p. 565 | THE MILK OF THE WORD by Tyron Edwards

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 15, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 36.

THE MILK OF THE WORD.

By Tyron Edwards

It seems to be a common impression that the "strong meat" of the gospel refers to its great evangelical doctrines, and that the "milk of the word" has reference to its duties. And this appears to be the idea, not only of ordinary readers of the New Testament, but of not a few intelligent and thoughtful divines and scholars. Quite recently the writer has seen articles from two prominent ministers, one of whom says, that as a safeguard against heresy, "our congregations need to be fed with the strong meat of the word—to be more thoroughly taught its great doctrines," while the other speaks of the preaching of doctrine as "giving strong meat to the people," both thus implying that "the milk of the word" has reference to the duties enjoined in the gospel. But is not the very reverse of this the fact? Does not the milk of the word refer to the great doctrines that lie at the very foundation of its duties, and without which duty cannot be known, and the strong meat to the duties which are so hard to be performed, even when they are fully known and understood? Let us look a moment and see.

The word "milk," referring to the teachings of the gospel, is found in the New Testament in only three instances. One is in 1 Peter 2:2, where it is not used in contrast to "strong meat," as it is in the epistles to the Corinthians and the Hebrews, but simply in reference to the nourishing quality of all the divine teachings as laying the foundation for Christian growth. In the other two cases (1 Cor. 3:2, and Heb. 5:12, 13), the "milk" is spoken of as in contrast to the "strong meat." In the former case the apostle presses on the Corinthians the duties of the Christian life, on the ground that he had previously taught them the great doctrines of Christ, feeding them with the latter as with the milk of the word. In the latter he makes plain that by the milk he meant the great doctrines of the gospel, for he expressly mentions, as the very foundation of the Christian life, the doctrines of repentance and faith, and the washings of baptism and regeneration, and the laying on of hands as conferring the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the resurrection of the dead, and the final Judgment. And this order of thought is just what we might naturally expect, for the very foundation of Christian character is truth or doctrine, taught and believed, before it can have reared on it the superstructure of duty; and we cannot know what is duty till we first know the truth that lies at its foundation and indicates it to us. Duty not resting on doc-

trine is but mere worldly morality, and doctrine not issuing in duty is but a lifeless orthodoxy—a faith without works, being dead, like that of devils, who believe while they tremble.—Tyron Edwards, D. D., in New York Observer.