Hebrews: Dull of Hearing and Needing Infant Milk
Hebrews 5:11-14 - Can you teach the basic principles of the Christian faith or are you still in the kindergarten class of Sunday School?
“Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”
Hebrews 5:11-14 NASB1995
Another warning to the intended audience of Hebrews (and us as believers) now appears at the end of Chapter 5. We have read the warnings about taking heed to not become like the unbelieving Israelites in Hebrews 2 and we are warned to not miss being in His rest in Hebrews 4. This warning, about mental dullness and an unwillingness to learn or even to regress in our Christian understanding, continues into chapter 6. The author of Hebrews wants to explore the eternal priesthood of Jesus and Melchizedek, with some weight theological connections, but he realizes that the wavering believers he is addressing are probably not ready for that yet, because they have become dulled to the Word of God.
Enduring Word has good commentary on verse 11:
a. Since you have become dull of hearing: This explains why the writer didn’t go deeper into the topic of Melchizedek right away. He wanted to address some critical basics before going on to more intricate topics, but their spiritual condition made it hard to explain.
i. He feared the discussion of Aaron and Melchizedek and Jesus would sound too academic and theoretical to his readers. At the same time, he recognized this said more about his dull hearers than it did about the message. It wasn’t that the message was too complicated; it was that the hearers were dull of hearing.
ii. Being dull of hearing is not a problem with the ears, but a problem with the heart. The hearer isn’t really interested in what God has to say. Not wanting to hear the Word of God points to a genuine spiritual problem. It can even be a reason for unanswered prayer, according to Proverbs 28:9: One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
iii. These Christians who felt like giving up with Jesus were also dull of hearing. The dullness usually comes first, then the desire to give up. When the Word of God starts to seem dull, we should regard it as a serious warning sign.
b. You have become dull of hearing: The word “become” is important. It indicates that they didn’t start out as dull of hearing, but became that way. Therefore the writer to the Hebrews warns them again.
i. Hebrews is a book filled with warnings. These discouraged Christians need to be encouraged and comforted and taught, but they also needed to be warned. They need to be reminded of the consequences of departing from Jesus.
They say that confession is good for the soul and for developing a life of righteousness. I have a confession to make about the book of Hebrews. I admit that I have wearied just a wee tiny bit from the repetition that fills this epistle. I understand perfectly well the reasons for that repetition, but when garnering insights for devotionals every other day, I find that I am seeing the same or similar explanations from many Biblical scholars.
When I used to read the Bible in One Year Plan, I would bet I suffered from MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) going through Hebrews without any explanations or limited commentary, which is why I wanted to start diving into various books of the Bible in this fashion for these devotionals, so that I could graduate from infant level to at least early childhood spiritually. Also, because of the way this book is written, I am pretty convinced at this point that Paul did not author it, because of his more engaging use of language in his known epistles (although Paul does have run-on sentences quite often or perhaps those were the creation of the various translations).
So this warning slapped me in the face! I became “dull of hearing” when the references to the Israelites in Exodus and the various Psalms and Melchizedek were repeated. Now I’m awake again and find this warning in particular to be very relevant to a 21st-century Christian, who is surrounded by endless distractions that dull the sharpness of the Word of God.
So how do we become dull or lethargic towards the Word of God? Precept Austin has conveniently created a list of the ways that this can happen (I find this to be very useful):
Neglect of Regular Intake
Just as the body weakens without food, the soul grows dull without consistent Scripture.
Skipping time in the Word “once in a while” easily becomes a pattern of neglect.
Preoccupation with the World
Distractions, pleasures, and the pressures of life (Luke 8:14) choke the Word.
When our hearts are filled with lesser voices, the voice of God grows faint.
Unconfessed Sin
Sin tolerated dulls spiritual appetite. Guilt and hardness of heart close the ears (Heb 3:13).
Psalm 66:18: “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
Hearing Without Obeying
James 1:22 warns against being hearers only. When truth is heard but not applied, the heart becomes calloused.
Disobedience desensitizes us to God’s voice.
Spiritual Complacency
Drifting is easy (Heb 2:1). At first subtle, it leads to entrenched dullness.
We stop hungering and thirsting for righteousness, (Mt 5:6) and start coasting, assuming we “know enough.”
What’s are the Antidotes?
Feed Daily: Stay in the Word even when you don’t “feel” like it. Appetite grows by eating.
Stay Soft: Keep short accounts with God—confess sin quickly.
Be a Doer: Apply Scripture, don’t just collect knowledge.
Stay Watchful: Recognize drift early; fight spiritual laziness with discipline and delight.
The warning in these verses gets stronger. Not only are the uncertain believers dull in their hearts and hearing, but they should be capable of being teachers of the basic principles of their faith by this point in their spiritual journey. Instead, they are like infants and need the basics fed to them like milk; they are not accustomed to the word of righteousness. To feed them the mature solid food would be a mistake, because only the mature can discern good from evil. The believers have regressed in their spiritual growth.
Enduring Word commentary is really good, again (this is a bit lengthy):
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;
a. By this time: According to the time they had been followers of Jesus, they should have been much more mature than they were.
b. You ought to be teachers: It wasn’t that these were unique people who should hold a unique role of teaching. Instead, they ought to be teachers in the sense that every Christian should be a teacher.
i. There is an important sense in which every Christian must be a teacher, because we can all help disciple others. We really only master something after we have effectively taught it to someone else. Teaching is the final step of learning.
c. You need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God: This isn’t to their credit. It isn’t that the first principles are “beneath” the mature Christian. Rather, the sense is that one should be able to teach one’s self, and remind one’s self of these first principles of the oracles of God.
…
And you have come to need milk and not solid food. 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.
a. And you have come to need milk: Milk corresponds to the first principles of Hebrews 5:12. Solid food is the “meatier” material such as understanding the connection between Jesus and Melchizedek. It isn’t that milk is bad; but these Christians should have added solid food to their diet. Peter reminds us all as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).
b. For he is a babe: In the ancient Greek, the sense of this phrase is for he has become a babe (Newell). There is nothing more delightful than a true babe in Jesus. But there is nothing more irritating and depressing than someone who should be mature but who has become a babe.
i. Have you become a babe? Perhaps your Christian life is unstable. Babies are handed from one person to another, and spiritual babes are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14-16).
ii. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are divisive in your Christian life. Babies each have their own crib that they stick to, and spiritual babes have their particular denomination or church that they think of as “my church.”
iii. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are star-struck by Christian celebrities of one kind or another. Babies are focused on one particular person (their mother), and spiritual babes glory in men (I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, as in 1 Corinthians 1:12).
iv. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are spiritually asleep. Babies need a lot of sleep, and spiritual babes spend much time spiritually asleep.
v. Have you become a babe? Perhaps you are fussy and cranky with others. Babies can be cranky, and spiritual babes will fuss over any little thing.
c. Is unskilled in the word of righteousness: Those who have become babes reveal themselves because they are unskilled in the word of righteousness. We don’t expect brand new Christians to be skilled in the word of righteousness, but those who have been Christians for a time should be.
d. Who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil: Our senses are exercised (trained by practice and habit) to discern both good and evil (primarily doctrinally, more than morally). Our senses become exercised when we use them (by reason of use). When we decide to use discernment, we mature.
i. “We may sharpen our senses by use. When I was in the tea-trade, my sense of touch and taste and smell became acute to discern quite minute differences. We need a similar acuteness in discerning good and evil.” (Meyer)
ii. These Christians demonstrated immaturity by both their lack of discernment between good and evil and in their contemplation of giving up with Jesus. The mature Christian is marked by their discernment and by their unshakable commitment to Jesus Christ.
iii. Vincent on good and evil: “Not moral good and evil, but wholesome and corrupt doctrine. The implication is that the readers’ condition is such as to prevent them from making this distinction.”
iv. The ability to discern is a critical measure of spiritual maturity. Babies will put anything in their mouth. Spiritual babes are weak in discernment, and will accept any kind of spiritual food.
