1 Corinzi 3:1

1 Ed io, fratelli, non ho potuto parlarvi come a spirituali, ma ho dovuto parlarvi come a carnali, come a bambini in Cristo.

1 Corinzi 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 3:1

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you
Though the apostle was a spiritual man himself, had spiritual gifts, even the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, could judge all things, had the mind of Christ, and was able to speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, yet could not speak it to them,

as unto spiritual;
not but that they had the Spirit of God in them, and a work of grace upon them; for they were, as the apostle afterwards says, the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelt in them; they were washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God; but had not that spiritual discerning, or judgment in spiritual things, which some believers had, at least when the apostle was first with them; and now they were under great spiritual declensions, and had not those spiritual frames, nor that spiritual experience and conversation, which some other Christians had:

but as unto carnal:
not that they were in a carnal state, as unregenerate men are; but had carnal conceptions of things, were in carnal frames of soul, and walked in a carnal conversation with each other; though they were not in the flesh, in a state of nature, yet the flesh was in them, and not only lusted against the Spirit, but was very predominant in them, and carried them captive, so that they are denominated from it:

even as unto babes in Christ;
they were in Christ, and so were new creatures; they were, as the Arabic version reads it, "in the faith of Christ"; though babes and weaklings in it, they were believers in Christ, converted persons, yet children in understanding, knowledge, and experience; had but little judgment in spiritual things, and were unskilful in the word of righteousness; at least this was the case of many of them, though others were enriched in all utterance and knowledge, and in no gift came behind members of other churches.

1 Corinzi 3:1 In-Context

1 Ed io, fratelli, non ho potuto parlarvi come a spirituali, ma ho dovuto parlarvi come a carnali, come a bambini in Cristo.

2 V’ho nutriti di latte, non di cibo solido, perché non eravate ancora da tanto; anzi, non lo siete neppure adesso, perché siete ancora carnali.

3 Infatti, poiché v’è tra voi gelosia e contesa, non siete voi carnali, e non camminate voi secondo l’uomo?

4 Quando uno dice: Io son di Paolo; e un altro: Io son d’Apollo; non siete voi uomini carnali?

5 Che cos’è dunque Apollo? E che cos’è Paolo? Son dei ministri, per mezzo dei quali voi avete creduto; e lo sono secondo che il Signore ha dato a ciascuno di loro.