifying of the hearer.
See to it that the great foundation be well laid, but remember also to lead your hearers
on "unto perfection", "not laying again the foundation."
#16.
"I have fed you with milk, and not with meat"
(I Cor. 3: 2).
pp. 226, 227
While it is necessary to heed the words: "not laying again the foundation", the
principle involved in the passage quoted at the head of this article is also of great
importance. The spirit manifested in John 16: 12 must ever be with the teacher:--
"I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now."
The full passage of I Cor. 3: 2 is very similar:--
"I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it,
neither yet now are ye able."
It was because of this that the apostle said that he:--
"Determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified
. . . . . howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect" (I Cor. 2: 2, 6).
When the Corinthians objected to the withholding of the more advanced truth, the
apostle replied:--
"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God" (I Cor. 4: 1).
A steward must be faithful, and if in the faithful exercise of his commission as a
dispenser of the truth some should attempt to judge him adversely, such judgment will
be considered "a very small thing" as compared with the judgment of the Lord
(I Cor. 4: 3, 4).
To continue the use of "milk" unduly, however, is a sign of retrogression (Heb. 5: 12,
13): those who seek to go on unto perfection need something more. Peter says:--
"As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may GROW thereby"
(I Pet. 2: 2).