When Companies struggle with human or mechanical processes, they hire experts which come into and identify faulty processes. Often those who engage in a task every day, become blind to the problems. They often fail to see the pitfalls before them.
The Corinthian believers had an especially hard struggle against the world and the flesh, a struggle which they seldom won. They would not break with the world or break with the flesh and were continually succumbing to both. Consequently they fell into one serious sin after another. Almost all of this epistle has to do with identifying and correcting those sins.
Our ultimate triumph over the world and the flesh is certain, but our continued struggle with them in this life is also certain. We will win the ultimate battle, but can lose a lot of skirmishes along the way. How then can we identify the pitfalls that are before us and avoid them? Human wisdom will appeal to our flesh which will blind us to the pitfalls before us.
From 1:18 through 2:16 Paul points out that the Corinthians were divided because of worldliness, because of their continued love for human wisdom. In 3:1–9 the apostle shows them that they also were divided because of the flesh, because of their continued yielding to the evil in their humanness. Using the analogies of Milk and Meat for division, he shows 1) The Cause (1 Corinthians 3:1–3a), 2) The Symptoms (1 Corinthians 3:3b–4), and 3) The Cure (1 Corinthians 3:5-9) for division.
1) The Cause of Division: the Flesh (1 Corinthians 3:1–3a)
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 [3:1]But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. [2]I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, [3]for 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?) (ESV)
The cause of division in the church was more than an external, worldly influence. It was also internal, fleshly. The Corinthians had succumbed to the pressures of the world, but they were also succumbing to the pressures and enticements of their own flesh.
Before Paul chastises them for their immature sinfulness, he reminds them again that he is speaking to them as brothers/brethren, as fellow believers. The use of the vocative (“brothers [and sisters]”; see 1:10 and the second person plural pronouns throughout make it clear that he is not addressing a faction within the congregation, but the church as a whole. Brothers/brethren is a term of recognition and of love. He did not try to diminish the seriousness of their sins, but he did try to diminish or prevent any discouragement that his rebuke might otherwise have caused. He stood with them as a brother. Although, not all may be guilty, but all are defiled by the actions of the many (Fee, G. D. (1987). The First Epistle to the Corinthians (p. 123). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
• When others in our midst clearly fail to meet the high calling of Christ, we may be tempted to just let them grow at their own pace. This is actually negligent. We are called to encourage one another to growth in holiness and devotion to Christ. We all suffer when the standard is not upheld or striven for.
The use of the aorist in vv. 1–2a (“I could not … because you could not”) with the corresponding change to the present in 2b indicates that he is still, as in 1:18–2:5, reflecting on his former time with them. There is a startling play on the IMPERFECT tense (“for you were not ready for it/yet able”) and the PRESENT tense (“even now you are not yet ready/able”). The word “abl ready/able” is the Greek term dunamai, which means the power to act, to accomplish, to function toward a desired result. Believers are saved to serve; they are called to Christlikeness now, not only to heaven later. These “believers” had no Kingdom power, just flesh power, which is, in reality, powerlessness!( Utley, R. J. (2002). Paul’s Letters to a Troubled Church: I and II Corinthians (Vol. Volume 6, p. 43). Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International.)
But Paul could not speak to the Corinthian believers as spiritual people. As we saw in chapter 2, “he who is spiritual” (v. 15) is the saved. In the positional sense, there is no such thing as an unspiritual Christian or a partially spiritual Christian. In this sense every believer is equal. This spiritual is a synonym for possessing the life of God in the soul, or as we saw in 2:16, having the mind of Christ. Therefore, believers, are spiritual in the positional sense, because they have been given a new inner being that loves God and is indwelt by His Holy Spirit. The time when Paul could not speak to them as spiritual seems to be referred to in 2:1–5, the time of his original visit to Corinth. That visit had lasted for nearly two years (Acts 18:11, 18) (Hughes, R. B. (1985). First Corinthians (p. 47). Chicago, IL: Moody Press.).
