Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Corinthians 3:1

"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ." — 1 Corinthians 3:1 (ASV)

CHAPTER 3

The design of this chapter is substantially the same as the previous one. It is to reprove the pride, the philosophy, and the vain wisdom on which the Greeks so much relied, and to show that the gospel was not dependent on that for its success, and that such reliance had been a significant cause of many of the contentions and strifes that had arisen in the church at Corinth.

The chapter is mainly concerned with an account of his own ministry with them and seems designed to meet an objection that either was made or could have been made by the Corinthians themselves, or by the false teacher who was among them. In 1 Corinthians 2:12–16, he had affirmed that Christians were in fact under the influence of the Spirit of God, that they were enlightened to a remarkable degree, and that they understood all things pertaining to the Christian religion.

To this, it either was or could have been objected that Paul, when among them, had not instructed them fully in the more deep and abstruse points of the gospel, and that he had confined his instructions to the very rudiments of the Christian religion. The false teachers who had formed parties among them had probably taken advantage of this, pretending to carry the instruction much further and to explain many things Paul had left unexplained. This led to the division into parties. Paul therefore found it necessary to state why he had confined his instructions to the rudiments of the gospel among them—and this occupies the first part of the chapter (verses 1-11).

The reason was that they were not prepared to receive higher instruction but were carnal, and he could not address them as being prepared to enter fully into the more profound doctrines of the Christian religion. The proof that this was so was found in the fact that they had been distracted by disputes and strifes, which demonstrated that they were not prepared for the higher doctrines of Christianity.

He then reproves them for their contentions, because it mattered little by what means they had been brought to the knowledge of the gospel, and there was no reason for their strifes and sects. ALL success, regardless of the instrument, was to be traced to God (1 Corinthians 3:5–7); and the fact that one teacher or another had first instructed them, or that one was more eloquent than another, should not be the foundation for contending sects.

God was the Source of all blessings. Yet, to show the real nature of his own work and to meet the whole of the objection, he goes on to state that he himself had done the most important part of the work in the church. He had laid the foundation, and all the others were merely building the superstructure upon it.

And much as his instructions might appear to be elementary and unimportant, yet they had been given with the same skill an architect shows who labors to ensure the foundation is well laid and firm (1 Corinthians 3:10–11). The others who had succeeded him, whoever they were, were only builders upon this foundation.

The foundation had been well laid, and they should be careful how they built on it (1 Corinthians 3:12–16). The mention of this fact—that he had laid the foundation, that this foundation was Jesus Christ, and that they had been built upon it as a church—leads him to the inference (1 Corinthians 3:16–17) that they should be holy as the temple of God. The conclusion from the whole is:

1. That no one should deceive himself, of which there was so much danger (1 Corinthians 3:18–20); and
2. That no Christian should glory in men, for all things were theirs. It did not matter who had been their teacher on earth; all belonged to God. They had a common interest in the most eminent teachers of religion, and they should rise above the petty rivalries of the world and rejoice in the assurance that all things belonged to them (1 Corinthians 3:21–23).

And I, brethren (1 Corinthians 3:1). (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 recall 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 greatly delighted and which were so characteristic of them. He now states the reason why he had not done so: a reason most humbling to their pride, but it was the true reason, and faithfulness demanded that it be stated.

It was that they were carnal and not qualified to understand the deep mysteries of the gospel. The proof of this was unfortunately all too evident: their contentions and strifes clearly showed they were under the influence of carnal feelings and views.

Could not speak unto you as unto spiritual (1 Corinthians 3:1). "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, undoubtedly, to his instructions when he founded the church at Corinth (see 1 Corinthians 2:13–15).

But as unto carnal (1 Corinthians 3:1). The word carnal here (Greek: sarkikoi) is not the same as the word in 1 Corinthians 2:14 translated as natural (Greek: psychikos). That word refers to someone who is unrenewed, wholly under the influence of their sensual or animal nature, and is never applied to Christians. This word is applied here to Christians—but to those who still 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 showed the feelings and views that pertain to the flesh, evident in these unhappy contentions, strifes, and divisions. The works of the flesh are hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, envyings (Galatians 5:19–21), and these they had shown in their divisions. Paul knew that their danger lay in this direction, and he therefore addressed them according to their character.

Paul applies the word to himself in Romans 7:14: but I am carnal. Here it denotes that they were still under the influence of the corrupt passions and desires that the flesh produces.

As unto babes in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1). This means as to those recently born into His kingdom and unable to understand the more profound doctrines of the Christian religion. It is a common figure of speech to apply the terms infants and children to those who are weak in understanding or unable, for any reason, to comprehend the more profound instructions of science or religion.