Romans 2:17, 20 (NKJV)

“Indeed you are called a Jew…an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.”

In addition to having a mandate to the Gentile world, the true Jew knew he also had a mandate to help the weak and faltering Jew in their midst. The “foolish” would be those Jews who were Jews by birth but had chosen to live like Gentile unbelievers. They have the sign of circumcision in their flesh, but act as though they were uncircumcised. In the same manner, we are called to instruct those who are “supposed to be saved believers in Christ,” and yet they have chosen to follow the pleasures of the world as against the Word of God. These “foolish brethren” need a fresh instruction on who they are expected to be and how they must live as Jews in Christ.

The other category of folks in Christ needing our ministry is babes. These are not falling away from the faith like the fools mentioned above, but they are very fragile and sensitive, and needing encouragement and protection. These “babies in Christ” have all the potential of becoming fully formed and mature in Christ, but they need patient and gentle teachers, to nourish and nurture them through the protocols and processes of the spiritual life. We must be nurturers and we should distinguish these baby believers from the foolish backsliding Christians, giving each person what they need, in due season.

“Father, give me the discernment to know who is who, so I can minister accurately. I know I am called to serve both but may I not treat the babe as the backsliding believer or vice versa, in Jesus name. Amen.”