Read & explore together
Milk and Solid Food
These verses use the picture of food and growth to challenge listeners who have stopped making progress. The writer explains why some teaching feels hard to grasp and calls for maturity in hearing, learning and discernment.
Understanding the passage
The setting of these words
In this part of the letter, the writer pauses to comment on the listeners themselves. The issue is not that God’s revelation is lacking, but that they have become dull of hearing. The passage compares early instruction to milk and mature understanding to solid food.
Hebrews 5:11–14Main takeaway
This passage teaches that the hearers should grow from basic instruction towards maturity, shown by use and by discerning good and evil.
Follow the letter’s teaching
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A hearing problemThe writer says there is much more to explain, yet it is hard to interpret because the hearers have become dull of hearing.
Explanation
The writer says there is much more to explain, yet it is hard to interpret because the hearers have become dull of hearing. The problem named here is not silence from God, but a sluggish response in those listening. The passage begins with a warning about how they are receiving instruction.
02Back to the basics againBy this time, the listeners should already be teaching others, yet they need someone to teach them again.
Explanation
By this time, the listeners should already be teaching others, yet they need someone to teach them again. The writer calls these basics the rudiments of the first principles of the revelations of God. Milk pictures early, simple instruction, while solid food pictures teaching for those who should be further along.
03Milk as a picture of immaturityThe image is explained more fully in the next verse. A person living on milk is described as not experienced in the word of righteousness, like a baby.
Explanation
The image is explained more fully in the next verse. A person living on milk is described as not experienced in the word of righteousness, like a baby. The comparison focuses on lack of experience and immaturity, not on milk being bad. The concern is staying at the earliest stage.
04Solid food and trained discernmentSolid food belongs to those who are full grown. Their maturity is shown by use: their senses have been exercised to discern good and evil.
Explanation
Solid food belongs to those who are full grown. Their maturity is shown by use: their senses have been exercised to discern good and evil. Growth here includes practice, not just information. The passage joins understanding, habit and moral discernment as marks of maturity.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01According to verse 11, why does the writer say the teaching is hard to interpret?
Look for the reason given in the verse itself: the difficulty is connected to the hearers becoming dull of hearing.
02What contrast does the writer make between milk and solid food?
Notice that milk is linked with needing the first principles again, while solid food is linked with being full grown.
03How does verse 14 describe mature people?
The verse points to repeated use and exercised senses, leading to discernment of good and evil.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Hebrews 5:11–14
11About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing.
12For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the revelations of God. You have come to need milk, and not solid food.
13For everyone who lives on milk is not experienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby.
14But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.