1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Unfortunately Their Present Behaviour Is a Sign of their Immaturity For The Objects of Their Devotion Are But Instruments of God. Their Eyes Are Fixed In The Wrong Place (3:1-7)

‘And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly (sarkinos), as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat, for you were not yet able to bear it. No, even now you cannot. For you are yet fleshly (sarkikos). For whereas there is among you jealousies and strife, are you not fleshly and walk after the manner of men?'

Having stressed the spiritual nature of the Gospel and the men who truly preached it, and of those who are united with Christ, he now turns to the Corinthians themselves and presents his diagnosis of their condition. He declares that he cannot speak of them as ‘pneumatikoi'. They probably boasted that they were ‘spiritual' because of their manifestations of ‘spiritual gifts' (chapter 14). So he informs them that they are not in fact revealing themselves to be spiritual at all, but to be ‘fleshly'. This latter is not quite the same as the ‘natural man', but only one step from it. The fleshly man has the Spirit but yields to the flesh (Galatians 5:16), rather than being devoid of the Spirit. Nevertheless the difference is significant. He can still say to them, ‘you are a Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you' (1 Corinthians 3:16).

‘Could not speak to you as to spiritual (pneumatikois), but as to carnal (sarkinois).' To be spiritual means to be illuminated by the Spirit, to have an understanding of the wisdom of God in His divine activity, to be concentrating on the crucified and risen Christ, and responding to Him, and, as we have seen in the previous chapter, to be able to judge all things, and not to be judgeable by any. But Paul can see none of this in the Corinthians. He cannot address them as ‘spiritual'. He sees them as deficient.

But surely if 1 Corinthians 2:14 refers to Christians as against non-Christians, those indwelt by the Spirit in contrast with those not indwelt by the Spirit, then he surely is speaking to them as pneumatikoi. And if he has just described them as pneumatikoi, and as those who could discern all things, he would want them to know that he spoke to them as such, and that therefore they should be ashamed of their condition. It would help his case. It would mean that they had the basic factor which would enable their discernment, a factor which he could not deny, and that therefore it made them even more inexcusable.

The point he makes, however, is that he cannot speak to them as pneumatikoi. This suggests that 1 Corinthians 2:14 cannot refer directly to them, for in such close connection he could hardly insist that they were peumatikoi and then say he could not speak to them as such. He would want to speak with them as such. On the other hand if 1 Corinthians 2:14 refers to Jesus Christ as ‘the Spiritual One', and their relationship with Christ is such that they are not drawing on Him, not walking in the Spirit but walking in the flesh (Galatians 5:16), thus not drawing on His spirituality which they have in Him, then we can understand why he can say that they are not ‘spiritual', using the word in the same sense as in 1 Corinthians 14:37. They are not making use of the spirituality that they have in Christ, therefore they are not ‘spiritual', and he cannot speak to them as though they were.

Those who see 1 Corinthians 2:14 as including a description of them as Christians then have to say that what Paul means is, ‘you are pneumatikoi, but I cannot speak to you as such because your lives do not reveal it'. This not only seem unlikely, but it also appears a little forced in such close proximity to 1 Corinthians 2:14.

However that may be, these Corinthians seemingly could not, or would not, receive such things for they were like ‘babes'. In Paul the word ‘babes' does not mean what many mean today when they speak of ‘babes in Christ' but always indicates those who lack the fullness of a position in Christ. In Romans 2:20 it parallels ‘the foolish', those not having the full truth. In 1 Corinthians 13:11 it speaks of when Paul himself was a ‘babe', believing childish things, prior to achieving adulthood. In Galatians 4:1; Galatians 4:3 it describes those still under the Law and under the elements of the world. In Ephesians 4:14 it speaks of those carried around on any wind of doctrine, deceived by crafty men after the wiles of error. And yet here he can speak of them as being ‘in Christ'. They are thus a contradiction in terms. They are those who have the Spirit and yet are muddled as to the truth. It possibly suggests that he his holding his verdict on them somewhat in the balance. They are not ‘natural men' but they certainly seem to think like it. And yet they have believed.