Now, Paul recalls his ministry in Corinth which had begun five years earlier (Barnett, P. (2000). 1 Corinthians: Holiness and Hope of a Rescued People (p. 50). Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.)
Practically, believers may be anything but spiritual. Such were the Corinthian Christians. Paul addressed them as brothers/brethren, but he made it clear that he had to speak to them on the lowest possible spiritual level. He had to speak to them as if they were people of the flesh. People of the flesh (sarkinos) is literally “fleshy ones,” in this context refers to people's fallen humanness, their Adamic self—where bodily desires manifest rebelliousness toward God, one glorying in themselves and proneness to sin. The immature Christian lives for the things of the flesh (carnal means “flesh”) and has little interest in the things of the Spirit. Of course, some believers are immature because they have been saved only a short time, but that is not what Paul is discussing here (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 577). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.).
The flesh is not eradicated when we are saved. It no longer can ultimately dominate or destroy us, but it can still greatly influence us. That is why we yearn for the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23). Glorification, in one sense, will be less of a change than justification. Justification was transformation of the inner being; glorification is the elimination of the outer being, which bears the curse.
The Corinthians had come through the door of faith but had gone no farther. They were still infants/babes in Christ. ‘Fleshly’ (sarkinoi) means that although the Corinthians do not fall precisely into the category of the ‘natural man’ (psychikos, 2:14), someone unwilling to receive the ‘things’ of the Spirit of God, they are ‘infants in Christ’, unlike the teleioi, those ‘mature’ believers referred to in 2:6. In Paul’s letters there is another word, teknon, meaning ‘child’, which he often employs to denote his relationship with eager converts (E.g. 4:14; 2 Cor. 6:13; Gal. 4:19; 1 Thess. 2:7, 11.). Here, ‘infants’ (nēpios) implies naïvety (E.g. 13:11; Gal. 4:1, 3; Eph. 4:14.) (Naylor, P. (2004). A Study Commentary on 1 Corinthians (pp. 81–82). Darlington, England; Webster, NY: Evangelical Press.).
Please turn to Hebrews 5 (p.1003)
Most of them had received Jesus Christ years earlier but were acting as if they had just been born again. When a mother notices that her baby fails to grow physically, she becomes concerned and consults a physician. Likewise, Paul, who portrays himself as the father of the Corinthians “through the gospel” (4:15), is vitally interested in their spiritual growth (Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (Vol. 18, p. 101). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.).
Hebrews 5:11-6:1 [11]About 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, [13]for 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. [6:1]Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, (ESV)
• Infants/babes in Christ are dull to growing in the faith, they can't properly explain their faith, and they can't properly explain the word. They have failed to practice discernment and fall for evil.
When Paul first preached to the Corinthians he taught the more easily digestible elementary truths of doctrine, the milk mentioned in verse 2. But now some five years later, they still needed to be fed milk. They could not yet spiritually digest solid food. Like many Christians today, the Corinthians seemed quite content to stay on milk.
• Some congregations do not want the pastor to get “too deep.” Their fleshly habits are not much threatened if, for instance, the preacher sticks primarily to evangelistic messages. Evangelism is the cutting edge of the church’s mission, but it is for unbelievers, not believers. Or the congregation wants Scripture to be preached so superficially that their sin is not exposed, much less rebuked and corrected.
There is no difference at all between the truths of a spiritual milk diet and a spiritual solid food diet, except in detail and depth. All doctrine may have both milk and meat elements. It is not that we are to be continually learning new doctrines in order to grow, but that we are to be learning more about the doctrines we have known for years. A new Christian might explain the atonement, for example, as, “Christ died for my sins.” A long–time student of the Word, on the other hand, would go into such things as regeneration, justification, substitution, and propitiation. One explanation would not be truer than the other; but the first would be milk and the second, solid food. Paul always preached “all the counsel of God,” Acts 20:27. Paul does not distinguish between two sets of doctrines but between two modes of presenting all doctrines (Lenski, R. C. H. (1963). The interpretation of St. Paul’s First and Second epistle to the Corinthians (p. 122). Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House.).
