![]() ![]() Those who desire to grow and actually put their desire into action will be blessed (1 Peter 2:2 Matthew 5:6). ![]() The words of our text remind us of Hebrews 5:12, where it is written, “ For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”īrother or sister, how about you? Are you still on a milk-only diet, or have you progressed to solid food? If we want to grow, we need to spend time, lots of time, in the word of God. So it is in a Christian’s spiritual development. There comes a time, however, when it is time to move on to more solid stuff. There is a time in a child’s physical development when it needs a diet of milk. What kind of spiritual food could the saints in Corinth handle? You are right – only the milk (3:2). Milk versus solid food – Milk is for babies solid food is for those that are more grown up. What words do the church’s babies need to hear? “Grow up!” It is high time for some of us to stop being so easily offended, cease being hyper-critical, and put an end to being super sensitive. Yep, in short, they act like little babies. They think only about themselves and what they desire. Even today there are those who were baptized into the Christ “ages ago,”but they have failed to mature spiritually. The saints in Corinth had been in the Christ long enough that they should have progressed past the stage of infancy, and yet they were acting like spiritual babies. The term that applies to those who are recent converts is “babes.” This is not a derogatory word, but simply points to the reality that since they have not been in the Lord a long time, they are like babies in the spiritual realm. Anyone that is in the Christ “ is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17), meaning that he has become a new or changed person. Why? Because they were conducting themselves “ as babes in Christ” (3:1). What about you, my brother or sister? Are you carnal-minded, or spiritual-minded?īabes in the Christ – Paul would have preferred to speak to the members there as mature brethren, but he could not. It is still possible today for a child of God to become flesh and world-oriented instead of spiritual and Lord-oriented. What happened in the minds and lives of God’s people in Corinth should serve as an eye-opening, sober reminder to all of us. But, no, they thought and acted like the world. They should have been spiritual people – spiritually-minded and spiritually-focused. ![]() ![]() They were people who were not successfully abstaining from “ fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). Spiritual versus carnal – What was the Holy Spirit’s description of the saints in Corinth? Three times He called them “carnal” (3:1,3,4). It is obvious from the four verses quoted above that at least some of the members there were not maturing as they should have. When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, the church in Corinth had been in existence for about five years. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (4) For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and another, ‘I am of Apollos,’ are you not carnal? (2) I fed you with milk and not with solid food for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able (3) for you are still carnal. (1) And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. The apostle Paul labeled the members at Corinth as “carnal,” as we see in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4: Those problems were both legion and serious. Yet, as we read this epistle, we learn that there were problems that plagued the church there. The members there had been washed, sanctified, and justified (6:11). The Lord’s first-century church in Corinth was no exception. Every local church faces challenges and struggles. ![]()
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