It is amazing how easily Christians will self-label as "Adult" (mature) in Christ. We use all sorts of qualifications. Some use no qualifications at all, while others will base it on years, schooling, and even feelings ("I feel like an adult Christian!"). Does the scripture and surrounding first century context give us any help to understand the qualifications? Are there qualifications? Let's start there.
Disqualified?
Is there any scriptural notion of being disqualified and, if so, what is the disqualification about?
Here are several passages that have some implication of disqualification:
Old Testament:
1. Adam and Eve's Disqualification from Eden - Genesis 3:23-24: After Adam and Eve disobey God and eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they are 'disqualified' from Eden (the presence of God) and the Tree of Life.
2. Israel's Disqualification from the Promised Land - Numbers 14:22-24: In these verses, God disqualifies the Israelites from entering the promised land because they have tested Him ten times and have not obeyed His voice.
3. Disqualification of Moses from the Promised Land - Numbers 20:12: Moses is disqualified from leading the Israelites into the Promised Land after he strikes the rock at Meribah instead of speaking to it as God commanded.
4. Disqualification of Saul from Kingship - 1 Samuel 13:13-14: In this passage, Saul disobeys God's command to wait for Samuel before making a sacrifice. As a result, God disqualifies Saul's line from the kingship of Israel, promising instead to find "a man after His own heart" (David).
5. Disqualification of Eli's Line from Priesthood - 1 Samuel 2:27-36: Eli's sons abused their priestly duties, and hence, a man of God prophesied to Eli that his family line would be cut off from serving as priests.
New Testament:
1. Disqualification from Salvation - Hebrews 6:4-6: The passage speaks of those who have tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit, and then fell away. It says that it is impossible to restore them again to repentance.
NOTE: In terms of Ancient Near East perspective, one might interpret a transition from allegiance to Christ into devotion to deities, semi-divine beings, and demonic forces—the elements of darkness. This would exclude those battling sin from those who emphatically renounce the Lord as their sovereign and realign their allegiances with the pagan gods of their origins. This would necessitate an extensive foundational knowledge and a distinct decision. Given this understanding, the book of Hebrews not only becomes appreciably logical but also shields the Hebrew author's ensuing thoughts where he refutes the propensity to renounce King Jesus in the hearts of his audience.
2. Disqualification from the Race - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:
Paul talks about the need for self-discipline, saying he does not want to be disqualified from the 'race' after preaching to others. The 'race' metaphorically can refer to the Christian life and the pursuit of God's Kingdom.
Second Temple Jewish writings:
1. Disqualification in 1 Enoch - 1 Enoch 98:3-7: These verses mention the sinners who will be eliminated and have no peace due.
From the perspective of modern scholarship:
Interpretation of these texts requires understanding the historical, cultural, and literary contexts. For instance, scholars like NT Wright argue that passages on disqualification, such as in Hebrews, reflect a 'covenantal' framework where being part of God's people demands perseverance and faithfulness. This doesn't mean losing one's salvation but rather reflects the real consequences of unfaithfulness.
The interpretation of 'disqualification' in these texts is ultimately tied to varying theological views, especially in the areas of soteriology and ecclesiology. From a sociological perspective, scholars such as Rodney Stark emphasize that exclusionary practices (i.e. disqualification) played a role in the early growth of Christianity by creating a clear group identity. From a literary perspective, 'disqualification' motifs often serve as warning passages that urge readers towards moral behavior and religious faithfulness.
From a study of what disqualification means perhaps we can start to shape what qualification means. Nevertheless, one thing (among many) ought to be clear: undiscipline is a clear qualification of the disqualified. In other words, one cannot be qualified in the race of living for God and be undisciplined. This is just plainly evident.
Being qualified
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
This passage of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians is an example of how early Christian writers brought together different cultural and philosophical influences--from Roman stoicism to Jewish moral thought to Greek athletic disciplines--to articulate their understanding of Christian discipleship. This metaphor of the spiritual life as an athletic competition would have been instantly recognizable to the Corinthians, a people long familiar with the rigorous training and high stakes of athletic contests, such as the Isthmian Games held near Corinth.
Also, Paul's use of bodily disciplining, "I beat my body and make it my slave," carries echoes of prevailing Stoic philosophies of the time, which often emphasized self-control and mastery over physical desires. However, this is not his only or even primary source, which is actually found with larger context of the fleshly desires as mimics of the "sins of the Watchers". Yet, Paul goes further still including other matters such as gluttony.
