Biblical Truth, Milk or Meat Understanding: one kind gives unity, the other can lead to disunity

Look at chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians. Paul says, "I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men but as to carnal, fleshly..fleshy, as to babes in Christ." I have to talk to you as immature, fleshy people. I can't talk to you as spiritual men. "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food." What does that mean? I...there aren't milk doctrines in the Bible and meat doctrines, I heard somebody say that one time. There are milk doctrines and meat doctrines. No. No, there are not. There--there are doctrines, there are truths and there's a milk understanding and a meat understanding. I can speak to you about the fact that Jesus Christ died in your place on the cross. And for some of you, you understand that only in the milk sense, you're new, you're a babe and you only understand that in the simplest sense. To others of you, when I talk about the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, you plunge down and maybe don't come up for weeks because there are such profound depths to the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. Paul says I can't talk to you about the depths, I have to talk to you like babies, I have to give you the milk and not the solid food because you're not able to receive it. Indeed here's the proof, you're not able because you're still fleshy. And what is the manifestation of that? There is jealousy and there is strife or fighting among you. Are you not fleshly? Are you not walking like mere men?

Let me tell you one of the things that contributes most directly to discord in the church is people with a shallow understanding of Scripture. That's why I say again, the legacy of solid food of an understanding of some of the depth of the Word of God is the unity of the faith. And everyone understanding the same, believing the same, having the same mind, making the same judgments...there's no ground for substantial foundational disagreement. Quite the contrary to take a reductionist mentality and say, "We want to throw doctrine out so we can get together," is the antithesis of this and that is to sweep heresy under the rug and think that it's not something to be considered and to sweep sin under the rug as if it had no negative effect, as if the all compelling thing was to just accept everybody whatever they might believe, or however they might behave. Nothing could be more dishonoring to our Lord.

~GTY