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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:1-9
Paul’s underlying thought in chapters one and two is that Christ is God’s unique center and also the portion of the saints. Beginning with chapter three, Paul speaks regarding the church. When he comes to the church, he writes in a very meaningful, profitable, and life-giving way, in the way of feeding, planting, and watering for growth. In 3:9 he says that the church is God’s farm and God’s building. Even though Paul does not use the word church in this chapter, he speaks about the church in a wonderful way. Paul writes of the church not in the way of doctrine, not even the doctrine of life, but in the way of the experience of life.
In 3:1 Paul says, “And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ.” Here Paul is very frank in telling the Corinthians that he could not speak unto them as to spiritual, but as to fleshy. A spiritual man is one who does not behave according to the flesh or act according to the soulish life, but lives according to the spirit, that is, his spirit mingled with the Spirit of God. Such a one is dominated, governed, directed, moved, and led by such a mingled spirit.
The term fleshy is a stronger expression than fleshly in verse 3, and it refers to aspects of the flesh that are more gross. Fleshy denotes made of flesh; fleshly denotes being influenced by the nature of the flesh, partaking of the character of the flesh. In verse 1 the apostle considers the Corinthian believers to be totally of the flesh, made of the flesh, and just the flesh. What a strong word! Then in verse 3 the apostle condemns their behaving in jealousy and strife as fleshly, being under the influence of their fleshly nature and partaking of the character of the flesh.
This book reveals clearly that a believer may be one of three kinds of men: a spiritual man, living in his spirit under the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:25); a soulish man, living in his soul under the direction of the soul, the natural life (2:14); or a fleshy and fleshly man, of the flesh and living in the flesh under the influence of the nature of the flesh. The Lord desires that all His believers may take His grace to be the first kind of man — a spiritual man. This is the goal of this book — to motivate the Corinthian believers who are soulish, fleshy, and fleshly to aspire to the growth in life that they may become spiritual (2:15; 3:1; 14:37). As we have been called by God into the fellowship of Christ (1:9), who is now the life-giving Spirit (15:45), and as we are one spirit with Him (6:17), we can experience and enjoy Him only when we live in our spirit under the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we live in the soul or in the flesh, we are missing the mark of participating in Him.
In 3:1 Paul refers to the believers at Corinth as infants in Christ. Although they had received all the initial gifts in life and were lacking in none of them (1:7), they had not grown in life after receiving them, but rather remained as infants in Christ, not spiritual but fleshy. The apostle here points out their deficiency and indicates their need, that is, to grow in life to maturity, to be full grown (2:6; Col. 1:28).
In verse 2 Paul goes on to say, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not then able to receive it. But neither yet now are you able.” To give milk to drink or food to eat is to feed others. Feeding refers to the matter of life. This differs from teaching, which refers to knowledge. What the apostle ministered to the Corinthian believers seemed to be knowledge. Actually it was milk (not yet solid food), and it should have nourished them. Milk is mainly for infants, whereas solid food is for the mature (Heb. 5:12). The fact that the Corinthian believers could not receive solid food indicates that they were not growing in life.
In verse 3 Paul continues, “For you are still fleshly. For whereas there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and walking according to man?” Jealousy and strife are expressions, characteristics, of the nature of the flesh. Hence, they characterize those who are in the flesh, those who are fleshly. Every fallen human being is the flesh (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16). Therefore, to walk according to man is to walk according to the flesh.
Verse 4 says, “For whenever one says, I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos, are you not men?” The word men here refers to men of the flesh, to fallen natural men, to men in the world. Instead of walking according to the natural man, we should walk according to the mingled spirit. However, in saying that they were of Paul or of Apollos, the Corinthians were walking according to the fallen natural man. They were not living and behaving according to the Spirit in their regenerated human spirit.
In verse 8 Paul declares, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one.” Here Paul seems to be saying, “I and Apollos are one. I am one with Apollos, and Apollos is one with me. Why do you try to divide us? Why do some of you say that you are of him and others say that you are of me? To speak in this way is to be divisive. Apollos and I are one in the God-given ministry. I planted and he watered, but we both share in the one ministry. Furthermore, each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. We are God’s fellow-workers, and you are God’s farm, God’s building.”
In 3:1-9 we see that Paul regarded all the believers in Christ as plants which need growth. The most necessary thing for a plant is growth. The Corinthian believers were not lacking in the initial gifts in life — the eternal life and the Holy Spirit — but they were desperately short in the growth in life. The initial gifts were given for the purpose of growth and development.
Many Christians today do not realize that they have received the initial gifts in life and that they urgently need the growth in life. The matter most neglected among believers is the initial gifts for the growth in life. I hope that many among us, especially the young ones, will realize that they have the divine life and the Holy Spirit within them as the initial gifts and that these gifts need growth and development.
The Corinthian believers had received the initial gifts of life as the seed. This means that the seed had been sown into their being, and that their being was the earth in which the seed would grow. But although they had received the seed, they still needed the growth in life for the development of the gifts they had received.
Many Christians talk about gifts, but they do not pay attention to the initial gifts. The gifts in 1:7 are different from those in chapters twelve and fourteen. The gifts in these chapters are not the initial gifts. Rather, in chapters twelve and fourteen we have both miraculous gifts and mature gifts. Genuine tongues-speaking is a miraculous gift. For example, it certainly was a miracle for Balaam’s donkey to speak a human language. Although that may be called a gift, it certainly was not the initial gift in life. Believers may be amazed at the manifestation of a miraculous gift, but they may consider the initial gifts of eternal life and of the Holy Spirit very common and not worthy of much attention. However, even though the miraculous gifts have their source in God, they actually do not count as much as the initial gifts. No doubt, it was of God that Balaam’s donkey spoke in tongues. But this miraculous occurrence did not render either the donkey or Balaam very much help in life.
