1 Corinthians 3:1 - Meaning and Application

Paul first blames the Corinthians for being weak and spiritually immature. Those who belong to God are holy only in part, and there is still room for growth in both grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). Even people who have been renewed by God’s Spirit can still be lacking in many ways. Paul says he could not speak to them as spiritual people, but as worldly people, as babies in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1).

They had not yet learned to shape their thinking by God’s truth or live in the spirit of the gospel. Instead, they were still being led too much by sinful and selfish desires. They were still like infants in Christ. They had received the basic truths of Christianity, but they had not grown into mature understanding, faith, or holiness. Yet this church was proud of its wisdom and learning. It is sadly common for people with only a little real understanding to think very highly of themselves.

Paul says their lack of growth was the reason he had not given them deeper teaching. They could not take it in, so he fed them milk rather than solid food (1 Corinthians 3:2). A faithful minister must consider what listeners are able to receive and teach them at that level. Still, babies are meant to grow into adults, and believers should grow into maturity in Christ. Their progress in knowledge should match their time, opportunities, and experience in the faith. They should become able to handle deeper teaching and not always stay with the simplest truths. It was a shame that the Corinthians had sat under Paul’s ministry for so long and had grown so little. Christians are very much at fault when they do not try to grow in grace and knowledge.

Paul also blames them for being worldly in their behavior, and he points to their divisions over church leaders as proof. There were envy, quarrels, and divisions among them, and that showed they were still worldly and acting like ordinary people (1 Corinthians 3:3). They were competing with one another and forming factions around their ministers, with some saying, “I follow Paul,” and others, “I follow Apollos” (1 Corinthians 3:4). That kind of behavior showed that fleshly desires and self-interest still had too much power over them. Arguments and splits over religion are sad signs that sin is still at work in the heart. True religion makes people peaceable, not quarrelsome.

People who stir up parties and divisions are acting on human pride and passion, not on the truth of Christianity. Paul asks, “Are you not acting like mere men?” In other words, are you not living just like people who do not know Christ? It is sad that many who should live as Christians, above the usual way of people, still live too much like everyone else.