When a newborn baby is brought home from the hospital, everyone knows that the baby will eat only his mother’s milk or baby formula for the first number of months. Nobody would ever think to give him anything else! When the baby is five or six months old, then he starts with some solid foods, such as baby cereal, and then on to pureed fruit or vegetables. If the mother made a steak or pork chops for the rest of the family, she wouldn’t set one before a six month old and expect him to eat that! Likewise, she wouldn’t put pureed banana and infant cereal in front of her teenager or husband! Babies eat baby food, and older children and adults eat solid food. There is something wrong if an adult is still wanting mashed peas and Gerber rice cereal! This was a problem, spiritually speaking, that the Apostle Paul needed to address with the church in Corinth, and which we read about in our Scripture today.
When a person is first saved, born-again, they are spiritually babies, just like a human when born. They generally know very little, if anything, about the Bible, God, and spiritual matters. That is why it is important that a newly saved Christian attends a Biblically strong and solid church, and is hopefully mentored and taught in a good Sunday School or Bible study, to learn more from God’s Word. It is a terrible tragedy if a newborn baby is just left by themselves, and not fed or cared for. In the same way a newborn Christian should not just be left on their own and not fed and cared for by older, more knowledgeable Christians.
When the Apostle Paul first arrived in Corinth, he preached the Gospel to the people, and saw many men and women come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. He stayed on in the city for a while, establishing a church there. Paul then needed to move on, to bring the Gospel to other places, and he left the church in the capable hands of a believer named Apollos, and some others. Now, several years later, he hears that many of the believers in Corinth are still only at a very elemental stage of spiritual development. Basically, they are like grown-ups who are still having baby formula to eat (vs. 1-2).
As we read in our Scripture, Paul was scolding these believers because many of them were acting “carnal”. To be carnal is to be controlled by the fallen flesh nature, and not living a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit. All believers have the Holy Spirit, but many still live controlled by the flesh. They are carnal. Carnal Christians are very immature. Immature Christians are worldly, controlled by their own desires. A mature Christian is in tune with God’s desires. Our goal should be to let God’s desires be ours.
How can a Christian grow from being a carnal one to a more mature believer? They grow and mature by getting into God’s Word every day, studying and spiritually digesting it. A brand new believer is fed milk, or basic truths and doctrines that a new believer learns. But over time, they grow and move on to more solid foods, just as a young child, then older child, and an adult would. Someone who has been a Christian for a while shouldn’t be stuck in just knowing the Christmas story, Psalm 23, and Noah’s Ark, which a brand new Christian would know. That is milk. Time to move on to solid food, dig into the Bible and chew on some solid meat!
One way that Paul knew that some of the believers in Corinth were spiritually immature was the way that they were fighting and squabbling among themselves over silly, ridiculous matters, just like little toddlers in the nursery would. One matter they were fighting about was who was the better, more important Christian leader - Paul, Apollos, or someone else (vs. 4-9). Paul goes on to say how each person’s work in the church is important. Paul came and planted the seed of the Gospel message in the people’s hearts. He founded the church in Corinth, bringing the message of salvation. That was the work God gave him. Apollos’ role was to water, to help the believers grow stronger in the faith. Apollos built on the foundation that Paul had laid. God gave each one a role, an assignment to do, and each one was important. A mature Christian, one who had moved from milk to solid food, would see and understand that.
Where are we in our spiritual development? Are we still only drinking milk? Are we languishing in a stage of only pureed food? Or have we grown and are enjoying a nice steak or prime rib? If someone has only been saved a few weeks, then of course they need to learn the basics, the “milk” doctrines. But as time goes on, we need to grow and mature spiritually, and we can only do that by reading and studying the Bible, climbing to new spiritual heights.
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