I Corinthians 3:1-9

I Corinthians 3:1-9

1 And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9 For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.

I Corinthians 3:1-9 has the theme of evidence of spiritual immaturity. When Jesus said that unless one becomes like a child one will not enter the rule of God, he was directing us to the playful, open to the world, open to forming new friendships, and trusting aspect of childhood.[1] The concern Paul has here is in matters of spirituality, we will have a needed stage of spiritual infancy, but we must not stay there. We need to embrace the challenges of a mature faith. Paul has had a strained relationship with the church at Corinth. He has commented on the various factions that formed around competing allegiances to different apostles (1:10-13).  ¹ And so, given what he has just said, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people (πνευματικοῖς), but rather as people of the flesh (σαρκίνοις), as infants in Christ. They are human beings under the power of human impulses, thought, and ideals. Physical rather than spiritual concerns dominate them. They live for themselves, seek their own pleasures, and regard others as a means of satisfy8ng their own desires. Their desire to gain superiority over others arises from their lack of submission to the Spirit. ² I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Given what we read elsewhere, the people of the church at Corinth may have thought they could receive the solid food, but in the judgment of Paul, they were not ready. Some scholars suggest his opponents used the imagery of milk and solid food against Paul, who now turns the imagery back upon them. As the first apostle among them, the accusation would go, he fed them only with “milk,” whereas they thought themselves entitled to solid food. Another possibility that would lead us away from the power struggle between Paul and his opponents is that “to feed with milk” has the meaning of “to nurse at the breast.” Even in ancient times, infants might receive as food a mixture of goat’s milk and honey. Some men were directly involved in the care of young children alongside wet nurses, possibly because they were husbands of those servants in the household. Even these men did not generally act directly in the feeding of an infant.  The imagery suggests Paul is casting himself in the role of nursing mother or even the servile role of wet nurse. If so, how does this milk differ from the solid food? Most likely, the nutritional and spiritual content is the same. What differs is the way they receive the truth of the gospel. When milk or solid food, Paul feeds them the true gospel, but they seem fascinated with synthetic substitutes. Once the Corinthians grow up by putting aside their rivalries rooted in dependence on others, they will not only be able to receive the gospel as solid food, but will be able to feed it up themselves and in the natural order of things feed others as well.[2] Such an approach to the text allows us to look upon the role of parenting. If our infants remain dependent upon us as parents throughout the stages of lf a human life, we have not done our job as parents. Paul is preparing them for the time when he will no longer be present. Thus, there is an irony to Paul’s choice of metaphor here. The Corinthians are acting like babies (who are, by definition, a part of a family), but they are not acting like a family. Even now you are still not ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh (σαρκικοί). The evidence is in. For as long as there is jealousy (ζῆλος) and quarreling (ἔρις)among you, are you not of the flesh (σαρκικοί), and behaving according to human inclinations (κατὰἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖτε)? They put their extreme immaturity on display in this way, showing themselves to be nothing more than squabbling infants and toddlers. Paul lists these two qualities, among others, elsewhere in Galatians as examples of works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-20). The presence of these attributes here indicates that the Corinthians gain their perspective by their fleshly orientation. In this way, the Corinthians have shown themselves to be indistinguishable from the world around them. Thus, another irony is evident: Where the Corinthians apparently suffer from divisions within their own congregation, they are apparently simultaneously perfectly united to the non-Christian segments of the population of Corinth. They dissociate from the group with which they are to have cohesion (themselves) and bound to the group from which they are to look and act differently (the non-Christians at Corinth). This problem becomes even more evident later in the letter as Paul discusses the troubling practice of Christians partaking of food sacrificed to idols (8:1-13; 10:14-22). Yet, because they are so young in terms of their spiritual maturity, they are not even ready for the disciplinarian who might sternly and authoritatively instruct them. They are still in need of one who would nourish and serve them in the way that mothers and wet nurses serve infants far too young to care for themselves. Such service is the mark of an apostle.[3] ⁴ For, pointing to further evidence they are not ready and are fleshly, when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human (ἄνθρωποί)? Here is evidence that their feelings, interests, and prejudices found confirmation in a particular leader. They thought they could decide for themselves which of their leaders was better qualified or were truer to Christ. However, one does this by submitting to human standards, rather than the Spirit. Such factionalism is harmful to the community of believers and they need to eradicate it through putting their spiritual immaturity behind them. ⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. Neither leader is a servant of the church, and therefore under the authority of the church, but of God. They seem guided by the way leaders impressed them, appealed to their feelings, excited their interests, or confirmed their prejudices. They thought they could decide for themselves which of their leaders was better qualified or were truer to Christ. They do this by submission to human standards rather than to the Spirit. The proper view of Paul and Apollos is that they are not authority figures asserting power over the Corinthians. Rather, they are servants. His point is that who Paul and Apollos are as individuals is not important. What is important is that they are in their role as vessels for God to use. When one views the matter in this light, Paul points out, any difference between Paul and Apollos becomes negligible. In verses 6-8, Paul will use an agricultural metaphor that includes images of growth, an apt image, given that Paul has a concern for their spiritual immaturity. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Paul is admitting that the two leaders have had different roles in Corinth. The Corinthians have received the benefit of the service of Paul and Apollos. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The difference in roles between the two leaders does not matter. Paul places the emphasis where it should be as he stresses that while the servants work, God provides the increase. Paul believes he and Apollos are servants, using an example of the land.  Both have their place, but God gives the increase. If they remember this, they will not place so much emphasis upon either Paul or Apollos, who cannot create either the seed or the ground. Here is a fact that should make them hesitate to place emphasis on the leader. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose (or “The planter and the waterer are one”). Paul is calling upon them to rethink their relationship with the workers in the field of God. Evelyn Underhill was one of the great devotional writers in history.  She has a wonderful image of what the church can be.  Our role is not in the auditorium, but on the stage.  We are not the spectators, but we are intimately involved in the play.  God is the one who will use us in the most profitable way.  She goes on to describe the various ways in which God might use us.  We might be like tools, taken up when wanted, used in ways we had not expected, and then laid down.  Sometimes we are the money used in some great operation which we do not fully understand.  Sometimes we are the servants who have the same monotonous job year after year.  Sometimes we are consciously working with God as a partner in building the kingdom.  No matter what role we discover ourselves to be in, however, we are in the position of being faithful daily to what God has given us to do in life. Regardless of the role, each of us are leaders in small or great ways. Each of us has a common purpose, which is not to build up personal followings. We are servants on behalf of God. We are partners with God, but the congregation is God’s farm. And each will receive wages according to the labor of each. The servants will receive their reward, which may refer to the work of the community as a whole or it may refer to their eschatological reward. In verse 9, Paul concludes the agricultural metaphor he has been using but also introduces the architectural metaphor he will use in verses 10-15. ⁹ For we are God's servants, and thus not serving under the authority of the Corinthian church but rather serve under the authority of God, working together; you are God's field, God's building. While Paul and Apollos serve God, the Corinthians also belong to God as the field or building of God, again placing the emphasis where it should be. The Corinthians are a field that Paul and Apollos have tended, and they are also a building that Paul and Apollos have assisted in constructing. Regardless of the metaphor that the Corinthians would choose, however, Paul’s point is the same: despite the difference between individuals, they are all one body, and, as such, they must eliminate the factions that divide them. Clearly, Paul does not have a relationship with his churches as if he were a universal bishop, as the language used here shows. A bishop would not have put his group on equal footing with others, stressing that planting and watering are nothing in comparison to what God does. This does not smack of the hierarchical guarantee of the unity of the church.[4] Yet, Paul is not merely exchanging insults with his opponents in the rhetorical equivalent of a childish food fight. Paul is calling on his readers to rethink their relationship with him and with the other servants in God’s field. They serve a common purpose. The Corinthians themselves need to mature to take responsibility for themselves as they labor with others rather than expecting their leaders, Paul and Apollos, to nourish them like infants. 