Indeed they had been ‘fleshly' (sarkinos), wrapped up in themselves and their own wants. And the trouble was that they did not seem to be emerging from their condition. Rather it was getting worse. They were still fleshly, but this time sarkikos, too wrapped up in their jealousies and constant bitter arguments to fully appreciate the truth of the cross. They were being controlled by the fleshly side of their nature and concentrating on personalities and their emphases and their different approaches to teaching, and on the outward trappings of their religious observations. And they were especially proud that they had been baptised by a ‘spiritual' person. And this concentration meant that they were not looking at Christ, except possibly dimly and vaguely, but were taken up with concentrating their efforts on upholding, against all comers, their heroes, and what they taught in distinction from the others. They were thus not experiencing the word of the cross with its power. They were too taken up with strife and division on secondary matters. And because their link to the Spiritual One was weak their spirituality was low. They had not advanced their spiritual side, the spirituality that they had in Christ in the Spirit.

‘Fleshly.' The difference between the two words sarkinos and sarkikos is not very great in their use in the New Testament, but Paul is possibly using the difference to compare the selfishness and self-expression which is the natural, though unhelpful, result of the flesh with the selfishness and sinful self-expression of badly behaved adults who still behave ‘like children' which is even more unacceptable. We might see sarkinos as suggesting ‘behaving like someone naturally so composed', but which is not good, and sarkikos as ‘ruled by flesh, characterised by fleshly ways, even when they should have grown out of it', which is worse. Indeed in Romans 7:14 Paul could speak of himself as sarkinos in contrast to the Law which was psychikos. His fleshly part only too often prevented him from fulfilling what was spiritual, but did not prevent him being spiritual. Sarkikos in contrast wars against the soul (1 Peter 2:11). It describes wisdom which is contrary to the grace of God (2 Corinthians 1:12). But it can also mean simply something which is simply physical and not spiritual in a neutral sense (1 Corinthians 9:11; Romans 15:27; 2 Corinthians 10:4; Hebrews 7:16). 1 Peter 2:11 and 2 Corinthians 1:12 are more pertinent here. Thus the distinction is not large but possibly indicates some deterioration. However it is clearly an adjective which can be associated with Christians, although in a fashion which warns against it because of its bad effects.

These adult ‘works of the flesh' are described in Galatians 5:19, and they do not make pretty reading. Strife, jealousy, bad temper, divisiveness, behaving like children without self-control. And if they continue like this, they are warned, it will be testimony to the fact that they are not really God's children, that they ‘will not inherit the kingdom of God' (Galatians 5:22). Thus it is now time that they grew up and proved that they really are children of God, by revealing that they possess ‘the things that accompany salvation' (Hebrews 6:9), the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, self-control, and that they have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:22). What they must do is let Christ's spirituality take over in their lives, and let the cross do its work.

‘-- as to fleshly, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with meat, for you were not able.' This refers first of all to when he had previously known them, but it is then described as being still applicable. They had clearly not been fully receptive to true doctrine, to the full significance of the word of the cross. What they had received had been to them milk and not meat. Paul had not deliberately fed them milk. That was how it had turned out because of their fleshliness. This is not describing first principles taught to the new Christian. Paul would expect those to be taken as meat. It is describing what they actually received because of their inadequacy.

Or it may be that they had in fact accused him of only giving them milk because he had not taught them ‘wisdom teaching' and that he is being sarcastic. He could be pointing out that it was only because they were babes in their ability to receive doctrine that what he fed them had to be milk. Either way the fault is theirs, and not because Paul chose to feed them only milk. For the fact seems to be that they were to be seen as blameworthy even in this, as ‘fleshly' demands.

‘No, even now you are not able.' These still seemed not to be able to take what he taught as ‘meat', the deep truths of the Gospel. They still would not fully receive the word of the cross. They did not learn from it to die to self and live to Christ (Galatians 2:20). They did not give the impression of abiding in the true vine (in Christ) and of producing Christ-like fruit (John 15:1). They were too concerned with other things, which showed that they were still controlled by ‘the flesh' (human aims and desires, the feeding of the ego and the gratifying of the senses, the acceptance of teaching devoid of the Spirit), rather than with divine aims and ideas, with spiritual doctrine and to be part of Christ's pure and mutually loving people. It may be that their spiritual gifts made them think that they were spiritual. Paul makes clear that that is not so. Having Christ's spirituality would result in their being like Christ, and had they had that sufficiently they would not behave as they do.

‘For you are yet carnal (fleshly - sarkikos).' This is here defined in terms of human emotions and reactions, ‘jealousy and strife'. Their human side is on top and they are too concerned about earthly things, and this has led them to be jealous about such things and to fight among themselves as rivals, splitting up into different parties and fighting for personalities. They are behaving as though they were just ordinary people not affected by the word of the cross and its message and power, and not appreciative of it. They are behaving as though they were earthly and not heavenly. They walk after the manner of men who are devoid of the Spirit.