1 Corinthians 3:1

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 . And I, brethren — The apostle having, in the latter part of the preceding chapter, observed that mere natural men, still unenlightened and unrenewed, receive not the things of the Spirit, begins this chapter with informing the Corinthians, that though he was an apostle, fully instructed in the mind of Christ, he could not, during his abode with them, speak to them as to truly spiritual persons: inasmuch as they really were not such, but still in a great measure carnal, even mere babes in Christ; as little acquainted with, and experienced in, the things of God, as babes are with respect to the things of the world. He had spoken before ( 1 Corinthians 2:1 ) of his entrance, now he speaks of his progress among them. I have fed you with milk — With the first and plainest truths of the gospel, alluding to milk being the proper food of babes: not with meat — The higher truths of Christianity; such as are more difficult to be understood, received, and practised, and therefore belong to those believers who have made some considerable progress in Christian knowledge and holiness. For ye were not able to bear it — Your state of grace has been, and still is, so low, that it would not properly admit of such a way of teaching. So should every preacher suit his doctrine to the state and character of his hearers.

For ye are yet carnal — That is, the greater part of you are so in some degree; for whereas there is among you envying — One another’s gifts in your hearts, or uneasiness of mind that others have greater gifts than yourselves: or the word ζηλος may be rendered, emulation, a kind of rivalry, or a desire of superiority over others; and strife — Outward contentions in words and deeds; and actual divisions — Of one party from another; are ye not carnal — Is not this a clear proof that you are so; and walk as men? — Κατα ανθρωπον , according to man; as worldly men walk, who have no higher principle from which to act than that of mere nature, and not according to God, as thorough Christians walk.

And {1} I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto {a} carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (1) Having declared the worthiness of heavenly wisdom, and of the Gospel, and having generally condemned the blindness of man's mind, now at length he applies it particularly to the Corinthians, calling them carnal, that is, those in whom the flesh still prevails against the Spirit. And he brings a twofold testimony of it: first, because he had proved them to be such, in so much that he dealt with them as he would with ignorant men, and those who are almost babes in the doctrine of godliness, and second, because they showed indeed by these dissensions, which sprang up by reason of the ignorance of the power of the Spirit, and heavenly wisdom, that they had profited very little or nothing. (a) He calls them carnal, who are as yet ignorant, and therefore to express it better, he calls them babes.

Ch. 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 . The partizanship of the Corinthians a hindrance to spiritual progress 1 . And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual ] The Apostle has said much of the superiority of the wisdom which is the result of spiritual illumination. He now warns the Corinthians that the majority of them do not possess it, or at best but in the scantiest measure, and thus remain on the threshold of the Christian life.

III. (1) And I.—Again, as in 1Corinthians 2:6, the Apostle shows how general principles which he has just explained were exemplified in his own conduct. In the closing verses of 1 Corinthians 2 St. Paul has enunciated the general method of teaching spiritual truth as being dependent upon the receptive powers of those who are being taught. He now proceeds to point out to them that their own character, as being wanting in spirituality, was the real hindrance to his teaching them the higher spiritual truth which may be called “the wisdom” of the gospel. As unto carnal.—Better, as being carnal. Our version may seem to imply that the Apostle spoke to them as if they were carnal, though they really were not so; but the force of the passage is that they were indeed carnal, and that the Apostle taught them not as if they were such, but as being such. “Carnal” is here the opposite of “spiritual,” and does not involve any reference to what we would commonly speak of as carnal sin. Babes in Christ.—This is the opposite of the “full grown” in 1Corinthians 2:6, to whom the “wisdom” could be taught. (See also Colossians 1:28, “full grown in Christ.”) It may be an interesting indication of the “manliness” of St. Paul’s character and his high estimate of it in others, that he constantly uses the words “babe” and “childhood” in a depreciatory sense. (See Romans 2:20, Galatians 4:3, Ephesians 4:14.)

1 Corinthians 3:1 . Καὶ ἐγὼ , and I ) He spoke, 1 Corinthians 2:1 , of his first ‘coming’ among them: he now speaks of his progress.— ὡς σαρκικοῖς , as to carnal ) This is a more gentle expression, than natural , especially with the additional mitigation, as babes in Christ , in regard to the degree of attainment, which immediately followed.

