1 Corinthians 3:1-2 Bible Teaching

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1st Corinthians 3.1-2
January 7th 2018
Milk
Okay, before we continue forward into chapter three of 1st Corinthians we left off at verse 16 with a quizzical passage.

Paul, having talked at length about the Spiritual person over the carnal person, says at verse 16

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

We noted last week that this is a very unique passage because in the first line Paul, quoting Isaiah, shows that “no man knows the mind of GOD – YAHWAY – that His mind is unsearchable and unknowable – and bringing in our passages from 1st Corinthians chapters 1 and 2 I think it is safe to say that IF anyone understands ANYTHING about the mind of God it would have to be by the Spirit gifted to them at regeneration.

So that’s the first line that is pretty much set in stone. However, Paul then adds a statement saying:

“But (however) we HAVE the mind of Christ.”

So, from this we must conclude that possessing the mind of Christ is different from knowing the Mind of God, and from this we are left with some questions:

Is the mind of Christ different, even separate from the mind of God?

AND/OR

Is the mind of Christ known by God but the mind of God not known by the mind of Christ?

AND/OR

Does this passage prove or disprove the ideas on the makeup of God relative to Him being a trinity, or a binity or a monad – meaning one being only?

This is some heavy stuff – debated and discussed for nearly two millennia.

Now before we enter into a very brief discussion on it I want to emphatically remind us all what we have learned from Paul over these past three to five weeks about knowing and understanding the things of God.

They do NOT come by and through our wisdom, philosophy, education or intellect – understanding comes by and through the Spirit of God alone.

In the annuls of discussion over this topic most men introduce elements of Greek philosophy and logic to break ideas down to their logical conclusions.

These will argue vehemently over the logic of their views verses the illogical nature of those who oppose them.

But again, recall Paul’s stance on how we are to understand the things of God – it is not by our wisdom but By the Spirit.

So let’s glom onto this as a reminder as we move forward on this topic.

Next, let’s use scripture to show that not only is there a difference between the mind of YAHWAY and the Mind of Christ but also the MIND of the Spirit.

We read in Romans 8:26-27

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts (I suggest that this is speaking of Yahway) He knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because it (the mind of the Spirit) makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Add in our passage here in 1st Corinthians 2:17 “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ” and then then the fact that God also has an unknowable mind here and we are pretty much forced to admit that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit all have their own minds.

Because of these biblical facts most people who give the make-up of God any thought see the individual minds of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as being sound evidence that they are therefore each individual (and autonomous) persons – a necessary component for the teaching of Trinity which is three persons making the One God.

When Isaiah asked:

Who has know the Mind of Yahway, I think when it came to Christ incarnate even He did not, as evidenced by Him saying in Mark 13:32 relative to the end of the age

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

So, God the Father, the Lord, Savior and Son, and the Holy Spirit all have their own minds.

And to the human mind WE have concluded that they therefore cannot be one person – hence the need for three persons making up the One God.

But for me – in my mind, as it were – wonder about this argument – and let me tell you why. (And I pray that it is NOT from my carnal mind but of the Spirit.)

We are told that God made us in His image. We know from scripture that we all possess bodies, souls, and spirits.

These components of the one person do act or do seem to have their own minds.

My body does NOT want to get up early but the mind of my soul pushes me to do it and my regenerated Spirit tells me to spend time reading the Word in the early hours rather than playboy.

Does my BODY know the mind of my soul? Does my SOUL know the mind of my SPIRIT?

Are they all in operation? They seem to be. And yet nobody would argue that there is more than one Shawn McCraney.

If my soul and body committed a crime that my spirit was not in agreement with my Spirit would still go to jail and we all know that we could never escape punishment if our defense for murder was:

“Well, it was my body that committed the act but my emotions had nothing to do with it.”

With all of this taken into consideration, I personally have to wonder out loud why we must personify the Son and Spirit and can’t instead suggest that Father and Son and Spirit are as differentiated as our body soul and spirits but are all simply manifestations of the same God just as my soul, spirit and body are manifestations of me as an individual?

So while I do NOT deny that there are three minds of God in operation in heaven and earth, I cannot believe, if we remain convinced that there is one God, that they are three separate persons just because they have varied minds, and even wills.

This is the logic of man I am constantly given – “if there are three minds there are three persons.” With God I do not believe this to be the case ESPECIALLY – LISTEN NOW – ESPECIALLY SINCE THE FATHER KNOWS THE MINDS OF THE SON AND SPIRIT but the Son and perhaps the Spirit too, have not always know the Mind of the One true God.