            If we play with the imagery here, children are the guests of their parents. They will be guests in the home for a while and leave to create their own space. Parents will refer to “our son” or “our daughter,” but they know their children are not their property. Parents know them well. Parents may have the experience that their children become strangers, as if they allowed another to parent them. Such a result is painful, but you as a parent have taught them to make their own decisions. The greatest gift parents can give their children is to love each other. Throughout that love, they create an anxiety-free space for their children to grow and mature.[5] As parents give their children the help they need at the various stages of life, they know their lives have meaning in that fact that someone else needs them. Helping an infant mature through the stages of life also helps us to learn an important thing about ourselves. Regardless of our imperfections and weaknesses, we learn that we are competent and loving.[6] I hope I do not need to make the application to the church and its leaders.

Elsewhere in this same letter, he speaks of maturity in a way that makes it sound like an arrival point: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (13:11). If only it were that simple. There is truth to what Paul says, of course, but adulthood is not a threshold we step across at some predetermined age. Biological maturation does not automatically equal emotional or spiritual maturation. A person may be able to vote, drink and drive; doesn’t mean he or she is mature. Even adults can act like kids. It is common to see in adults such childish behaviors as selfishness, tantrum-throwing, impatience, name-calling, bullying, gossiping, keeping score and getting even, over-dramatizing, shirking blame, avoidance behavior and problems with impulse control.

