1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3:1-23 . PAUL COULD NOT SPEAK TO THEM OF DEEP SPIRITUAL TRUTHS, AS THEY WERE CARNAL, CONTENDING FOR THEIR SEVERAL TEACHERS; THESE ARE NOTHING BUT WORKERS FOR GOD, TO WHOM THEY MUST GIVE ACCOUNT IN THE DAY OF FIERY JUDGMENT. THE HEARERS ARE GOD'S TEMPLE, WHICH THEY MUST NOT DEFILE BY CONTENTIONS FOR TEACHERS, WHO, AS WELL AS ALL THINGS, ARE THEIRS, BEING CHRIST'S.

1. And I--that is, as the natural (animal) man cannot receive, so I also could not speak unto you the deep things of God, as I would to the spiritual; but I was compelled to speak to you as I would to MEN OF FLESH. The oldest manuscripts read this for "carnal." The former (literally, "fleshy") implies men wholly of flesh, or natural. Carnal, or fleshly, implies not they were wholly natural or unregenerate ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ), but that they had much of a carnal tendency; for example their divisions. Paul had to speak to them as he would to men wholly natural, inasmuch as they are still carnal ( 1 Corinthians 3:3 ) in many respects, notwithstanding their conversion ( 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 ).
babes--contrasted with the perfect (fully matured) in Christ ( Colossians 1:28 ; compare Hebrews 5:13 Hebrews 5:14 ). This implies they were not men wholly of flesh, though carnal in tendencies. They had life in Christ, but it was weak. He blames them for being still in a degree (not altogether, compare 1 Corinthians 1:5 1 Corinthians 1:7 ; therefore he says as) babes in Christ, when by this time they ought to have "come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" ( Ephesians 4:13 ). In Romans 7:14 , also the oldest manuscripts read, "I am a man of flesh."

2. ( Hebrews 5:12 ).
milk--the elementary "principles of the doctrine of Christ."

3. envying--jealousy, rivalry. As this refers to their feelings, "strife" refers to their words, and "divisions" to their actions [BENGEL]. There is a gradation, or ascending climax: envying had produced strife, and strife divisions (factious parties) [GROTIUS]. His language becomes severer now as He proceeds; in 1 Corinthians 1:11 he had only said "contentions," he now multiplies the words (compare the stronger term, 1 Corinthians 4:6 , than in 1 Corinthians 3:21 ).
carnal--For "strife" is a "work of the flesh" ( Galatians 5:20 ). The "flesh" includes all feelings that aim not at the glory of God, and the good of our neighbor, but at gratifying self.
walk as men--as unregenerate men (compare Matthew 16:23 ). "After the flesh, not after the Spirit" of God, as becomes you as regenerate by the Spirit ( Romans 8:4 , Galatians 5:25 Galatians 5:26 ).

4. ( 1 Corinthians 1:12 ).
are ye not carnal--The oldest manuscripts read, "Are ye not men?" that is, "walking as men" unregenerate ( 1 Corinthians 3:3 ).

5. Who then--Seeing then that ye severally strive so for your favorite teachers, "Who is (of what intrinsic power and dignity) Paul?" If so great an apostle reasons so of himself, how much more does humility, rather than self-seeking, become ordinary ministers!
Paul . . . Apollos--The oldest manuscripts read in the reverse order, "Apollos," &c. Paul." He puts Apollos before himself in humility.
but ministers, &c.--The oldest manuscripts have no "but." "Who is Apollos . . . Paul? (mere) ministers (a lowly word appropriate here, servants), by whom (not "in whom"; by whose ministrations) ye believed."
as . . . Lord gave to every man--that is, to the several hearers, for it was GOD that "gave the increase" ( 1 Corinthians 3:6 ).