Christian Growth Stages #2

In My last post I introduced the notion of putting on the whole armor of God as a way to describe the stages of spiritual growth into maturity. (I am re-posting the chart above.) I realize this may be a new or even unique idea to many of my loyal readers, but it is not new to the Bible. In fact, it is a foundational principle we find throughout the Bible. For example, see the passages below.

I Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The basics! Faith in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 
 
⁶ Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. ⁷ But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. 

  ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him,”

¹⁰ God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹ For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  

¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 

  ¹³ And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.

¹⁴ The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual Mature man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.  

¹⁶ “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (Mature Christians can eat Meat!)

 As you peruse these verses from St. Paul, how do you think my representation of the growth stages matches up? Are my stages biblical, reasonable and instructive? Or, are they secular, humanistic and unbiblical? A famous Reformed Psychologist once wrote a book on the impossibility of integrating secular psychology with biblical theology. 

He mentioned me in the book and not with affirmation. He called me a "Psycho-babbler" because I have written and spoken often on the integration of science and scripture, including psychology and Evangelical Theology. What say ye? In your opinion do you see heresy or faith in my attempts to integrate educational psychology and scripture? 

Leave your comments and let me know. If you like the idea of integrating faith and science, get my book, Healing Release of the Holy Spirit.

There are several intermediate steps from depending only on the wisdom of humans and hearing the spiritual wisdom of Christ. Yesterday, I covered the first two stages of growth from wisdom of humans to the wisdom of the Spirit. They are, 

All People who do not know Christ. This group cannot possibly discern the Holy Spirit from the "spirit of the age". Although "common grace" allows everyone to do good things, it is occasional and simple.

Babes in Christ are Believers who have just received the Spirit of God in regeneration. They have been born from above just as John relates in Chapter 3. As St. John mentioned in Chapter 14. ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

  However, they have little ability to understand the deeper things of Christ and the Bible. They need to understand the basics of who God is and what the Holy Spirit has done for them. They will choke on Meat and other food that is harder to digest. That is why they need special classes in Milk with no heavy theology or emphasis on integration of theology and science.

Next we shall explore the following stages of spiritual growth and healing. For a deeper view download the pdf. file of my book Healing Release of the Holy Spirit.

This egg is cracking but the chick has not yet learned to fly and take care of himself.
 

Gary Sweeten