A Time for Milk

~I Peter 2.1-3

So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

We've seen two other New Testament references to milk as being for infants. (See below.) Both admonish people to grow up and get on to food for the more mature. This reference to milk, however, encourages its consumption: Chug it! Enjoy it! Thrive from it! Maybe Peter's audience is newer believers, or maybe he's just encouraging them back to the basics since at this point persecution against Christians is strong and many are suffering for their faith.

Or maybe Peter just liked milk better than Paul or the writer of Hebrews. :-]

*I Corinthians 3.2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. (Feb 29,2012, entry)

*Hebrews 5.12-13 You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. (May 31, 2012, entry)

Milk is for babies.

~Hebrews 5.12-14

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Milk is for babies; solid food for the more mature. (See also I Corinthians 3.1-3, February 29, 2012)

Don't muzzle the ox, Mom!

~I Corinthians 9.3-4, 7-10

This is my answer to those who question my authority. Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals? . . . . What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.

~I Corinthians 9.11-14

Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? . . . . Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.

~I Timothy 5.17-19

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” (Deuteronomy 25.4) and “The worker deserves his wages” (Luke 10.7)

~II Timothy 2.6

And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

Our kids loved to remind me of this ox when they were mixing up a batch of cookies or biscuits as a reason for helping themselves to the dough. It's a reasonable point. Paul uses it twice. :-]

Beyond "milk is for infants"

~I Corinthians 3.1-3

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly-—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. . . . For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?

Milk is for infants; solid food is for people who can chew. This milk analogy shows that while new believers should grow quickly into spiritual nourishment that requires some chewing thought and more mature participation, sometimes they get stuck in infancy.

I want to look beyond Paul's spiritual point into the physical, the digestive realm. No one would argue that milk is for infants, but can we then conclude the reverse and say that milk is not for adults as some nutritionists claim? Maybe. Maybe not.

Clearly, whole cow's milk causes problems for a lot of people. I read that the human enzyme responsible for our ability to digest milk sugar (lactose) is "turned off" in most populations at around age four, that lactose intolerance, not tolerance, is the normal state of the human body. What an interesting thought for our "got milk" culture. Researchers Lee-Thorp and Ackerman from the University of Cape Town suggest cultural factors and evolutionary transitions that allow people of Western European origin to better maintain tolerance past childhood. I think the debate will continue.

Mother's Milk and Calcium

~Luke 11.27-28

As he was speaking, a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother—-the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!”
Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.

” Drinking cows' milk may be controversial, but mother's milk is clearly a good start for babies. Since adults don't have this option, we have been led to embrace cows' milk as a suitable substitute, something questioned by many nutritionists.

I used to drink a lot of milk in the belief that the calcium was good for my bones. I also took multiple calcium pills every day. The result? Bone density continued to drop. Obviously, my body wasn't absorbing that mineral from those sources. Now I'm trying to eat more non-dairy calcium sources, but I wonder if I'm getting enough. One can only put so many leafy greens and sesame seeds into a day.