the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
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THE MESSAGE
1 Corinthians 3:1
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Brothers and sisters, when I was there, I could not talk to you the way I talk to people who are led by the Spirit. I had to talk to you like ordinary people of the world. You were like babies in Christ.
But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ.
And I coulde not speake vnto you brethre as vnto spretuall: but as vnto carnall even as it were vnto babes in Christ.
Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Messiah.
Brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as mere infants in Christ.1 Corinthians 2:14-15; Hebrews 5:13;">[xr]
And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, in the past I could not talk to you as I talk to spiritual people. I had to talk to you as I would to people without the Spirit—babies in Christ.
And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, [even] as to babes in Christ.
But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babes in Christ.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
And as for myself, brethren, I found it impossible to speak to you as spiritual men. It had to be as to worldlings--mere babes in Christ.
And Y, britheren, myyte not speke to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleischli men;
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly-as infants in Christ.
My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That's why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned.
However, brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as to spiritual people, but [only] as to worldly people [dominated by human nature], mere infants [in the new life] in Christ!
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
And the teaching I gave you, my brothers, was such as I was able to give, not to those who have the Spirit, but to those who are still in the flesh, even to children in Christ.
As for me, brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as babies, so far as experience with the Messiah is concerned.
And *I*, brethren, have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly; as to babes in Christ.
AND I, my brethren, could not speak with you as with the spiritual, but as with the carnal, and as with babes in the Meshiha.
1 And I, my Brethren, could not talk with you, as with spiritual [fn] , but as with the carnal, as with babes in Messiah.
And I, brethren, could not speake vnto you as vnto spirituall, but as vnto carnall, euen as vnto babes in Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn't talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ.
Christian brothers, I could not speak to you as to full-grown Christians. I spoke to you as men who have not obeyed the things you have been taught. I spoke to you as if you were baby Christians.
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.
And I could not speake vnto you, brethren, as vnto spirituall men, but as vnto carnall, euen as vnto babes in Christ.
SO I, my brethren, could not converse with you as with spiritual men, but as with worldly men and even as with little children in Christ.
I, therefore, brethren, have not been able to speak unto you, as unto men of the Spirit, but as unto men of the flesh - as unto babes in Christ: -
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. As unto little ones in Christ.
And I coulde not speake vnto you brethren, as vnto spirituall, but as vnto carnall [eue] as vnto babes in Christe.
As a matter of fact, my friends, I could not talk to you as I talk to people who have the Spirit; I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world, as children in the Christian faith.
For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to fleshly people, as to infants in Christ.
And, brothers, I was not able to speak to you as to spiritual ones, but as to fleshly ones, as to babes in Christ.
And I, brethren, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly -- as to babes in Christ;
And I brethren, coulde not speake vnto you as vnto spirituall, but as vnto carnall, euen as vnto babes in Christ.
However, I could not speak to you, my brethren, as to the spiritual, or as to the dispassionate, but as to novices in christianity.
So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
Listen cowboys and cowgirls, when I was with you, I had to talk to y'all like the greenhorns you were. You knew nothing of riding for God. You only knew how to ride for yourselves. You were like little kids.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.
And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
as unto spiritual: 1 Corinthians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 2:15, Galatians 6:1
as unto carnal: 1 Corinthians 3:3, 1 Corinthians 3:4, 1 Corinthians 2:14, Matthew 16:23, Romans 7:14
babes: 1 Corinthians 14:20, Ephesians 4:13, Ephesians 4:14, 1 John 2:12
Reciprocal: Isaiah 40:11 - he shall gather Jeremiah 3:15 - which shall Matthew 9:16 - for Matthew 24:45 - to give Mark 4:13 - Know Mark 4:33 - as John 3:12 - earthly John 16:12 - ye John 21:15 - lambs Romans 2:20 - a teacher Romans 14:1 - weak 1 Corinthians 4:8 - ye are full 1 Corinthians 13:11 - I spake 1 Timothy 3:6 - novice 2 Timothy 2:15 - rightly 2 Timothy 3:7 - learning Hebrews 5:12 - as have 1 Peter 2:2 - newborn
Cross-References
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you,.... Though the apostle was a spiritual man himself, had spiritual gifts, even the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, could judge all things, had the mind of Christ, and was able to speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, yet could not speak it to them,
as unto spiritual; not but that they had the Spirit of God in them, and a work of grace upon them; for they were, as the apostle afterwards says, the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelt in them; they were washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God; but had not that spiritual discerning, or judgment in spiritual things, which some believers had, at least when the apostle was first with them; and now they were under great spiritual declensions, and had not those spiritual frames, nor that spiritual experience and conversation, which some other Christians had:
