Lesson 8
Hebrews 5:11-14 New King James Version
11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the [b]oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are [c]of full age, that is, those who by reason of [d]use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
No first impression this week as we read it the week before.
Hard to explain – Is it only hard to explain since they have become dull of hearing?
My goal was to get a split of responses, but in reality, the material is a little complex to begin with. The big gap in education is that you cannot teach anyone who is not wiling to learn. Our kids need to be encouraged to want to learn, and some things may need negative reinforcement.
Teach you again the first principles – Explain the message
These will be short responses, but these four questions took us over an hour to work through. This one probably the longest as we talked though the differences of basics, milk, and solid food. Learning to be like Christ is a process. ‘You cannot be saved from sin if you do not know what sin is’ feels like a basic. ‘How to love others’ seems like milk. ‘How to deny self’ seems like solid food, if not super chewy that takes forever to be able to swallow.
By reason of use have their senses exercised to discern – What does this mean?
We focused on how you learn by doing. Once you have learned what it means to discern the call of God to two equal seeming paths, it is easier to hear Him the second, and third times. Many things seem good, but only one (the best) is the narrow path we are called to.
Good and evil – What again is the difference?
So, Eve and Adam ate of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. One theory is that all people through this original sin know innately the difference between good and evil. But sometimes we get into the middle of a situation, and it can be hard to tell the difference between two options. State’s rights good, slavery bad. (I kept rambling, but deleted it all) to end with the simple statement that discernment takes practice.