'1Cor 3:1-9

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Lack of spiritual growth (1Co 3:1-9)

When Paul was in Corinth a year or two previously, he could not speak to the believers as spiritual people (such as those just described in 1Co 2:6-16), because they were then little different from ordinary, natural people of the world. They were babes in Christ and Paul treated them so. He did not find fault with them then, because one expects new converts to be like that; but he does find fault with them now, because they are still like that (1Co 3:1-2).

They are like people ‘of the flesh’, people whose lives are characterized by the old sinful nature. They are like the people of the world that Paul has just been describing in Chapter 2. Their behaviour is not according to the wisdom of God, but according to the wisdom of the world. Their quarrels and divisions are proof of this (1Co 3:3-4).

Some of the Corinthians were exalting Paul, others exalting Apollos. But Paul and Apollos are not in opposition; they are working together. The work of God in Corinth is likened to a field in which Paul did the planting, and Apollos the watering. Though the two have different functions, both are necessary, but neither of them can make the plants grow. Only God can do that (1Co 3:5-6).

Those who plant will not see as much fruit as those who water or those who reap. For that reason the reward does not depend on the fruit people see but on the work they faithfully carry out (1Co 3:7-9).