Paul's First Letter To The Church At Corinth. Day 5, Worldly Christians

The apostle tells the church that they are still behaving like the world because they are quarreling with each other.

"Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly---mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready." (1 Corinthians 3:1-2) While Paul was in Corinth he taught the citizens there the gospel and the basic principles of the faith. Since then he has moved on to Ephesus but some of the church members at Corinth have not grown in the faith. They are still like infants, not like mature Christians. They are saved but they have not really progressed beyond that.

"You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere human beings?" (1 Corinthians 3:3-4) Earlier in our study of this letter we found that there were divisions in the church because its members disagreed about whose teachings to follow. They had lost sight of the fact that they were following Christ. So now Paul says, "You are behaving like people who have not been regenerated by the power of Christ. You are no longer just human beings, but children of the living God. There should be unity among you, not division."

"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe---as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow." (1 Corinthians 3:5-6) He reminds them, "I was the one who first told you the gospel. Then Apollos took up the work of teaching you how to live in Christ. But it all would have come to nothing if God had not been in it. He is the one who made His word prosper among you."

"So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." (1 Corinthians 3:7) All the glory goes to God. Paul, Apollos, Peter, and all the other apostles were God's servants, doing what He called them to do. Paul is trying to make them understand that arguing about which apostle to follow is pointless. None of the apostles died for them, none of the apostles rose from the dead for them, and none of the apostles saved them.

"The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor." (1 Corinthians 3:8) The Lord will reward each apostle for his work, but the church is to follow Christ, who is the head of the church. The apostles are not to be treated as if they are holy. They are human beings who have been saved by grace and who are being obedient to the Lord by preaching the gospel. But all the glory goes to the Lord.