Introduction
In this article—Growing Up Spiritually, we are considering the biblical doctrine of Christian’s spiritual growth. To begin with, the Christian life has a definite entryway. And, that entryway is a new birth. The new birth is a gracious, supernatural, and profound work which God does upon sinners to bring them to life spiritually. Just as birth is the entryway into the natural life, so also is the new birth the entryway into the life of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said in His conversation with Nicodemus, in John 3:3:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he CANNOT see the kingdom of God.” [Emphasis added]
Humans, apart from the grace of God, are spiritually dead—estranged from fellowship with God and void of the divine life (Ephesians 2:1). In this condition, we are incapable of understanding the truths of God or responding to Him or living according to His will. Therefore, when God wants to bring people into His life, He begins by taking them through the spiritual process of giving them a new birth. Through this supernatural work, God gives a new heart to the believer, which is able to understand and respond to His truths, imparts a new life to them, and place His Spirit within them. The persons who emerge from this supernatural work are like new born children.
This is why the apostle Peter used the metaphor of “new born babe” to describe those who newly believe and receive the regeneration work of God (1 Peter 2:2). Regardless of the age that a person believes and receives the regeneration work of God,—whether at age 20 or age 90, they are spiritual new born. Their vast knowledge and experiences concerning the natural life does not matter here. As far as the life in God is concerned, they are novices. The apostle Paul used this term “novice” in 1 Timothy 3:5-6 to describe new converts to the faith.
However, as Christians, we are called not only to believe in Jesus Christ but also to grow in Him. Spiritual growth is not optional for the believer. It is not a requirement for special believers. Spiritual growth is a necessity for every believer who desires to live a fruitful and victorious life. Just as parents have expectations for their children to grow, even so God our Father has expectations that we should grow spiritually. The Spirit of God, through the apostle Peter, reveals this profound expectation of God for us in 1 Peter 2:1–2:
1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”
What exactly does it mean that believers are growing up spiritually? Let’s dive into the study.
Related Article: Growing From Milk To Meat
The Metaphor of “Birth”
The phrase “newborn babes” in 1 Peter 2:2 is a metaphoric term that describes those who just came into salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. In the New Testament, the metaphor of “birth” is used to describe the gracious work of God by which He transforms spiritually dead, sinful people into spiritually alive and righteous people.
The concept of a new birth came directly from the conversation of the Lord Jesus Christ with Nicodemus in John chapter 3. Nicodemus, a foremost theologian and religious leader in Judaism, had gone to Jesus seeking the truth. In their conversation, Jesus unfolded a profound truth that entry into the kingdom of God—that is, the beautiful experience of a life that God rules over—was only possible through a new birth.
The new birth is not like the physical birth. It is a spiritual experience. In John 1:12-13, the apostle John, speaking about the emergence of the children of God listed three natural factors by which they are not born: blood, the will of the flesh, and the will of man. These three factors listed originate from humans. They are the factors that produce children after the flesh.
But unlike the natural birth, the new birth is completely spiritual, the work of God the Holy Spirit. In its essence, the new birth describes the spiritual heart transplant procedure which God does upon those who come to Him through faith in Christ, by which He makes them fit for the life in Him. God removes their old sinful heart, places a new heart within them, and fills them with His Spirit. God, through the Prophet Ezekiel, had foretold this profound work of grace right from the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36:26–27).
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
The end product of that spiritual surgical procedure is a totally new person inwardly. Apostle Paul captures this profound truth in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
The implication of the term “new”—from the Greek kainosis—is that the born-again person has never existed before; he is freshly made. It is as if a new child just got born into the family of God. While the outward looks of the born again person do not change, great and profound changes have occurred within the believer. Because of the new heart implanted in them, the born again person is able to understand and respond to divine truths, desire holiness, obey God’s Word, and relate with the Lord in a way that was impossible before being born again.
Growth is Expected
Nevertheless, being born again is not all there is to the Christian life. The new birth is only the introduction and induction into the life in God. The new birth sets our feet at the start line of the narrow path of eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14). But the actual journey is the journey of growing up spiritually.
