Letter to the Congregations: 29th August 2026

Our dear brethren,

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (Hebrews 5:12).

In this statement we get the obvious sense that the writer of the book of Hebrews is holding something back from the reader, from God’s people. And in fact that seems to be true, as he refers to the reader as “dull of hearing” in the previous verse, meaning they either can’t or won’t hear what he would have told them. This could be because they lack understanding or because they think they already know enough and don’t need to hear anything more. Or perhaps they feel like what their teacher has to tell them isn’t as important as what they want to be focusing on.

These are dangers that can come to God’s people. Not just in ancient times but more so in our modern times when knowledge truly abounds at a very swift pace. Have we become dull of hearing? Have we felt the pull of knowledge so strongly that we have skipped over the milk of the word in pursuit of what we think of as solid food? And what exactly is the “solid food” that we are supposed to be eating when all we can really digest is the milk?

Some may believe that the meat of the word, the solid food referred to here in Hebrews, is the knowledge of the events of prophecy unfolding. Many in the past have desired this knowledge and even tried to use this knowledge to determine more precisely when Jesus Christ will return. Others have determined this knowledge to be the understanding to be able to answer every single question about how life works for mankind and how the spiritual realm functions. And yet the writer of Hebrews leaves us with a different answer:

“For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 12:13-1).

The solid food we need is the pursuit of righteousness, the refined sense of what is good and what is evil based on the word of God rather than our own human instincts. The real meat of the word is the application of the word in our lives so we might escape sin and death and instead have eternal life and a relationship with our Creator and with our fellow brethren. The apostle Peter put it this way:

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:2-4).

In this same passage Peter urges God’s people forward in this pursuit of life and godliness by diligently adding to the knowledge we have the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit that is within us: “to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (2 Peter 1:6-7). He further explains that this is the “knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and if we lack this knowledge we are “shortsighted, even to blindness.”

To me this sounds like the real meat, the true solid food we need to be consuming. Other knowledge might be interesting and might even help boost our faith and trust in God and in His plans for us. But without this foundational knowledge we miss the point of our calling. Brethren, as much as depends on us, let’s consume this solid food, pursuing life and godliness as we seek to enter “the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (see 2 Peter 1:10-11).

Our love is with you,

Lewis VanAusdle

Pastor, United Church of God

NYC, NJ, CT, Malawi, Zimbabwe