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.