The joy that parents have at the birth of a child cannot be accurately captured. The anxiety, anticipation, and agony of nine months of pregnancy are soon forgotten, replaced by joy and excitement. I remember how I felt when my daughter—our first child—was born. The joy was indescribable. As I carried her in my arms, I felt a deep emotion. i was awed that this beautiful creature came out of the bodies of my wife and I.
However that joy will soon turn to sorrow, anxiety, and deep concern if, when the child ought to be growing and manifesting signs of maturing, he or she is unable to. Every parent expects their child to grow. And this is true also of Christian life. Through the working of God’s grace, we have been born again. However, our Father expects that we should grow (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:11-18).
What Does Growing Up Spiritually Mean?
Basically, growing up spiritually describes the process of moving from spiritual infancy to maturity in Christ. Growing up spiritually is the process of becoming more like Jesus in character, worldview, and lifestyle. Growing up spiritually entails putting away immature ways of thinking and living and embracing maturity in faith. The repetition of “growing up spiritually” in this paragraph is deliberate, for emphasis sake.
The apostle Paul captured what this transition looks like in 1 Corinthians 13:11:
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.” [AMPC]
In the same way, growing up spiritually means outgrowing and putting away childish behaviors—such as spiritual laziness, selfishness, or lack of commitment—and embracing maturity in Christ.
Growing up spiritually is the process of increasingly becoming like Christ. The apostle Paul expressed this meaning of spiritual growth in Galatians 4:19:
“My little children, I am in pain again over you, like a mother giving birth. I will feel this pain until people can look at you and see Christ.” [Easy-To-Read Version, Emphasis added]
Spiritual growth is not just about religious activities but the transformation of the believer’s character, worldviews, and lifestyle. It is about increasingly conforming to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is the will of God that we should be conformed to Christ, the firstborn Son and the model Son (Romans 8:29). As we behold Christ in the Scripture, we see who we ought to be—in speech, thought, behavior, etc. And the Holy Spirit changes us to that image. Christ is the metric for measuring spiritual growth (Ephesians 4:13).
Firstly, God saves us as we were—unruly, stingy, lazy, etc. Then He starts to mold us, through His Word and His Spirit, into the image of Christ, to make us fitting for the life He has called us to. Spiritual growth is that we are increasingly reflecting externally the changes happening inside us by the inworking of the Holy Spirit.
Why Spiritual Growth Matters
Scripture will not insist on believers growing up spiritually if it is not very beneficial. Spiritual growth benefits both the Father and the believer. In this section, we are going to see just a few of the benefits growing up spiritually.
It is the Evidence of the Divine Life in Us
Growth indicates the presence of life, even in natural life. What is dead does not grow. Scripture is very emphatic on the presence and indwelling of the life of God—eternal life—within believers. Eternal life is not a reward that we will get in heaven; it is a present reality for believers. We possess eternal life already (1 John 5:11-13). One of the proofs of the operation of the divine life in us is that we are growing up spiritually, increasingly and consistently manifesting mature character and lifestyle according to the standard of Christ.
Growing Up Spiritually is the key to knowing God more intimately
One very vital aspect of our spiritual growth as Christians is growing in the knowledge of God. The apostle Peter says:
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” (2 Peter 3:18)
This also means that spiritual growth is measurable. Individual Christians can know whether we are really growing up spiritually or not, by checking our intake and assimilation of the Word of God. The more we grow in the knowledge of God, through His word (the Bible), the deeper we can grow in our intimacy with God. It begins as information that we interact with through the Bible, then progresses into personal, practical, experiential, and living knowledge, which influences and shapes our daily lives.
Growing Up Spiritually is the key to Spiritual Stability
In Ephesians 4:14, the apostle Paul connects spiritual stability to growing up spiritually. He writes:
“…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
A spiritually immature Christian is unstable, easily swayed by every temptation, trial, and wind of doctrine. But spiritual maturity makes us stable, enabling us to discern and resist errors and sin, and to remain steadfast in faith.