            Most pastors have wrestled with the spiritual immaturity of individual members and even with congregations that seem to have spiritual immaturity as their theme. Behavioral signs of emotionally delayed development include:

 1. Doing spiteful things -- giving the silent treatment, doing things to irritate, ignoring [someone] when conversations are initiated, omit[ing] routine courtesies (will not do an errand that s/he normally does)

 2. Making excuses -- playing the pity card, blaming others, was in a hurry, claims their feelings are hurt (any excuse to avoid accepting blame)

 3. Selfishness -- disregard [for] others' feelings and needs, places desires first (will turn off AC in the house if s/he is not home)

 4. Twisting the truth -- manipulating truths of an argument by leaving facts out (telling only part of the story to make others look guilty)

 5. Hypersensitive -- throwing a temper tantrum, showing anger, insulting, able to physically make themselves become emotionally upset (over-reacting to trivial matters)

 6. Refusing to accept logic -- denying their actions/behaviors are contradictory, purposely finding fault or exaggerating others' faults (shifting blame or changing conversation subject).[7]

Here are some symptoms of spiritual immaturity:

holding the belief that faith will make you prosper or at least protect you from great troubles,

thinking of prayer as a shopping list of requests,

struggling with the same weakness with no success (what an earlier generation of Christians called “besetting sins”),

expecting ongoing spiritual highs,

hanging your faith on a human leader,

believing that the main reason for going to church is for what you receive,

having the blinding certainty that your understanding of faith is right, and therefore anyone who sees faith differently must be wrong.

Some symptoms of spiritual growth include:

understanding that faith is neither a guarantee of prosperity nor protection from troubles, but a certain knowledge that God is with you,

using prayer as way to make yourself vulnerable to God,

having more success in the struggle with besetting sins but also a greater understanding that salvation is not something you earn — it is the gift of God,

hanging your faith on Christ, despite how human leaders serve him or fail to serve him,

realizing that going to church is both for what you receive and what you give,

grasping that others’ understanding of faith doesn’t have to be wrong for yours to be God’s truth for you.

One form of spiritual growth is to study how certain problems or issues in our lives interfere with our discipleship. Thus, we could prayerfully make ourselves open to the hindrances of our own making that hold us back from spiritual immaturity. If our primary task is to discover and grow our true self, our souls, then we are often clumsy stewards of our spiritual maturity.[8]

When Pope Gregory I (A.D. 540-604) commissioned 30 monks to preach the gospel in Britain, he told them to be patient with the new converts, since some of the desired changes in their habits and lifestyle would come about only gradually. Elsewhere, Gregory wrote, “He who endeavors to ascend to the highest place rises by degrees or steps, and not by leaps.”[9]

Paul is not the only early church teacher who needed to address this problem of getting stuck in spiritual infancy. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews said something similar to his readers: “You have come to the place where you need milk instead of solid food. Everyone who lives on milk is not used to the word of righteousness, because they are babies. But solid food is for the mature ...” (Hebrews 5:12-14, CEB).

So, our prayer could be for growth in our spiritual digestive system, so that we can handle the solid food of mature faith.

In any congregation, there are always people at different stages of the Christian life. To use the parallel with human growth, each of the stages of human development are within us. The child, adolescent, young adult, mature adult, remain within the older adult. The pluses and minuses of each stage can emerge. If we think of stages of spiritual growth as something like seeker, follower, adult, and reproducer, for example, we can see that while not exact, general human development and spiritual development follow a similar pattern. Such development occurs as we face the unique challenges and problems of each stage. So let our final words here be these from Hebrews 6 (as rendered by The Message): “So come on, let’s leave the preschool finger-painting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on ‘salvation by self-help’ and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!” (6:1-3).

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[1]  --Frederick Buechner, Now and Then (HarperCollins, 2010), 73.

[2] Our Mother Saint Paul (41-50), Beverly Roberts Gaventa

[3] Our Mother Saint Paul (41-50), Beverly Roberts Gaventa.

[4] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [62.2] 673.

[5]  --Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith. Entry for March 7 (HarperCollins, 1985).

[6] —Fred Rogers, The World According to Mr. Rogers: Important Things to Remember (New York: Hyperion, 2003), 82.

[7]  --Frances Childress, "6 signs to be aware of before committing to an immature relationship," The San Francisco Examiner Website, examiner.com. July 28, 2010. Retrieved September 12, 2013.

[8] Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life (Jossey-Bass: 2011), vii, ix-x, xi.

[9] Pope Gregory, letter sent to the Abbot Mellitus, then going into Britain. Cited by Bede (673­735): Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book I, Chapter XXX, fordham.edu. Retrieved July 12, 2019.