In the previous chapter, Paul spoke
about the natural man and how a person like that would be unreceptive to spiritual
things. It must have set the Christians in Corinth thinking. They must be
thinking that they could not possibly be whom Paul was describing; oblivious
that he was describing them. Since they were blinded concerning themselves,
Paul became more blatant in his description of them. He began by addressing them
as brethren and then changed to calling them as men of the flesh and infants.
In so doing, he was differentiating between their status and their conducts. While
they had accepted Christ as Lord, and were brethren in Him, but in conduct they
were still living in their past lifestyle and hence were spiritual infants and
not mature yet.
As immature infant, they could only
stomach milk and not solid food. Hence Paul could not speak to them as
spiritual people. While Paul was capable of imparting solid stuff, he was sure that
the Corinthians weren’t accustomed to that kind of spiritual stuff. Hence he
had to resort to giving them baby food. While it is alright to start as infants
in Christ, it is certainly not alright to remain that way all of the Christian
life.
In verses 3-4 Paul showed them the
reason for his conclusion that they were still babies and not mature adults. He
said that it was clearly written in their attitudes and activities. They were
brought together in Christ to have fellowship in Him, but in reality they were
practicing dissension and being cliquish. Envy, strife, jealousy and infighting
were their common activities. These were clear marks of immaturity. They had
also so evidently championed for their respective leaders. They did it to a point
where someone who followed another leader would not be regarded as a fellow
believer in Christ. That’s immaturity.
In contrast Paul showed them in verses
5-9 what maturity would look like as a model for the Corinthians to strive
toward. Whether it was Apollos or himself, Paul wanted them to see that they
were only servants and channels through whom God had used to minister to them.
Their ultimate allegiance should be in Christ. An attitude a mature believer should
have, would be to see that all God’s servants as complementary. While Paul
planted, and Apollos watered, it was up to God to bring the growth. Neither the
process of planting nor watering determines the growth. God alone determines
the growth. Paul then asserted that every role a person played in the ministry
was significant and each would be rewarded accordingly. With that he came back
to the point he had made to the Corinthians, whether it’s him or Apollos, Paul
said, they both work for a common cause, because they both belong to God. In much
the same way all believers in Corinth also belong to God. They were not only
God’s field but also God’s building. He introduced the church as God’s building
to set in motion what he would pick up in his discussion in the next few
verses.
What can we take away from these
verses? Realize that we all come into Christ as babes and Christianity is a
lifetime of growth. So we evaluate and find out where we are in terms of our
growth in Christ. Then determine to make time to grow to the next level. As we
do it, we must realize that we need the help of others in our growth toward
Christlikeness.
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