Many Christians today appreciate miraculous gifts more than the initial gifts. Some would be pleased if every believer spoke in tongues, even if the so-called tongues are not genuine. I can testify of this from experience. In 1963 I was invited to a certain Pentecostal group. After one of the meetings, the leader of this group and his wife tried to get a particular Chinese brother to speak in tongues. The wife told him not to speak either English or Chinese, but to make other sounds. The brother realized that in order to get out of that situation he had to say something. Remembering a few words in the Malay language, he uttered some words he remembered in that language. Immediately the leader of this Pentecostal group and his wife clapped their hands and rejoiced that this brother had spoken in tongues. The next day I pointed out to that couple what had actually happened and went on to question them about this practice.
Furthermore, in one of the meetings of this same Pentecostal group, a woman gave a short word in tongues. Then a young man gave a long interpretation of that word. Later the leader of the group admitted that the interpretation given by the young man was not genuine. I then asked him why he engaged in these practices when we have such a rich Christ to minister to others. He had nothing to say in response to my question.
Pentecostal believers ignore the initial gifts in favor of miraculous gifts, and many fundamental Christians pay their attention not to gifts but to doctrine. Thus, among both Pentecostalists and fundamentalists there is a serious neglect of the initial gifts, the gifts of the divine life and the Holy Spirit. How pitiful is the situation among so many Christians today! This causes me to be burdened to emphasize the crucial importance of the initial gifts. We all need to see that these gifts are the seed sown into us and that these gifts need to be developed and cultivated. In this Epistle Paul is seeking to develop and cultivate the initial gifts received by the Corinthian believers. He fully realized that the believers at Corinth were infants and desperately in need of growth. He could still feed them only with milk, but his desire was to supply them with solid food.
Once again I wish to point out that when we read or study the Bible, we need to get into the spirit of the writer. In 1 Corinthians 3 the burden in Paul’s spirit was to help the believers at Corinth realize what they had and what they needed. They had the divine life and the Holy Spirit, and they needed growth — growth in life and growth in the Holy Spirit. But how could these believers grow? If they were to grow, they needed to be watered.
Although the saints may water others, growth comes only from God Himself. As Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow; so that neither is the one who plants anything nor the one who waters, but the One Who makes to grow, God.” Because growth comes from God alone, those who water others must help them contact God. Actually, contacting God is itself the watering. Thus, the best way to be watered is to contact God. If you can help a weaker one or a young one have some contact with God, that will bring in the genuine watering. The watering will then supply the ingredients of life to those who already possess the divine life. As these ingredients are added to them, they will have an additional supply of life. Then spontaneously they will grow. Just as fertilizer helps plants to grow in a spontaneous way, so the believers in Christ also grow spontaneously by receiving an additional supply of life.
Many of those in the charismatic movement or the Pentecostal movement do not care for life or for the growth in life. Most of them do not even understand what life is. Instead of concentrating on the development of the divine life within the believers, they give their attention to the pursuit of miraculous gifts. As a result, many who emphasize things such as speaking in tongues are extremely immature in life. Paul’s emphasis in 1 Corinthians is very different. This book reveals that Christ is the unique center of God’s economy and also our portion for our enjoyment. This wonderful One is now the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. Continually we need to exercise our spirit to be one spirit with Him. The more we contact the Lord in this way, the more we are watered, supplied, and nourished. Then spontaneously we shall grow. I thank the Lord that many of the saints in the churches throughout the world are experiencing the genuine growth in life. What we need in the Lord’s recovery, and what the Lord is seeking among us, is more growth in life, more development of the initial gifts.
We have seen that in 3:1 Paul indicates that the believers at Corinth were infants in Christ. They, of course, had been genuinely saved, but they were fleshly and even fleshy, not spiritual. They exhibited the signs of infancy: not able to receive solid food, but only milk; being full of jealousy and strife and walking according to man; and exalting spiritual giants to cause divisions.
The situation in Corinth was the same as that found among many believers today. In almost every Christian group certain leaders are exalted in such a way as to cause division. Furthermore, many Christians are not able to receive solid food, but only a small amount of milk.
Paul knew that the Corinthian believers needed feeding, watering, and the additional supply of life. They needed to be fed with solid food (v. 2), they needed to be watered continually (vv. 6-7), and they needed the additional supply of life from God so that they could grow in life. These are the very things we need in the church life today. We need to be fed with solid food. We also need to water others and to be watered ourselves. We have seen that even the youngest and weakest among us is able to water the saints. But in watering others we should not try to solve their problems or presume to do God’s work by trying to help others grow. Instead, we should simply take time to contact God together. Then others will be watered, and God will give them growth through the additional life supply. May we all see that what is urgently needed is the growth in life. May we live in a way which produces the growth in life, and may we function by planting, feeding, watering, and also by leaving the actual growth to God.
In verse 8 Paul says that he who plants and he who waters are one. In the same verse he goes on to say, “Each one shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.” The reward is an incentive to the ministers of Christ who labor by planting or watering on God’s farm.
In 3:9 Paul says, “For we are God’s fellow-workers.” This indicates that God is also a worker. While the ministers of Christ, His fellow-workers, are working on His farm, He also is working. What a privilege and glory that men can be God’s fellow-workers, working together with God on His farm to grow Christ!