Finally, relating to Jewish perspectives, the emphasis on moral and ethical efforts in pursuing spiritual aims clearly aligns with Jewish teachings focused on covenantal faithfulness and personal righteousness, but not in legalistic works of obeying laws, but in righteousness found in matters of heart, love, compassion, and humility.
Nonetheless, we should also note that Paul uniquely Christianizes these otherwise common motifs to express distinctly Christian spiritual realities such as eternal rewards ("a crown that will last forever") and the importance of authentic faithfulness in one's proclamation and living out the gospel ("so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize"). Therefore, Paul's message here represents a creative synthesis of various cultural elements for expressing unique Christian spirituality centered on the hope in Christ.
Hebrews
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay.' And again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
As noted in the section above on disqualifications about Hebrews 6, the disqualifications listed in both of the passages above are linked to the Watchers (see the bolded text above). As noted before, this disqualification applies to people who know precisely what the loyalties are about and actively, purposefully make an inward and outward disavowal of their loyalty to Christ and a reignition of their loyalties to fallen beings. This does not apply to those who hold their loyalties to Christ, yet have struggles with their flesh and behaviours.
Therefore, it appears that the we need two very key items to run the race and be qualified for the prize waiting at the end of the race.
A private and public loyalty given completely to Christ as King.
A whole being effort given to living in discipline to the taming of flesh in thoughts, words, and actions based on the commandments of Christ as a demonstration of our loyalty to him.
Runners stumble and fall during the race. This is a given. The Lord is not put off by those who stumble, but then regain their feet under them and continue the race—redoubling their efforts in discipline.
Infants, toddlers, juveniles, adults
As a parent, the Father clearly births us as infants in Christ, but has an expectation of growth and fruit. This is clear from the parable of Jesus where he describes the desire of the owner of fruit and his displeasure for finding none when the time of fruiting comes. The gardener then asks the owner for more time to apply fertilizer to the tree and yet agrees to tear the tree down and burn it if it fails to fruit in a future season. The tree literally bears some part in the process. It isn't all about God, but about our response.
There are different expectations of infants, toddlers, teens, and adults. Behaviors in each stage of maturation holds both rewards and consequences, each more plentiful or severe, depending. Still—what is it that is expected of adults over younger ones? The key is found in a list of items:
Understanding — we will not be held to account for what we don't understand. Infants have one understanding, toddler, juveniles, and adults another each.
Discipline in applying — for each stage of maturity, there is an expectation of living in discipline to apply what one understands. This is completely on each person.
Therefore, it stands to reason that maturity is a combination of what we understand coupled with our maturity in exercising ourselves in the understanding we have. Fruit is born of these two, together.
One cannot be disciplined in what one does not or cannot understand. Thus, understanding of the context of what God is up to and what has happened in history is a critical basis for our understanding. The commandments of Christ are contained within this context and one cannot fully comprehend what the Lord commands outside of this context of history and happenings, beings and conflicts.
In this way, it is possible to quantify what it means to be qualified within each stage of our maturity. Qualification means one thing for infant Christians, and other things for toddlers, juveniles, and adults. There are even stages of adulthood, where young adults are untested and not exercised, whereas older spiritual adults are both exercised and tested. This is the basis of growing responsibility in the Kingdom of God and ultimate reward.
Towards measuring maturity
How then do we measure our own maturity? The right response appears to be first asking ourselves, "How disciplined am I at living what I understand?"
The more crucial question is: How do I first gauge my understanding? This is a far more subjective answer that literally requires a spiritual adult to answer it. For myself, my answer to this some 40, 30, 20, and even 10 years ago would have been changing, and different from today.
I can further attest that I have gone through this maturing in 20 year stages (20 as an infant, 20 as a toddler, 20 as a juvenile, and now I appear to be starting the age of being an adult). What has this taught me? Let me lay it out and you see how it fits for you.
And more steps towards maturity
It's all about thinking and reinvention by changes in thinking.
When I was a child, I accepted what parents and surrounding people taught me and told me. I didn't question. I just accepted it all as being true. My parents were the real keys due to relationship and love. Family came next as did friends. Others were further afield, with the greater sway given to parents first.
As a toddler and pre-teen, I started to learn and think for myself. Again, there was a level of trust I had in my teachers and instructors (friends, school, or others). The key seems to be that I picked from the array of what I was given and started pulling what seemed agreeable to me from that pile.