I do not see the less informed to be lesser God but merely Himself taking on lesser forms in His engagement with the Human race.

Somehow, we have to see that where there are three different elements or manifestations of God that are co-eternal and equal, that these three are all Him, manifesting Himself in and through different ways – some ways of which are not even known to some of the others?

Somethings to think about.

So, after verse 16 in chapter 2 we come to chapter 3. Let’s read as Paul now gives his insights application. Verse 1

1st Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
As stated the points of this chapter is substantially the same as the former but here it is to take the contents of the former – that the pride, the philosophy, and the vain wisdom upon which the Greeks relied so heavily was an inferior way to comprehend the things of God.

In other words the gospel was not dependent on such things for its success but that instead it was through the Spirit that the Kingdom of God would be known and understood.

But as we said here Paul begins to apply his principles to their actual lives. And so Paul writes:

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

Having clearly explained that there is a vast difference between the carnal minds of those inspired by the World and those blessed with the Holy Spirit from above in the previous two chapters Paul now speaks directly to the brethren at Corinth.

And having explained the veritable power and blessing of having spiritual influence and mind while living in the world, Paul now admits, in what seems to be His chagrin, that he has not been able to communicate with them with regard to spiritual things, but only in carnal (or worldy) things, as if when it came to their status as believers they were not wise elders, not strong young adults, not even wiley teens in the faith, but that they were babies, like newborns still limited to the most basic nutrients of the faith.

Now I want to give this a moment of thought.

Paul has said that carnal knowledge – philosophy, edumacation, advanced decrees – are not the way we understand the things of God.

And yet here he tells the believers at Corinth that they are babes in Christ – that they cannot handle anything more than the Milk of the Word.

We know for a certainty that Paul is not criticizing their educational levels or their ability to manage complex philosophical ideas – he has made plain that this is NOT the means by which the things of God are known.

All he says to them is:

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

Right before this in the last chapter pauls clearly stated that “Christians were able to understand all things by the mind of Christ.

So taking all of this in we safely conclude that

They were lacking in spiritual understanding (which may have even been because their philosophical minds were getting in the way)
Because of this Paul considered them to be babes in Christ even though one verse earlier he concluded that they could understand all things by the mind of Christ,
And therefore, in terms of application, he seems to be telling them in no uncertain terms that they needed to mature in the faith, in their comprehension of the mind of Christ in them, and therefore to diminish in their carnal understanding and approach to things.

Paul obviously longed to get deeper with the believers at Corinth. There is a very VERY good reason for this that cannot be ignored and which we will get to before we leave today.

Unfortunately, he was unable to lead them into deeper waters and he tells them why – were too carnal, and not qualified to understand the deep mysteries of the gospel which require the opposite of carnality.

It required spirituality, maturity in the faith, which was manifested by arguing, debate, invectives, division, strife, disorder and hatred?

No, those are the products of Man and his wisdom. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, temperance and the like.

Paul continues on and seems to justify himself on why he has not shared with them the things living in the deeper end of the pool, saying (at verse 2)

2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

In verse one he has told them that they are carnal milk drinking babes in Christ and here in the second verse he continues with the metaphor which is so good as it compares that maturation of infants to adults and the food and nourishment they are able to ingest to Christians.

He says, again as if to justify himself, “I have fed you with milk and not with meat FOR UP TO THIS TIME your were not able to bear the meat I could give you – and you are still not able.”

Remember, Paul is writing to a people who have had another person come in unto them with some sort of salacious doctrine that has served to move them off the mark of the faith.

It seems that the doctrine had to do with the resurrection and that it was based in philosophical logic rather than the things of the Spirit.

Being babes, they were not yet informed of the meatier matters of the faith by Paul because they couldn’t handle them.

But being babes, they were willing to put almost anything on earth into their spiritual mouths believing themselves capable of consuming it.

One of the more frustration things in ministry is when a new convert (or a convert to the faith who remains a babe though they converted to it decades before) loves to speak of the deep dark almost unknowable factors of the faith without having cut their teeth on the milk of the Word.

These are those who not really understanding anything about Christ, rebirth, resurrection, or grace who would rather spend their time talking about aliens, Nephilim (Old Testament giants), how animals fit on the ark or explaining science through the Bible.

It’s one of my personal pet peeves.

But the second pet peeve are long time Christians who insist on remaining babes – with as many characteristics proving their immaturity as there are characteristics that prove a tiny human a baby.

