http://biblebitbybit.blogspot.com/2016/01/1-corinthians-3-v-1-4.html
Posted by 1 Corinthians on Tuesday, 5 January 2016
1 Corinthians 3:1-4
(1) And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
(2) I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
(3) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
(4) For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
3:1-4. However, this was not true of all at Corinth. When Paul came and preached Christ to them, they believed. By faith they were justified and granted peace with God (Rom. 5:1-2). No doubt Paul taught them all the blessings that came to them as Christians, what Paul called milk. At that time their way of thinking and living was only beginning to be transformed (Rom. 12:2). They were still greatly influenced by worldly thinking and behavior—they were infants in Christ.
But “the message of the Cross” (1 Cor. 1:18) concerned more than justification. It also concerned sanctification. It called for a renewal of attitude and action in response to God’s revelation. It called for righteousness in thought and deed (Heb. 5:11-14). And this part of the message of “Christ . . . crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2), this solid food (3:2), the Corinthians had spurned. As a result they were still worldly (v. 3). Instead of mature behavior characterized by humility and concern for others—obedience to God—the Corinthians were infantile, self-centered, and therefore divisive (v. 4; cf. 1:12). They wanted lives of exaltation (4:8) without lives of humiliation (4:9-13) because they did not understand that “Christ . . . crucified” was a message concerned not only with justification but also with sanctification (cf. Phil. 2:1-8). This misunderstanding was at the root of their disunity (cf. 1 Cor. 1:10; 3:4), which error Paul wanted to correct.
Excerpt from:
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-c1985).
The Bible knowledge commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures.
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