For a Christian preacher or teacher to give only milk week after week, year after year, is a crime against the Word of God and the Holy Spirit! It cannot be done without neglecting much of the Word and without neglecting the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit, the supreme Teacher and Illuminator. It is also a terrible disservice to those who hear, whether or not they are satisfied with having only milk. The appetite must be created.
Nothing is more precious or wonderful than a little baby. But a twenty–year–old with the mind of an infant is heartbreaking. A baby who acts like a baby is a joy; but an adult who acts like a baby is a tragedy. It doubtlessly grieved the Holy Spirit, as it grieved Paul, that the Christians in Corinth had never gotten out of their spiritual infancy. We may not have the best human preacher or teacher, but every believer has the perfect Teacher within, who longs to instruct them in the things of God (cf. 1 John 2:20, 27). Paul's expression how "even now you are not yet ready" is expressed in a tense which indicates a process. This process was one of growth, but the growth was too slow (Robertson, A., & Plummer, A. (1911). A critical and exegetical commentary on the First epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (p. 53). New York: T&T Clark.).
If we do not grow spiritually, the reason is always, as verse 3 begins, that we are still of the flesh/fleshly. The believer’s growth times are those times when one walks in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16–17). It is essential to understand that carnality is not an absolute state in which a believer exists (Rom. 8:4–14), but a behavior pattern one chooses one moment at a time. To say it another way, a Christian is not of the flesh/fleshly in the sense of being, but in the sense of behaving.
Illustration: Spiritual Growth
One night, a mother fixed a special meal for her family: turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, and apple pie for dessert. It was everyone’s favorite meal, especially when it came at a time other than Thanksgiving. The aroma filled the house, and as the children came in from playing they could hardly wait for dinner to begin. The last child appeared only a few minutes before dinner time and sat through the meal without eating, even though he especially loved those foods. Why? Because he had filled up on peanut butter at a friend’s house. In settling for something good, he had lost his appetite for the best.
The same applies to our spiritual appetites. Some people don’t have much of an appetite for spiritual truth because they have sought satisfaction with lesser things (Michael P. Green. (2000). 1500 illustrations for biblical preaching (p. 355). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.).
2) The Symptoms of Division: Jealousy and Strife (1 Corinthians 3:3b–4)
1 Corinthians 3:3b-4 [3](for 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? (ESV)
Immature, fleshly Christians are never the result of deficient spiritual genes or of a spiritual birth defect. Their actions are the way they are by their own choices. One of the worst and most disappointing problems the church can have is a congregation full of babes, Christians who are not growing because they seek to fulfill fleshly appetites.
Because self–centeredness is at the heart of fleshly behavior, jealousy and strife are always found in an immature congregation. Jealousy is the attitude, and strife is the action that results from it. Jealousy is the inner emotional condition, and strife the outward expression of selfishness. Those sins are more destructive than many Christians seem to think. They are far from being petty sins, because, among other things, they cause division in the church, Christ’s body, for whom He gave His life. They are among the surest marks of fallen humanness, just as unity is one of the surest marks of divine transformation.
Please turn to James 3 (p.1012)
Jealousy is a severe form of selfishness, begrudging someone else what we wish were ours. And selfishness is one of the most obvious characteristics of babyhood. An infant’s life is almost totally self–centered and selfish. Its whole concern is with its own comfort, hunger, attention, sleep. It is typical of a young child to be self–centered, but it should not be typical of an adult, especially a Christian adult. It is spiritually infantile to be jealous of and to cause strife among fellow believers, and it betrays a fleshly perspective.
James makes a clear contrast of Godly wisdom and the source of Jealousy and strife:
James 3:13-18 [13]Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. [14]But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15]This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. [16]For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. [17]But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. [18]And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (ESV)
• Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition are the antithesis of true wisdom as characterized by “meekness”. Meekness comes not from cowardice or passivity but rather from trusting God and therefore being set free from anxious self-promotion. The “fruit” that comes from peacemaking in the Christian community will be the righteous conduct that God will bless (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2396). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles).
