1 Corinthians 3:3

3 for you are still fleshly. For where [there is] jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and do you not live like [unregenerate] people?

1 Corinthians 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 3:3

For ye are yet carnal
The Syriac reads it, (Nwtna robb) , "ye are in the flesh": a phrase the apostle elsewhere uses of men in an unregenerate state; but this is not his meaning here, as before explained, but that carnality still prevailed among them, of which he gives proof and evidence:

for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions,
are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
They envied each other's gifts and knowledge, strove about words to no profit, entered into warm debates and contentions about their ministers, and went into factions and parties, which were distinguished by the names they were most affected to; in all which they gave too clear evidence of their prevailing carnality, that they too much walked as other men, who make no profession of religion; that they were led by the judgment of men, and were carried away with human passions and inflections; and in their conduct could scarcely be distinguished from the rest of the world. The things that are here mentioned, and with which they are charged, are reckoned by the apostle among the works of the flesh, ( Galatians 5:19 Galatians 5:20 ) the phrase, "and divisions", is omitted in the Alexandrian copy, and in some others, and in the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions.

1 Corinthians 3:3 In-Context

1 And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual [people], but as to fleshly [people], as to infants in Christ.
2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able [to eat it]. But now you are still not able,
3 for you are still fleshly. For where [there is] jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and do you not live like [unregenerate] people?
4 For whenever anyone says, "I am with Paul," and another, "I [am] with Apollos," are you not [merely] human?
5 Therefore, what is Apollos and what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, and to each as the Lord gave.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. That is, like people who do not possess the Spirit at all
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.