06/02/2026
At the beginning of 1 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about those he is writing to being carnal. Now, he calls them brethren, so we know they are believers and are indwelled with the Holy Spirit. However, Paul says they have envy, strife and division among them…having to feed them with milk and not solid food, as they were babes and continue to act as such.
He seems a little frustrated honestly…it’s almost like he’s had enough of them being mastered by their flesh instead of the submitted to the Spirit of God. About the same as us saying to our kid, “how many times do I have to tell you?…’cause you know better.”
Paul wanted them to understand what they had because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He tells them in verse 16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Can you be a Christian and be carnal? Well, according to Paul you can and it’s a dangerous place to be.
If you and I continued to eat like we did as children, with baby food and formula, we probably wouldn’t get very big. Same goes for our spiritual food…if we want to grow in faith, we must stop ingesting the things of this world, because when we have the Holy Spirit…those things will not satisfy us….they will not strengthen or grow our faith. We got to lay down the bottle and pick up a fork, spiritually speaking.
We are known by the fruit we bear as believers and I can assure that the world is watching. If the body of Christ is full of envy, strife and division, how are we different from those who don’t know God? We say we have mastered our flesh, but how easily does it take over our faith?
The good news is that Paul didn’t write these words to condemn believers…he wrote them to call them higher. Spiritual maturity isn’t perfection, but it is submission. It is daily choosing to let the Holy Spirit lead where our flesh wants control.
The Corinthians had forgotten who lived within them. And if we’re honest, sometimes we do too.
Will we continue settling for spiritual milk while God is inviting us to maturity? Will we keep feeding our flesh, or will we submit ourselves to the Spirit of God who dwells within us?
Because a Spirit-filled life should look different. Different in how we love, how we handle conflict, how we treat one another, and how we represent Christ to a watching world.
Pick up your fork, and let’s grow in the faith.