CHAPTER 3 1Co 3:1-23. Paul Could Not Speak to Them of Deep Spiritual Truths, as They Were Carnal, Contending for Their Several Teachers; These Are Nothing but Workers for God, to Whom They Must Give Account in the Day of Fiery Judgment. The Hearers Are God's Temple, Which They Must Not Defile by Contentions for Teachers, Who, as Well as All Things, Are Theirs, Being Christ's. 1. And I—that is, as the natural (animal) man cannot receive, so I also could not speak unto you the deep things of God, as I would to the spiritual; but I was compelled to speak to you as I would to MEN OF FLESH. The oldest manuscripts read this for "carnal." The former (literally, "fleshy") implies men wholly of flesh, or natural. Carnal, or fleshly, implies not they were wholly natural or unregenerate (1Co 2:14), but that they had much of a carnal tendency; for example their divisions. Paul had to speak to them as he would to men wholly natural, inasmuch as they are still carnal (1Co 3:3) in many respects, notwithstanding their conversion (1Co 1:4-9). babes—contrasted with the perfect (fully matured) in Christ (Col 1:28; compare Heb 5:13, 14). This implies they were not men wholly of flesh, though carnal in tendencies. They had life in Christ, but it was weak.

He blames them for being still in a degree (not altogether, compare 1Co 1:5, 7; therefore he says as) babes in Christ, when by this time they ought to have "come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph 4:13). In Ro 7:14, also the oldest manuscripts read, "I am a man of flesh."

Verses 1-4. - The carnal conceit of the spiritually immature. Verse 1. - I... could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Though softened by the word brethren, there was a crushing irony of reproof in these words: "You thought yourselves quite above the need of my simple teaching. You were looking down on me from the whole height of your inferiority. The elementary character of my doctrine was after all the necessary consequence of your own incapacity for anything more profound." As unto carnal. The true reading here is sarkinois , fleshen, not sarkikois , fleshly, or carnal; the later and severer word is perhaps first used in ver. 3. The word sarkinos ( earneus ), fleshen, implies earthliness and weakness and the absence of spirituality; but sarki-kos ( carnalis ) involves the dominance of the lower nature and antagonism to the spiritual. As mite babes in Christ. The word "babes" has a good and a bad sense. In its good sense it implies humility and teachableness, as in 1 Corinthians 14:20 , "In malice be ye babes;" and in 1 Peter 2:2 , "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word;" and in Matthew 11:25 . Here it is used in its bad sense of spiritual childishness. 1 Corinthians 3:1

1 CORINTHIANS 3 1 Corinthians 3:1,2 Paul showeth that he could not instruct the Corinthians in the higher doctrines of Christianity because of their carnal mind, 1 Corinthians 3:3,4 which temper discovered itself in their factions. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 The most eminent preachers of the gospel are but instruments employed by God in building his church. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul hath laid the only true foundation, Christ Jesus; and others must take heed what they build thereon. 1 Corinthians 3:16,17 Christians are God’s temple, not to be defiled. 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 Worldly wisdom is foolishness with God. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 They that are Christ’s must not glory in men. The apostle plainly returneth in this chapter to reprove them for their divisions and factions, for which he had begun to reprove them, 1 Corinthians 1:11 ; and (as some think) here he anticipateth an objection, which they might have made against him, against his reproving and judging of them, whereas he that is spiritual (as he had now said) is judged of no man. I, ( saith he), brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, that is, as to Christians who had made any great proficiency in the ways of God, and had arrived to any just degrees of spiritual perfection; but as unto carnal, that is, persons who, though you axe not under the full conduct and government of your flesh and sensitive appetite, yet are far from being perfect, either in faith or holiness.

In Christ, but not as grown men, but as babes, as the apostle fully explaineth this term, Hebrews 5:12,13 , such as had need be taught again which are the first principles of the oracles of God; and have need of milk, and not of strong meat: for every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe.