Tag: carnal
Infants in Christ
Scripture reading for July 9: 1 Corinthians 3
“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. And even now you ae not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-6
For teaching purposes, Paul divided up people into three groups. First, there were those who were worldly or carnal people. These people were in darkness spiritually and lived by their carnal nature and appetites and senses. Next there were the ‘infants in Christ’ who had received salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. They became believers but still lived by their senses and the appetites of their flesh. They would be considered ‘carnal’ Christians, saved but still in the baby state. The third group were the spiritually mature believers. They had learned God’s Word and through the Holy Spirit had received understanding of all that was theirs in Christ Jesus. They walked in faith and love.
The Corinthian believers had come to Christ, but still held on to their fleshly ways. They began to boast about following certain leaders, some following Paul and some Apollos. This caused jealousy and strife among the believers. Paul wrote this letter to instruct them in the basics of growing up to maturity. Although there were different leaders, each one was given by God to aid the church in their spiritual development. God was the only One worthy of worship and following. We learn from this letter that spiritual development takes time and is often a process of trial and error and correcting course. This is very similar to training a child to become a responsible adult.
Have you ever fallen into the trap of exalting a leader and focusing on that leader above Christ? How does this passage enlarge your spiritual understanding and growth concerning leaders? If you were to evaluate your own spiritual growth and development, in what stage of growth would you place yourself?
Prayer: Father God, thank You for providing spiritually mature leaders who brought correction and discipline into my life. Thank you for those who provided examples that were not so good that I might grow up. May I provide a good example and sound doctrine lived out for younger disciples. Amen.