but as unto carnal: not that they were in a carnal state, as unregenerate men are; but had carnal conceptions of things, were in carnal frames of soul, and walked in a carnal conversation with each other; though they were not in the flesh, in a state of nature, yet the flesh was in them, and not only lusted against the Spirit, but was very predominant in them, and carried them captive, so that they are denominated from it:
even as unto babes in Christ; they were in Christ, and so were new creatures; they were, as the Arabic version reads it, "in the faith of Christ"; though babes and weaklings in it, they were believers in Christ, converted persons, yet children in understanding, knowledge, and experience; had but little judgment in spiritual things, and were unskilful in the word of righteousness; at least this was the case of many of them, though others were enriched in all utterance and knowledge, and in no gift came behind members of other churches.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And I, brethren - See 1 Corinthians 2:1. This is designed to meet an implied objection. He had said 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 that Christians were able to understand all things. Yet, they would recollect that he had not addressed them as such, but had confined himself to the more elementary parts of religion when he came among them. He had not entered upon the abstruse and difficult points of theology - the points of speculation in which the subtle Greeks so much abounded and so much delighted. He now states the reason why he had not done it. The reason was one that was most humbling to their pride; but it was the true reason, and faithfulness demanded that it should be stated. It was, that they were carnal, and not qualified to understand the deep mysteries of the gospel; and the proof of this was unhappily at hand. It was too evident in their contentions and strifes, that they were under the influence of carnal feelings and views.
Could not speak unto you as unto spiritual - “I could not regard you as spiritual - as qualified to enter into the full and higher truths of the gospel; I could not regard you as divested of the feelings which influence carnal people - the people of the world, and I addressed you accordingly. I could not discourse to you as to far-advanced and well-informed Christians. I taught you the rudiments only of the Christian religion.” He refers here, doubtless, to his instructions when he founded the church at Corinth. See the note at 1 Corinthians 2:13-15.
But as unto carnal - The word “carnal” here σάρκινοῖς sarkinois is not the same which in 1 Corinthians 2:14, is translated “natural” ψυχικός psuchikos. “That” refers to one who is unrenewed, and who is wholly under the influence of his sensual or animal nature, and is no where applied to Christians. “This” is applied here to Christians - but to those who have much of the remains of corruption, and who are imperfectly acquainted with the nature of religion; babes in Christ. It denotes those who still evinced the feelings and views which pertain to the flesh, in these unhappy contentions, and strifes, and divisions. “The works of the flesh are hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings” Galatians 5:20-21; and these they had evinced in their divisions; and Paul knew that their danger lay in this direction, and he therefore addressed them according to their character. Paul applies the word to himself Romans 7:14, “for I am carnal;” and here it denotes that they were as yet under the influence of the corrupt passions and desires which the flesh produces.
As unto babes in Christ - As unto those recently born into his kingdom, and unable to understand the profounder doctrines of the Christian religion. It is a common figure to apply the term infants and children to those who are feeble in understanding, or unable, from any cause, to comprehend the more profound instructions of science or religion.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER III.
Because of the carnal, divided state of the people at Corinth,
the apostle was obliged to treat them as children in the
knowledge of sacred things, 1-3.
Some were for setting up Paul, others Apollos, as their sole
teachers, 4.
The apostle shows that himself and fellow apostles were only
instruments which God used to bring them to the knowledge of
the truth; and even their sowing, and watering the seed was
of no use unless God gave the increase, 5-8.
The Church represented as God's husbandry, and as God's
building, the foundation of which is Christ Jesus, 9-11.
Ministers must beware how and what they build on this
foundation, 12-15.
The Church of God is his temple, and he that defiles it shall
be destroyed, 16, 17.
No man should depend on his own wisdom; for the wisdom of the
world is foolishness with God, 18-20.
None should glory in man as his teacher; God gives his followers
every good, both for time and eternity, 21-23.
NOTES ON CHAP. III.
Verse 1 Corinthians 3:1. I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual — This is a continuation of the preceding discourse. See the notes there (1 Corinthians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 2:15, and 1 Corinthians 2:16).
But as unto carnal — σαρκικοις, Persons under the influence of fleshly appetites; coveting and living for the things of this life.
Babes in Christ. — Just beginning to acquire some notion of the Christian religion, but as yet very incapable of judging what is most suitable to yourselves, and consequently utterly unqualified to discern between one teacher and another; so that your making the distinctions which you do make, so far from being a proof of mature judgment, is on the contrary a proof that you have no right judgment at all; and this springs from your want of knowledge in Divine things.
