In the first five verses of chapter 2, Paul reminds his
Corinthian readers he came in “weakness and in fear and in
much trembling” (v 3), having purposed to know nothing the
world regards as wisdom, but only Christ, and Christ
crucified (v 2). He came preaching simply, with no secular
techniques of human persuasion (v 4). He did so because God
demonstrates His power through human weakness, and men’s
faith then rests in God rather than men (v 5).
Just because the world regards the gospel as foolish does
not mean Paul and the other apostles have no wisdom to
teach. Paul does teach wisdom, but only to those who are
mature in Christ (v 6). Those who are “wise” in this present
age cannot grasp Paul’s kind of wisdom. Paul drives his
point home by reminding us that God revealed His wisdom in
the person of Jesus Christ. What did the rulers of His day
do with Him? They crucified Him (v 8). If the wise of this
age had been able to grasp divine wisdom, they could not
have missed it in Christ. However, if they crucified our
Lord, the Lord of glory, we must not deceive ourselves into
thinking we can win to the Lord through worldly wisdom and
worldly methods. Paul further drives home his point by
turning our attention in verse 9 to the words of Isaiah.
These words enforce Paul’s argument, informing us that the
natural senses cannot discern the things of God and the
eternal wisdom pertaining to things to be revealed.
If men are not capable of knowing God by their own efforts,
how can men ever know God? Paul answers this dilemma in
verses 10-16. Of His initiative, God chose to reveal Himself
to men through His Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God alone
knows the “depths of God” and has revealed them through the
authors of the New Testament so that in these Scriptures the
“wisdom of God” is revealed, which men cannot otherwise know
(vv 10-13). The same Spirit enables believers to understand
the wisdom of God. The natural, unconverted man does not
have the Spirit within, and thus he cannot understand the
Scriptures. The Spirit indwells the Christian, the
“spiritual man” and thus he is able to understand this
current age and the mysteries of God revealed in Scripture
concerning the coming age (vv 14-16).
The Corinthian Christians have begun to look down upon Paul
and the gospel message he preaches because Paul preaches the
gospel message in a way that does not stimulate or appeal to
the flesh. They have turned from Paul and his kind of
preaching to others, whose “wisdom” and “power” are of this
world. Their excuse for turning from Paul to other men is
that Paul fails to measure up to the new standard set by the
elite, whose message and methods appeal to the lost.
However, Paul is not the problem they are the problem. Paul
tells the Corinthians they are not mature. The reason Paul
cannot speak words of wisdom to them is that they are men of
the flesh” “infants in Christ.”
When Paul first came to Corinth, he had to speak to these
pagans as to “natural men,” that is, as unbelievers, who did
not possess the Spirit. Even after they were saved, Paul
still had to speak to the Corinthians as babes, as brand new
believers. The Corinthians were like babies, immature, weak
and vulnerable. They are completely dependent upon others
for their food, cleaning, clothing, and protection. Being
weak, vulnerable and dependent, babies take a great deal
from others, but they do not give to others. There is no
“give and take” with babies; we give, and they take. As
babies begin to grow up, they become more independent.
Children have trouble getting along with other children
because they are self-centered and selfish, and so they
fight and squabble over toys and attention.
Paul is not critical of the Corinthians for being immature
after their conversion at the time he first came. Paul’s
criticism stems from their having remained children. They
have not grown up and matured. Growth is normal and natural,
and when children do not grow up and mature, we consider it
abnormal. The same is true with “infants in Christ.”
There are many who regularly occupy church pews, fill church
rolls, and are intellectually acquainted with the facts of
the gospel that have no quarrel with sin and, apart from a
few sentimental expressions about Christ, there is no
biblical evidence that they have experienced anything of the
power of the gospel in their lives. Yet in spite of the
evidence against them, they consider themselves just what
their teachers teach them, they are “infants in Christ” and
they will go to heaven with few or no rewards waiting them.
Paul told the Corinthians they are “sanctified in Christ
Jesus”, they are recipients of “the grace of God”, enriched
by Christ “in all utterance, and in all knowledge” (1:2-5).
In chapter 3 Paul rebukes them not for failing to attain to
privileges which some Christians attain to, but for acting,
despite their privileges, like babes and like the unsaved.
This is what Paul meant when he told the Corinthians “you
are still fleshy.” Paul does not have in mind someone who
has made a profession of faith, carried on in the Christian
way for a short while, and then reverted to a lifestyle
indistinguishable in every respect from that of the world.
After all, these Corinthian believers are meeting together
for worship (1 Corinthian 14), they call on the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ (1:2), they are extraordinarily endowed
with spiritual gifts (1:5, 7; 12-14), they are wrestling
with theological and ethical issues (1 Corinthians 8-10),
and they are in contact with the apostle whose ministry
brought them to the Lord. Far from being sold out to the
world, the flesh, and the devil, they pursue spiritual
experience, if sometimes unwisely.
How can this be? How can the ones who consider themselves as
“spiritual,” and whom others consider as “spiritual,” be the
very ones God designates as fleshy or worldly? The answer is
we use the wrong standards for judging spirituality. We base
our judgment upon outward acts, upon appearances of
spirituality. However, Jesus warned about making judgments
based on externals, he said, “You are those who justify
yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts;
for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in
the sight of God’” (Luke 16:15).
What is the difference between the “works” of those who are
“still fleshly” and the “works” of those who are
“spiritual”? The answer is amazingly simple. The works of
those who are still fleshly are those prompted and empowered
by the flesh. The works of those who are spiritual are those
prompted and empowered by the Holy Spirit. There are those
in the church busy doing the Lord’s work they put others to
shame while in reality they are “still in the flesh.” They
do their good works in such a way they are self-serving and
self-promoting. There is no question but what the Corinthian
church was “not lacking in any gift.” Yet Paul’s description
of the church implies that the members of the church misused
the gifts.
Can you imagine the shock it was to the Corinthians when
they read and reflected on what Paul wrote in his letter?
Paul is not only calling many of the Corinthians “infants in
Christ” he is calling some of the highly regarded in the
church fleshly. What is most surprising is those who are
“still in the flesh,” who are regarded as spiritual, who
think they are spiritual are questioning the calling and
authority of Paul and his fellow-apostles.
In his two Epistles to the Corinthians Paul seeks to point
his readers to “true spirituality” by pointing out salvation
is a radical change. It is not merely adding Christ to our
life; it is not just “inviting Christ into our life.”
Salvation is the change from death to life, from darkness to
light, the turning away from all that we once held precious
as non-believers. Salvation turns our life, our values and
thinking, upside-down and inside out. Certain instant
changes do occur at conversion, but many of the changes take
place in the life-long process of living a Christian life,
the process that transforms us into the image and likeness
of Christ. The “infant in Christ” resists this change. While
adequately endowed with all that is necessary for growth in
godliness, the infants in Christ fail to appropriate these
resources and, in so doing “are still fleshly.” Over time,
they lose not only their desire for the Word of God but they
begin to seek their spiritual nourishment from the well of
worldly wisdom. True spirituality requires the
mortification, not the indulging, of the flesh.
Paul’s main concern is that those currently leading the
church take heed because their present work will not stand
the fiery test to come, having shifted from the imperishable
“Word of God” to the perishable wisdom of men.
