Can Sanctification Be Stunted?

[tonychanyt]

Yes, 1 Corinthians 3:

1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

There are two types of Christians in the sanctification process:

1. Infantile Christians are stunted in their growth.
2. Spiritual Christians are growing in sanctification.

2I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

Childish Christians are partisan and divisive.

Another example of a growth-stunted Christian is in Heb 5:

11About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

How do we avoid this stunted growth?

One way is How to get closer to God and grow in faith.