What is the Mark of a Mature Christian?
Selected from our Questions and Answers program
A: Peter says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (
1 Peter 2:2). And then we’re told, “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (
2 Peter 3:18). How do you grow? Well, the only way is in the Word of God. We’re told to study it, we’re told to meditate upon it. Therefore, the difference between a mature Christian and a babe in Christ is that a mature Christian should know the Word of God. He should be conversant with the Word of God. It doesn’t mean that he’s to have a so-called spiritual vocabulary. May I speak very frankly? I am sick and tired of listening to people who have a pious vocabulary. They have a great deal of verbiage but very little knowledge of the Word of God. It’s time we get away from all this pious drivel that we hear today and get right down to the Word of God. The only way you can grow up from babyhood spiritually to a full maturation is by study of the Word of God. Again and again and again that is mentioned in both the Old Testament and the New. We can’t get too much of it, friends. And we’re getting so precious little of it today in the church and on the radio. The Bible is made up of 66 books, and you can’t just draw out here and there a few little nice, sweet verses that you want to use and that comfort you. They’re there and they should be used, but there are also some other verses there and some other books in the Bible. We’re to grow in knowledge of the
entire Word of God. Let me say the thing that I keep repeating: The greatest sin in the church is ignorance of the Word of God.