Growing Up Spiritually is the key to Fruifulness
Fruitfulness is essential to the Christian life. It is an evidence of the presence and operation of the the life of God within believers. Fruitfulness glorifies God. The Lord Jesus Christs says:
“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:8)
However, we can only be fruitful to the degree of our spiritual growth. The more we are growing spiritually, the more our capacity to yield spiritual fruits—love, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, service, honor—increases. These fruits become clear evidence that Christ lives and works in us.
Growing Up Spiritually is the key to Fulfilling God’s Purposes
God has specific works for each believer to do. Ephesians 2:10 calls believers God’s workmanship, created for the good works that God ordained beforehand that we should walk in. But God cannot entrust responsibilities to us beyond our level of spiritual maturity, lest we ruin His works and represent Him wrongly to the world. Therefore, spiritual growth is a requisite condition to serve God and walk in His divine plan.
How to Grow Up Spiritually
The new birth is automatic, a sovereign work of God. But spiritual growth is not automatic. We get born again in a single moment of faith, but growing up spiritually is a lifelong journey in which divine sovereignty and human responsibility must collaborate. In other words, spiritual growth happens through the synergy of supplies of divine grace and the believer’s hunger for growth and intentional actions. Believers must take advantage of God’s gracious provisions for our growth, working with them to assure our growth.
We will consider just three here.
Feeding Constantly and Consistently on the Word
The word of God is food for our born again spirit. The degree to which we feed on Scripture—through reading and hearing—is the degree to which we can grow. Not reading and hearing the word of God is starving our born again spirit. Paul declares to the elders of the church at Ephesus:
“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32)
God’s part is to supply His word, which He has done in giving us the Bible and teachers of His Word. It is our responsibility to give ourselves to receiving the Word through private reading, and private and corporate hearing of the teaching of the Word.
Cultivate a Strong Prayer Culture
Prayer is a vital means of building up our spiritual life. Jude 1:20 says,
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
Prayer—especially one done in a state of yieldedness to the influence of the Holy Spirit—impacts greatly on our spiritual life. God sanctifies us through prayer. In the prayer, the Spirit of God brings areas of our lives that are not yet right to our attention in order that we can talk to God about it. In the place of prayer, God makes tremendous supplies of grace and strength to us to live according to His will.
But, while God has opened a new and living way through Christ for us to access His holy presence and commune and communicate with Him, it is our responsibility to really pray. God will not pray for us!
Fellowship with Believers
Spiritual growth happens within the community of believers, not in isolation. The believers’ community is one of God’s wisdoms and strategies to sharpen us and beat us into shape. As Proverbs 27:17 says, believers, like irons, sharpens one another. There is love, care, oversight, stirring up, teaching, rebuke, correction, and intercession to be received in the company of other believers.
Therefore, Scripture, in Hebrews 10:24, sternly warns us against neglecting the assembling together of one another. The believer who walks in isolation is depriving his or her souls of the necessary supplies that should have make them better and stronger.
Final Thoughts
God has not called us into a life of knowing Him only, He has also called us into a life of growing up spiritually. As any natural parent expects that their children grow up to maturity, in the same way our spiritual Father by grace through faith expects of every Christian to grow up spiritually.
Growing up spiritually means moving from spiritual infancy to maturity in Christ. This, as we have seen, is necessary because it proves that the life of God is in us, it is the key to increased intimacy with the Father, it is the key to spiritual stability, it is the key to fruitfulness, and it is the key to fulfilling God’s purposes.
And, while the new birth is automatic, spiritual growth is not. Spiritual growth happens through the desire and intentional effort of the believer, using all of God’s provisions of grace to produce growth. We must constantly and consistently feed on the Word of God, cultivate a strong prayer culture, and immerse ourselves in the company of other believers. As we cooperate with God through the means He has provided for our growth, growing up spiritually becomes an inevitable result.
Therefore, I encourage you today dear reader, make that decision to plug into all of what God has supplied through Jesus Christ to work out your growth. There is more for you in God than remaining a mere babe in Him.
If God has blessed you through this article, I ask just one favor of you: help me share this message to your social platforms so that it can reach and bless more people.