Division can only occur where there is selfishness. Fleshly, immature people cooperate only with those leaders and fellow believers with whom they happen to agree or who personally appeal to them or will flatter them. Factions cannot help resulting where there is jealousy and strife, or any other form of carnality. When a congregation develops loyalties around individuals, it is a sure symptom of spiritual immaturity and trouble. It was sinful, as verse 4 mentions, for factions to develop around Paul and Apollos, and it is sinful for divisive factions to develop around any leader in the church today. Are you not being merely human/walking like mere men? is another way of saying, “You are thinking and behaving in a fleshly way.”
Illustration: Destroyed by Envy
According to an ancient Greek legend, a certain athlete ran well but placed second in the race. The winner was surrounded with praise, and eventually a statue was erected in his honor. Jealousy and Envy ate away at the man who had placed second. He resented the winner, and he could think of little else. Eventually he decided to destroy the statue of the winner.
Night after night, he went to the statue under cover of darkness, chiseling away at the base to weaken the foundation. But one night as he chiseled in violent anger, he went too far. The heavy marble statue teetered on its base and crashed down on the disgruntled athlete. He died beneath the weight of the marble replica of the man he had grown to hate. His own Jealousy envy had destroyed him (Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed., p. 271). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.).
3) The Cure for Divisions: Glorifying God (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 [5]What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. [6]I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. [7]So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. [8]He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. [9]For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. (ESV)
The cure for division is turning away from self and setting our eyes on the one God whom we all glorify. When our attention is focused on our Lord, as it always should be, there will be no time and no occasion for division. When our attention is on Him it cannot be on ourselves or on human leaders or human factions. The citizens of Corinth reflected their secular world in evaluating people in terms of their privileges, status and wealth (Carson, D. A., France, R. T., Motyer, J. A., & Wenham, G. J. (Eds.). (1994). New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1166). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.)
Apollos and Paul were simply the servants through whom you believed. They were the instruments, not the source, of salvation. As Paul had reminded them earlier, he had not died for them and they were not baptized in his name (1:13). The same was true, of course, for Apollos and Peter, as it is true for all other ministers of the Lord of all time. All Christians, including even such men as those, whom the Lord used so mightily, are but His servants (diakonoi), or ministers (KJV). It is not the same word (doulos) often translated “servant, slave, or bond–servant” (7:21–23; Rom. 1:1; etc.), but simply meant a menial worker of any sort, free or slave. It was often used of a table waiter or what we would now call a busboy. A servant is under someone’s authority. And doesn’t the word also carry the idea of instrumentality? The servant exists to carry out the wishes of the one who exercises authority over him (Ellsworth, R. (1995). Strengthening Christ’s Church: The Message of 1 Corinthians (p. 53). Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.)
Paul was saying in effect, “No one builds a movement around a waiter or busboy, or erects monuments to them. Apollos and I are just waiters or busboys whom the Lord used as servants to bring you food. You do not please us by trying to honor us. Your honor, your glory, is misplaced. You are acting like the world, like mere men. Build your monuments, give your praise to the One who prepared the spiritual food we delivered.”
