It is the good pleasure and the responsibility of every Christian to be making progress in understanding. The new convert has entered into a world of discovery of the things of God. His taste for these things makes him long to learn more about them, and therefore he turns to God’s word as a wonderful source of instruction. It is his treasure on earth, that connects him to heaven while he is still not yet glorified. It is what teaches him authoritatively about the Saviour he loves. As he studies he adds one truth to another and fits each new truth that he learns into the systematic theology which he holds in his head. This theology grows; it is corrected and adjusted; it is imperfect, but it is an anticipation of all that he will know perfectly in heaven. And then, quite naturally, comes the desire to teach and to help others. This may be done privately or, if he is apt to teach, it may be done through public instruction. It is to be expected that all mature Christians will have some opportunity to teach other younger believers.
But the Christian cannot make real progress by accumulating doctrinal knowledge alone. God has so constructed us that we do not properly understand the truth until we live by it. Why can I not handle the deep things of God, the strong meat? Because, if I am not living in a way that proves the Lord by standing up to trials and getting his help and advancing in character and godliness, then I simply will not understand the deep things. You may get the outline, the theoretical sense of things, but you will not really grasp them.