e. Have their senses exercised: It can be said that all five human senses have their spiritual counterparts.
i. We have a spiritual sense of taste: If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious (1 Peter 2:3). Taste and see that the LORD is good! (Psalm 34:8)
ii. We have a spiritual sense of hearing: Hear and your soul shall live (Isaiah 55:3). He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Revelation 2:7).
iii. We have a spiritual sense of sight: Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law (Psalm 119:18). The eyes of your understanding (heart) being enlightened (Ephesians 1:18).
iv. We have a spiritual sense of smell: He shall be of quick scent in the fear of the LORD (Isaiah 11:3, RV margin). I am full, having received from… you, a sweet-smelling aroma (Philippians 4:18).
v. We have a spiritual sense of touch or feeling: Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the LORD (2 Kings 22:19). The hardening of their heart; who being past feeling, have given themselves over to licentiousness (Ephesians 4:18-19).
Have you become a baby again in your beliefs? David Guzik identifies these things that lead to regression in our spiritual sanctification:
Your Christian life is unstable. You are hearing many different doctrines and being tossed back and forth.
Your Christian life is divisive. You stick to your denomination and consider all others to be “unworthy”. This is the opposite of the unstable position, but we can get stovepiped so deeply into a denomination that we find ourselves fighting with other Christians about things that are secondary or even tertiary precepts of our salvation.
Your Christian life is spiritually asleep, like the infant who needs lots of physical sleep.
Your Christian life is fussy and cranky towards others, expecting every need to be met rather than extending grace.
Your Christian life is focused on celebrities (famous pastors, worship music composers) rather than on mature doctrine.
Remember, babies will put anything in their mouths!
I also like the references to the five senses that we should have as discerning believers. Discerning good from evil spiritually (and morally) requires these heightened senses. Also, it is an important point to know that teaching is the final step of learning. And I am learning while I teach!
I’ll end this with more from the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, as quoted in Precept Austin:
A child is a very beautiful object, an infant is one of the loveliest sights under heaven; but if, after twenty years, your child was still an infant, it would be a dreadful trial to you. We must keep on growing till we come to the stature of men in Christ Jesus. The babe is perfect in its measure, but it is not perfectly perfect. Those limbs must expand; the little hand must get a wider grasp; the trembling feet must become strong pillars for ripening manhood; the man must swell, and grow, and expand, and enlarge, and be consolidated. Now when we are born to God, we have all the parts of the advanced Christian. Faith, hope, love, patience,—they are all there, but they are all little, all in miniature, and they must all grow; and he is of full age whose faith is vigorous, whose love is inflamed, whose patience is constant, whose hope is bright, who has every grace, in full fashion. The full-grown man is stronger than the babe. His sinews are knit; his bones have become more full of solid material; they are no longer soft and cartilaginous, there is more solid matter in them. So with the advanced Christian; he is no longer to be bent about and twisted; his bones are as iron, and his muscles as steel; he moves himself in stately paces, neither does he need any upon whom to lean. He can plough the soil, or reap the corn; deeds that were impossible to infancy are simplicities to the full-grown man. (Strong Meat)
These words also apply to the stature of women in Christ Jesus; we, too can grow stronger in Christ and model mature faith, hope, love, patience, gentleness, kindness, joy, faithfulness, and self-control.
My next devotional examines Hebrews 6:1-3 - Pressing on to maturity.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please forgive me for having momentary dullness of hearing and heart when it came to the necessary repetition in the book of Hebrews. Help me to strive for maturity in my faith and be able to learn from the more difficult precepts. Amen.
Credits and Citations:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org
Precept Austin was accessed on 11/21/2025 to review commentary for Hebrews 5:11-14.
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com
Within the Enduring Word Commentary:
Newell, William R. Hebrews Verse by Verse (Chicago: Moody Press, 1947
Meyer, F.B. The Way Into the Holiest: Expositions of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: Christian Literature Crusade, 1982)
Vincent, Marvin R. Vincent’s Word Studies of the New Testament, Volume IV (McLean, Virginia: MacDonald, ?)