Those men had their God–appointed work to do. Using agricultural metaphors, in verse 6, Paul acknowledged that he had planted and that Apollos watered. They had done their work well and faithfully. With the image of planter and waterer makes several points The labor of one without the other would be useless (Godet 1886: 176); they are interdependent and complementary, contributing “to the same goal” of producing a crop (Kuck 1992a: 166). Second, though both roles are essential to the task, the laborers are interchangeable. The value of the labor of one worker cannot be hailed as more important than that of another. Third, a rivalry between a planter and a waterer in working a field is absurd. If the farmhands do not work cooperatively, the crop will be ruined. Fourth, God is the one who produces the harvest. That is why our text says: God gave/was causing the growth. Planters only scatter the seed supplied to them by God (2 Cor. 9:10) and put it in contact with the soil created by God. Waterers only keep the soil moist for growth by using rainwater supplied by God. Paul uses the aorist tense to sum up the work of the planter and the waterer, but he uses the imperfect (ηὔξανεν, ēuxanen) to imply that God is giving growth throughout the planting and watering (Robertson and Plummer 1914: 57; Lindemann 2000: 81). The point is that success does not depend on those who preach, but on God. Against the Corinthians’ boasting in their own consequence, Paul argues that every worker is equally insignificant before God. Against their touting one person over another, he argues that every worker is equally indispensable. Against their self-satisfied complacency, Paul argues that each worker will be held accountable to God (Garland, D. E. (2003). 1 Corinthians (pp. 111–112). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.).
As verse 7, indicates: neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives/causes the growth. The human instrument is not anything but a tool. All the honor for the accomplishment goes to God. Only God draws unbelievers to Himself. It is our responsibility to do our job no matter what the results, for God will reward us for our efforts and the quality of our work (9:24–27). We are like tools in the hands of the craftsman. As long as we are usable, God will use us. When we cease this function, we could be put on the shelf or disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27) (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (1 Co 3:5–10). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.)
All of God’s workers are one in Him, as verse 8 states: He who plants and he who waters are one. It is therefore, only to God should all glory go. Recognition of our oneness in the Lord is the sure and only remedy for divisiveness. It leaves no place for the flesh and its jealousy strife, and division.
God does not fail to recognize the faithful work of His servants. As verse 9 states: each will receive his wages/own reward according to his labor. The reward is something over and above personal salvation (1 Co 3:14, 15; 2 Jn 1:8). He shall be rewarded according to, not his success or the amount of work done, but “according to his labor.” It shall be said to him, “Well done, thou good and (not successful, but) faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord” (Mt 25:23) (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1 Co 3:8). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.).
Please turn to Revelation 11 (p.1034)
In Revelation 11, the elders celebrate a day still future, when God and his Christ have begun their unchallenged reign by judging the dead (foreshadowing Rev. 20:11–13), rewarding their servants (cf. 21:1–7; 22:1–5), and destroying the destroyers of the earth (cf. 20:14–15) (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2479). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles).
Revelation 11:15-18 [15]Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." [16]And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, [17]saying, "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. [18]The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."
God rewards on the basis of labor, not success or results. A missionary may work faithfully for 40 years and see only a handful of converts. Another may work far fewer years and see far more converts. Jeremiah was one of God’s most faithful and dedicated prophets, yet he saw little result of his ministry. He was ridiculed, persecuted, and generally rejected along with the message he preached. Jonah, on the other hand, was petty and unwilling, yet through him God won the entire city of Nineveh in one brief campaign. Our usefulness and effectiveness are purely by God’s grace (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10). It is appropriate that God’s faithful servants be appreciated and encouraged while they are on earth. But they are not to be glorified, set apart, or made the center of special groups or movements.
• When we plan and measure our results by purely external criteria, we will be skewed to act to only achieve those results. Although spiritual growth and faithfulness is harder to achieve and measure, it is Gods criteria, and what a genuine work of God will achieve.
Paul and Apollos were finally as verse 9 concludes: God’s fellow workers. It was not their own ministry that they worked in, but His. What divine companionship! It was God’s church in Corinth, not Paul’s or Apollos’s or Peter’s. The believers there were God’s field, God’s building, and His alone. And the glory for any good work done there, or anywhere, is also His alone.
• The moment we take ownership of any program, ministry or congregation, we act for the wrong reasons and God will not bless.
• If our striving and aim is all to glorify God, then the results are up to Him. He will ultimate honor and give true growth to what honors Him.
(Format note: Outline & some base commentary from MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1984). 1 Corinthians (pp. 67–75). Chicago: Moody Press.)
