As we go through the epistle of 1 Peter, he’s now beginning a new line of thought. He was showing us how to seek a mature love that flows from godliness. He will continue that thought later on in this letter.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
1 Peter 2:2-3 NIV
He now tells those he’s writing to, to crave pure spiritual milk. He makes it obvious that he’s talking to spiritual babies here.
But that brings up some questions. What is a spiritual baby? What is spiritual milk? We need to understand these terms to move forward.
First let me say that being a spiritual baby is not a bad thing. We all need to start our walk with Christ in that way. However, staying a baby is not a good thing.
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3a NIV
Notice the key word in this verse – worldly. This Greek word for worldly literally means flesh driven. Therefore, spiritual babies are flesh driven Christians. This means that they are motivated by their desires.
They only serve Christ as far as they WANT to. When it comes to the things of God, you hear them say things like, “I don’t feel like it.” or “I would rather do something else right now.”
The writer of Hebrews had to deal with the same type of people.
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
Hebrews 5:12 NIV
He found that these spiritual babies could not handle the deeper teachings in Christ. He goes on to explain it in this way…
Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:13-14 NIV
He gives a fuller description of the spiritual baby. We’re told that those who want milk are literally ignorant of the word of righteousness. What the writer of Hebrews is actually saying here is that baby Christians ignore righteousness.
He tells us that mature believers, on the other hand, have taken their perception, and through practice have exercised it. “It” being righteousness. This spiritual exercise is for a purpose.
By doing so, they can distinguish good from evil. This literally means that they can determine what is beautiful and valuable vs. what’s worthless and hurtful to themselves and others.
The fact is that a baby, no matter how many times they get burned, will try to touch a flame. A spiritual baby, no matter how much they lose out with God, will continue to seek out the world.
I’ll continue this thought in my next post.
Question: What do you see as your spiritual level of maturity?
© 2025 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 