They think the world revolves around them and their needs, they throw fits and tantrums, they are easily swayed and frightened, they will eat anything set in front of them, and perhaps most detrimental, they are not equipped or able to consume the meatier things set before them – any more than an infant can consume a steak.

Here is the deal – and I am preaching to the choir here – it is a steady diet of the Word that takes a babe into spiritual maturation.

The Word is Christ, so it is a steady diet of Him, via the Spirit and or His written Word – such things – especially in harmony with each other, that lend to the maturation of the babes in Christ.

In various places Paul speaks of believers moving on to perfection but that term is greatly misunderstood in our language – especially here in Utah.

Because in other places (like here in 1st Corinthians) he appeals to milk drinkers verses meat eaters and calls the latter mature, I think the word is a good one to which we can appeal.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (To do that a person would have to be mature in the faith as babes can only think of themselves as the center of the universe, right?)

But Paul doesn’t just leave us with the command he tells us how to do this adding at verse 2

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Later Paul reiterates this point in Ephesians and writes:

Ephesians 4:23-24 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

How is the mind renewed so we are able to effectively put on the New Man or woman? In the next chapter, speaking of the Bride or Church Paul speaks of God and writes

Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse the church with the washing of water by the word . . .

How and why does the Word wash and cleanse? It does so because it is truth – and knowing the truth, people are set free from the carnal things that keep us bound!

Let me repeat that . . .

How and why does the Word wash and cleanse? It does so because it is truth – and knowing the truth, people are set free from the carnal things that keep them bound!

Back when Jesus walked the earth He prayed to His father and said in John 17:17, speaking of His disciples

“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

The truth sets us free (from carnal immature things) and therefore seeking, hearing and abiding in the Truth we grow and mature leaving the carnal things behind.

This principle is stated by David back in Psalm 119 where he wrote:

Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

With it IN us, we know the Truth, and we choose to believe and trust in it – or not. To have it in us allows us to exercise our faith in God, which in the end are exercises in love for Him, and therefore others.

So that is the written Word.

We also know that when Jesus walked the earth that He said of Himself –

“I am the way, the Truth, and the Life.”

So synonymous with the written word of God being truth and therefore having the capacity to wash us to the renewing of our minds, we know that Jesus Himself, the Word made flesh, does the same.

Looking to Him by faith, trusting in Him, mirroring Him and His life we are freed from the things that keep us as infants. Why?

Because the Truth sets us free.

Typically, we know of Jesus and His life and His teachings by and through a study of the Written Word, so here we see them working in tandem (so to speak).

Then, we read in 1st John 5:6

“This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.”

So, we now see that the Spirit is also the Truth with a capital T, and since truth with a capital T sets us free from our carnal selves, we have what we might call “the trifecta of truth” given us by God to help “move His children from being carnal babes to complete mature followers.

The Word of God is truth.
Jesus is the Truth.
The Holy Spirit is the Truth.

Interestingly enough, Jesus said in John 6:63

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

And so we can see that the Words of God (which are truth) are Spirit (which is Truth) which was in Christ (who is the Truth).

Put them all into effect in your life and the natural man begins to really crumble down under their combined, pretty-much synonymous power.

Because we are human we have a tendency to want to “side” with certain things to the exclusion of others. I tend to side with the one-two combination of the “Word by the Spirit” as a means to obtain spiritual maturity in Christ.

Others tend to side with Jesus the Word and the Spirit as the means to mature. And of course there are those who side with never reading the Bible, never considering Jesus but just going by the Spirit alone.

I have suspicion that all three are purposeful and when in use serve to mature all people best.

But, why does God want us to mature in the faith by His Son, by the Spirit and by the written Word?

Why does ninety percent of the New Testament speak of Christian maturity over spiritual rebirth and our becoming Christian babes in the first place?

I can think of a few biblical reasons – perhaps you can think of more.

Let’s talk about them for a minute. First Christian maturity . . .

Puts an end to interfaith strife and division.
Christian maturity protects us from spiritual apostacy.
It allows believers to do what we were created to do as new creation – produce greater quantities of the Spiritual fruit of real Christian love.

Spiritual infancy, babes in Christ, milk drinkers, run the risk of creating internal strife, falling into apostacy and or never producing genuine fruits of love in their lives – hence God calls for all of His children to do what the writer of Hebrews says in chapter six, saying

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 with instruction about ablutions, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do if God permits.

Love that last line.

To the first reason God wants us to mature –

It puts an end to interfaith strife and division.