As a teen, I went further. I kept my previous pile of "what I think", but then began to challenge what I had been fed. The issue is that I didn't have good training to be disciplined in thinking or having tools needed to think well. I just made up my own mind by what seemed right to me. Most of that was how I "felt" about things, which was totally undisciplined.
What I did not know was the impacts on me from the world of darkness in the unseen realms around me and how they were steering my thoughts based on the passions of my flesh. The whole thing was a mess.
By the time I was a physical adult, I got "saved" and entered into being a spiritual infant and toddler. Like a physical infant, I believed what I was told by "spiritual fathers" (parents—pastor and church). I didn't question at all. I just accepted it all as truth and became quite prideful and egotistical about it all with everyone I met. I came off as a know-it-all, but all I was really doing was spitting up what I was fed in a shade of my own words.
MILK VS MEAT: In this case, I am going to define milk as taking in what others produce in terms of theology, doctrines, dogmas, beliefs, creeds, traditions, and so on. This is what we literally spit up when we talk as spiritually infant Christians. Strong meat is when we start doing to work of producing the food for ourselves—being directly fed of the Spirit of God from the scripture rather than drinking in milk made by others (pastors, friends, et al). Producing our own food like adults requires tools and discipline.
The next stage was to be a spiritual teen, where I rebelled against what I was told, but without personal discipline (either from my actual childhood or my spiritual), I fell back into believing whatever I chose to believe based on cockeyed notions of picking and choosing from a wider group of "what-to-believe" from a wider group of pastors, churches, belief systems, and so on. Again—I wasn't really thinking for myself, but taking what I thought from others and not scripture. Scripture was a place to go to validate what I was being told or what I "felt" was right. I was literally barely above milk as a teen might eat junk food bought with a pittance of money from a part-time job.
In this last stage, where I am just at the start (spiritual adulthood), the picture has gelled. I see the need for understanding, coupled with discipline. I see the need to admit that I actually don't know what I thought I knew and that scripture in its own context with its surrounding materials is my actual guide. It is the material from which the Holy Spirit will guide me into all truth, but it requires discipline to follow, gather the understanding, and then see the results coming from it. Literally, it is Christ in me going back to scripture, using tools and discipline to grow and produce food directly from God within me as an adult.
Therefore, one of the qualifications of a mature Christian is the process of pushing what we have previously held as "true" on to a pile, calling it "suspicious" and "questionable" and starting over again. From there, we need both discipline and tools plus us in Christ and Christ in us (Holy Spirit) as the revealer. It is the combination of being in Christ, plus indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, plus scripture, plus discipline, plus tools, plus guidance of mentors and likeminded spiritually adult people to which we willing submit ourselves that marks us out as spiritual young adults.
SELF SUBMISSION: It is the willingness to be submitted in discipline to all of the things listed above that really marks out the change from infant, toddler, and teen into an adult. Only adults have the attribute of submission in discipline—literally laying aside "what-I-think" and starting over. This is very hard for physically older adults who come to think that they "know" or that they are spiritual adults because they are physical adults or that they've been in church for years and decades. Time served has no bearing on spiritual maturity, but it does on immaturity.
Let me be frank and clear. I am sixty years old. I am not a mature spiritual adult. I am more like a spiritual 18 year old who is just now trying out my new spiritual adult sea legs. I don't have the time. I don't have the experience. I don't have the proving. That is in play at the moment. That is growing at the moment. God is doing this. So, there is nothing in me that wants to stand in pride and claim that my sixty years of physical living somehow plays a part in my spiritual maturity. It does not, nor will it ever.
Quick sum
The above either speaks for itself to you or it does not. If it does not, then I will say, you're just not ready to hear it. I hope and pray that someday you will be. I pray that day is today. Regretfully, it took 60 years for the Lord Jesus to bring me here. My most earnest prayer for you is that your road in Christ to being a mature family member of the Royal and Loyal priesthood of Christ is much shorter. To get there will require some attitude adjustments on your part.
The other truth may well be that you're already there. Perhaps you're ahead of me. I pray so! We need truly spiritual adults in Christ more than anything in order to produce more and more baby Christians who will then be submitted to such people to grow up into equal spiritual adults in Christ! This is why we need discipline, disciples, and discipleship in churches and not church programs, lunches, fancy worship, and fancy preaching.