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In the life aspect of the full salvation prepared by God for us, the transformation in life which we experience spontaneously causes us to grow in the spiritual life unto maturity. Thus, our experience also enters into the aspect of maturity in the growth of life.
The meaning of the word “mature” in Greek is “at the end point.” When the word is used to describe organisms, it denotes completion, full growth, and maturity. This word is used many times in the New Testament, referring to the believers’ being full-grown, mature, and perfected in the life of God, which they receive at the time of regeneration. It indicates that although we receive the life of God when we are regenerated, after regeneration we still need to grow and mature unto perfection in this life.
1) “...have become those who have need of milk and not of solid food. For everyone who partakes of milk...he is a babe; but solid food is for the mature” (Heb. 5:12-14).
These verses show us our need to grow and mature in the spiritual life. If we do not grow and mature, we will remain in the childish stage, unable to comprehend God’s word of righteousness, which is like solid food. Hence, like the Hebrew believers in the early days, we will be unable to comprehend the revelation of God’s deeper word and thus be unable to participate in God’s New Testament economy. The wisdom in God’s economy can be spoken only to the full-grown (1 Cor. 2:6). To enter into God’s New Testament economy, into God’s eternal plan, requires that we grow and mature in the life of God.
2) “At a full-grown man...that we may be no longer babes tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error” (Eph. 4:13-14).
After our regeneration as believers, although we may no longer be newborns in the life of God, we still may be babes, easily tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, deceived and led in craftiness with a view to a system of error, being tricked by Satan. We need to grow and mature in order, on the positive side, to comprehend the revelation of God and to know His economy and plan, and on the negative side, to not be deceived or tricked by Satan.
1) “Whom [Christ] we [the apostles] announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ” (Col. 1:28); “Who [a co-worker of the apostle]... always struggling on your behalf in prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12).
In the Greek text, the word “stand” in the second verse is in the passive voice, meaning “placed,” or “presented and displayed,” which corresponds to the word “present” in the first verse. These two verses in the book of Colossians show us that the laboring of the apostles in Christ for the believers and their struggling in prayers for them are all for the believers’ growth and maturity, that they may be presented and displayed full-grown and mature before Christ.
1) “You, therefore, shall be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).
The word “therefore” at the beginning of this verse indicates that this word is the conclusion of the law of the new life in the kingdom’s constitution, which the Lord decreed in the preceding text, verses 17-47. In this conclusion, the Lord commands us to be perfect (in life) as our heavenly Father is perfect. To be perfect in life is to grow and mature in life. The Lord commands us in this way in the conclusion of the law of the new life in the kingdom of the heavens because we are children born of our Father with our Father’s life. This life is able to make us perfect in the life of our Father, as our Father is perfect. Therefore, this commandment of the Lord is based upon the divine life of the Father. It is also fulfilled by the divine life of the Father. The divine life of the Father is able to make us perfect in life as He is perfect. This is not only the Lord’s commandment to us but also the Lord’s expectation concerning us. We should care for the Lord’s heart’s desire, keep His commandment, and grow and mature by the Father’s life within us, thus accomplishing the will of the Triune God.
1) “Wherefore, leaving the word of the beginning of the Christ, let us be brought on to maturity” (Heb. 6:1).
“The word of the beginning of the Christ” refers to the word in the gospel concerning Christ’s saving us and regenerating us, that is, the word in God’s salvation which initiates us in the spiritual life. This verse exhorts us to leave the word of the beginning, that is, to leave the beginning of our spiritual life, and to be brought on to perfection in the spiritual life. This is to grow and mature in the spiritual life.
2) “Not that I...am already perfected [full-grown in life], but I pursue, if also I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus [for me to gain Him]...I do not yet reckon myself to have laid hold [of Christ], but one thing — forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal [Christ] for the prize [Christ] of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are full-grown [in life], have this mind” (Phil. 3:12-15).
The Apostle Paul tells us in this passage how he pursued growth and maturity in the life of Christ. In this matter, he was never contented with himself but always pursued, forgetting the things which were behind and stretching forward to the things which were before, pressing toward Christ, who is the goal and the mark. This he did in order to gain Christ that he might grow and mature in His life. With his own pursuit as the pattern, he exhorted the believers whom he was leading and caring for to be like him, to pursue in the life of Christ, and to gain Christ fully in order that they might grow and mature. Finally, Paul said that as many of us as are (relatively) full-grown should have this mind and set this as the goal.
1) “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word, that by it you may grow unto salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2).
The prerequisite for maturity in the spiritual life is to grow continually in this life. As soon as a believer is regenerated and becomes a newborn babe spiritually, he should long for God’s word in the Bible as the guileless milk that he may grow in his spiritual life.
2) “I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow” (1 Cor. 3:6).
In the spiritual life, a believer is, on the one hand, a person with the spiritual life and, on the other hand, like a plant cultivated on God’s farm (1 Cor. 3:5-9). Whether as a person or like a plant, a believer needs to grow that he may become mature. Therefore, continuing growth is a prerequisite for becoming full-grown and mature.
3) “But holding to truth [Christ] in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).
We grow in the spiritual life by holding in love to Christ as the truth and growing up into Christ as the Head in all things. This kind of growth, which takes Christ as the truth and which grows into Christ, is a further prerequisite for our becoming full-grown and mature.
4) “...holding the Head [Christ], out from whom all the Body, by means of the joints and bands being supplied and knit together, grows with the growth of God” (Col. 2:19).
This verse indicates that the church as the Body of Christ grows with the growth of God by holding Christ as the Head, by receiving the rich supply from Him, the Head, through the joints of His Body, and by being knit together by the bands of His Body. This growth in the Body of Christ is also a prerequisite for our growth and maturity in the life of Christ. This prerequisite consummates in the growth of this Body of Christ.
1) “Until we all arrive...at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
The full-grown man here refers to the church as the Body of Christ growing into a mature man. The fullness of Christ indicates the Body of Christ becoming His expression. In brief, the measure of the stature is just the stature. This stature is the church as the Body of Christ growing into the stature of Christ. This is the ultimate and full issue of the believers’ growth and maturity by the life of Christ in His Body. Our transformation in the life of Christ makes us like Him in the image of His essence; our maturity in the life of Christ makes us like Him in the measure of His stature. Thus, on the one hand, we have His image, and, on the other hand, we have His stature.
