As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 2)

As grace believers, what is our primary objective? (Part 2)

Start this series of posts with: Part 1

In the first part of this series, I motivated the fact that the single most important thing to do, after getting saved, is to spend time in the Word of God and gain the knowledge of the Word rightly divided. In upcoming parts, I will also deal with points instructing why this is important, what happens when we do, and God’s will and purpose for us in doing this.

In this post I want to focus on what is milk and what is meat. As previously mentioned, a babe in Christ cannot be fed meat. So, it becomes really important to know what milk is in the Word, and where we will find the solid food. In this regard, we will find that God’s Word is so perfectly designed. As with the nine Hebrew epistles, Hebrews to Revelation, Paul’s nine church epistles to the Gentiles are also arranged in a form of curriculum, starting with Romans to 2-Thessalonians. It shouldn’t be surprising to note that these Gentile letters, for us in this dispensation of grace, start with a letter called Romans and the Jewish letters, for the Jewish believers in the tribulation, start with a letter called Hebrews. God could not have made this distinction clearer.

As a believer in the dispensation of grace, the knowledge that we need to gain, and practice, is found in Romans to 2-Thessalonians. The milk is in Romans to Galatians. The meat is in Ephesians to 2-Thessalonians. Please note that I do not dismiss the letters of 1-Timothy to Philemon. Nothing in God’s Word is to be taken for granted and all the Bible is for our learning. Paul’s last four letters are addressed to individuals rather than the church in general. They contain invaluable content, specifically for ministers and for church governing, which are written in a more personal context.

So, why is Romans to Galatians the milk?

These four letters deal with the foundational aspects of the gospel, of grace, and of identification with Christ. Romans contains cornerstone concepts that lays the foundation of our faith and relationship with God. Corinthians and Galatians provides examples of what happens when one violates the cornerstone concepts. These are letters that reprove and correct these churches for being too carnal under God’s grace or being too religious under the law. Romans to Galatians settles us in faith and establishes us in correct principles of grace.

Why is Ephesians to 2-Thessalonians the meat?

Paul called the Corinthians babes in Christ. He called the Galatians his little children who still needed to be established in the faith. It is when we get to Ephesians that he instructs us to grow up in Christ and it is in Philippians and Colossians that he encourages the churches to press on into sonship and walk worthy of God. These letters do not focus on the gospel or foundational concepts. Rather, they focus on service, on enduring persecution, on patience in waiting for our great hope. They teach the believer to look up towards an eternal vocation, a high calling in God and on attaining perfection in Christ. The contents in these letters are not meant for babes or children. One first needs to be settled in faith before one can start to mature into the deeper purposes of God.

If you look at the picture provided in this post, you will see an overview of the grace curriculum. Just like in mathematics, where one needs to learn the ‘times-tables’ first before going into algebra, geometry and trigonometry, in our spiritual curriculum, we need to learn Romans first. After this we must learn discipline from Corinthians and Galatians so that we fully understand grace and do not diverge into the flesh or the law. Continuing into Ephesians and beyond brings us to our true purpose in the Body of Christ. Becoming sons and understanding the mind, the will, and the desires of God, having that knowledge and judgement shape our thinking and living and forming Christ within us, is where God needs us to be.

It is in upcoming parts of this series where I will discuss how valuable and important knowledge of God’s Word becomes to get us to the levels of growth and understanding which God desires for us. This is the curriculum we need to be aware of. This is the knowledge and the growth that we need to attain and that will set us up for positions of glory in the ages to come.

I encourage you to follow this series and allow it to motivate you into the value and importance of the written Word and its purpose in our lives.

See also this YouTube Video on the topic, and more  here: 

https://thebigpicturelink.blogspot.com/2023/03/pauls-curriculum-for-maturing-in-spirit.html