¹ Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Maturity means moving beyond the basics. The foundation is important, to be sure. How could a godly Christian say that “teaching about the Christ” is not relevant? The Son of God is absolutely central to all of the Christian life—the whole letter to the Hebrews makes that point. However, the “elementary” teachings of Christ have not paved the way to the deeper teachings of Christ. Remember, the writer spoke of wanting to teach about Melchizedek (5:6, 9-10) and how that elucidates Christ to us, but the readers were not ready for such deeper teaching.

Judging by the response many Christians have when the name Melchizedek is mentioned, one would assume that most are not mature—according to the terms laid out in our passage! The connection between this Old Testament personage and Jesus Christ is huge—in fact Psalm 110, which teaches about Melchizedek, is the most quoted Old Testament chapter in the New Testament. D.A. Carson says that this individual is “one of the most instructive figures in the entire Bible for seeing clearly who Jesus is.”

We need to press on, not to remain at the infant stage of our understanding and spiritual walk. Too many Christians are content with eating low hanging fruit, that which doesn’t take much effort. Their daily bread consists of easy pablum, predigested and spoon fed. Maturity comes from digging deeper, working our minds and souls, studying, and I mean really studying the Word. Someone has once said that God is not in the business of communicating deeper truths to lazy Christians.

So what are the basics? Well, to begin with, turning from a religious spirituality centered on our own human efforts to exercising faith “toward God.” Our orientation has changed from being man-centered, to God-centered. That is basic, that is foundational, that is elementary. Certainly, it is eternally better to be an immature Christian, than to not be a Christian at all. To be sure, don’t mistake me here, as Christians we have been born again; we were once dead in our works, but now alive in our faith. We are new creatures in Christ. The old has passed away, the new has come.

But, now that we are inside the family of God, it is tragic to remain immature. The Christian life is more than the salvation experience itself. The new birth must give way to continuous new growth. And for that, we must press on.