1 Corinthians 3:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Corinthians 3:2

Comments

The apostle had kept to the basics, and he had been fairly simple with them in the way in which he had expressed the doctrines of the faith. He taught them not only the gospel while he was with them, and he had taught them the doctrines too, but he had expressed them as simply as they could be expressed. They could not go far because they were still so hooked on their cultural background and their Greek philosophy that it shut them out. If you have a tiny baby, it is a wonderful event in your life. The baby is fed until it is weaned, but if six years later the child still has not been weaned, or cannot speak, or cannot walk, that is a great cause for concern. Obviously, something is seriously wrong. The Christians at Corinth were not walking as they ought to walk, not speaking as they ought to speak, serving as they ought to serve. There were things that were seriously held back among so many of them. In the days of our King James translation the word ‘meat’ stood for all adult food. The idea is that the child had been weaned should come off the milk with which of course is supplied and start to feed himself with his own hands and convey things to his mouth as a young child feeding for himself. We are as Christians are supposed to be looking into the Scripture for ourselves and feeding directly with our own hand and eye and mind, as it were, from the Scripture moved by understanding it. ‘Neither yet now are ye able.’ Our King James translation is rather refined, but the words in the Greek are, ‘No! you are still not able!’ with an exclamation mark for emphasis. It is a little bit of a jolt in the original. You are not unsaved, but you are thinking and behaving like unsaved people. Now some people say the distinction between milk and meat means that the apostle Paul had taught them the gospel, but now they need to learn the doctrines of grace, and more advanced matters. But it cannot possibly refer to that. Paul would have certainly have taught them the doctrines of grace within 18 months plus of their conversion. We do it today. People are born again and we want them to be learning straight away and learning the great doctrines and the system of theology, the great things of Christ.

Application

What then does Paul mean by solid food? It is not to do with the level of doctrine; it is more to do with how you feed yourself from those Scriptures which talk about Christ, about holiness, about how to behave as Christians, how to live our lives and serve the Lord. ‘This passage tells me the duty, but I am not performing it. It tells me so much more of Christ, and it shows me how indebted I am to him. We feed ourselves for health and strength, and this is what the apostle means: do you feed yourself on the word? You could you could read about predestination and election, and those doctrines are important and true. You can read about the doctrines of grace, but are you at the same time so reading the word that day by day it affects you, and increases your commitment, and your concern for holiness.

‘I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it.’ The words ‘to bear it’ are in italics; they have been added for clarity. ‘Neither yet now are ye able.’ There is a hindrance: you cannot take it in; it isn't all that interesting to you; your minds are still abuzz with earthly things. We see that all around us among Bible believing Christians today. There is so much trust in the flesh, in human ingenuity and devices, in human skills, in what can be added to the gospel. You go into to services in so many churches all around the country, and simple but profound worship has been abandoned. Now there has got to be all kinds of things added to it to gee it up, to improve upon it, to make an impression upon people. What is added are worldly things and worldly music: so little trust in the gospel and the power of the Spirit that all sorts of things must be added. The more worldly we are, as Christians, the less perception we have spiritually. The less appreciation we have, the less we can see of the deep things of God. That is how it is; that is the principle which is here.

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1 Corinthians 3:2 Commentary and Bible Study