We are in the right place (1st Corinthians chapter 3) to see this as Paul has said in the first three verses

1st Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

I am personally convinced that envyings, strife and divisions in the Body of Christ are NOT present when believers have come to discover that the faith is subjectively understood and therefore lived, when believers realize that God is actually in charge, and that love is the operative word in the Body and not doctrinal and objective certainty which demands doctrinal and objectively demanded conformity.

This peacemaking skill comes to those who are capable in the Truth having disciplined themselves by its power.

This is why the writer of Hebrews says in 5:14

“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

My grandson used to take JuJitsu from two Brazilian masters. I mean these guys had the walls of their studio lined with trophies and awards – even Olympic medals – representing their skill level.

So they are teaching a bunch of kids – who are unskilled milk drinking JuJitsu-ists.

These guys are peacemakers – they see no need to show off, or get involved in divisions that go on amidst the kids – they are mature, and smile and the fracuses that occur between the children.

Why? The writer of Hebrews explains, saying:

“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

The citizens of Corinth were not only milk drinkers, they were a bunch of children who involved themselves in infighting, strife and envy – products of a carnal crowd.

The second reason God wants Christian maturity of those who are his is that it protects His children from apostacy.

It goes back to the principle illustrated by Jesus parable of the Sower – deep roots help stabilize the plant whereas shallow new roots are always subject to upheaval and therefore removal.

The connection to this is all found in what we would call sins of the flesh. Let me try and explain.

While Jesus has paid for the sins of the World, and while we are not constantly trying to repent in order to “get right with God” who is angry at us for our recent failures, carnal Christians (synonymous here with milk-drinking Christians, and therefore babes) are exactly that – they are carnal.

This carnality abiding in the flesh of all of us has the potential to bring us to apostacy from God – therefore believers seek to live by and feed the Spirit and NOT the flesh.

Again, it’s NOT the carnal sins are not forgiven, but the presence of them in a person has the capacity to bring about personal apostacy – the abandoning of the faith – and this is the reason we look to lives focused on spiritual and not carnal things.

The greater the maturity a believer possesses, which is obtained in and through a knowledge of the truth (through the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit and familiarity with the written Word) the deeper the roots and the less of a chance carnal winds have to remove a soul from the faith.

Again, turning to Hebrews chapter 3 we read:

Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

That hardening by the deceitfulness of sin is less likely to occur in a person who, by the Spirit of Truth, has exercised themselves (grown deep roots) into the soils of faith to the point that the deceitful winds of sin are greatly diminished in their capacity to bring about a fall.

Now, I’ve been around long enough to watch this happen in people who at one time knew, loved and trusted the Lord.

I’ve also been around long enough to hear all the comebacks to the principle – once save always saved, its not our sin or lack of it that saves us, Jesus loves me as I am – all that stuff.

And all of that stuff is true – so long as a person abides in the vine by faith. The point it carnality (in this case, carnal sin) possesses the ability to canker faith, and once cankered, if not remedied, that faith will fail – almost guaranteed.

So that is the second reason God desires His children to mature – the presence of maturity in a Christian is great preventative to carnal living which can lead to faithlessness and therefore apostacy.

Finally, the third reason God wants His children to mature in the faith by and through exposure to the Truth with a capital T is maturity in the faith lends to greater fruitfulness – with the fruit of the mature in Christ being Christian love.

When deep roots prevent toppling, 2nd Kings 19:30 says:

“And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward;”

Therein the goal of every believer – and again, another return to the Parable of the Sower which speaks directly to the concept of immature believers, apostacy, and ultimately death to that of a healthy mature plant that bears fruit upward.

Allow another reading of Jesus tremendously important and applicable teaching:

Matthew 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Jesus explained this verse in the following way later in the chapter:

18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

I would suggest that the wayside soil speaks of people completely lacking ANY spiritual regeneration or ability to understand spiritual things – who we might call totally carnal. Jesus continues and says:

5 Some (seeds) fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

Here we enter into the realm of carnal Christians, babes in Christ, milk drinkers and this is how Jesus describes them:

Matthew 13:20 “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.”

And then Jesus says

7 “And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:”

And his explanation is:

22 “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”

Finally Jesus says, speaking of the Mature, because even in horticulture we don’t expect immature plants to bear fruit but only those that have survived and are able:

8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Jesus explanation?

23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; (and understanding it) which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

(Long Beat)

Questions / Comment
And let’s open up our phone lines so those who are part of our home church system can participate too.

Prayer