But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh.” (1 Cor. 3:1-3)
Isn’t it interesting that Paul was calling the Corinthians “infants” in Christ? In other words, he felt they should have been spiritually mature at the time of his letter being written. Some may think, the church in Corinth must have been 10-20 years old. However, at the time of Paul’s writing (54-55 A.D.) the Corinthian church was only 4-5 years old (it was founded by Paul in 50-51 A.D.)
What should this tell us? At the very least, if we have been in Christ 4-5 years, we should not be “desiring” milk but should be “desiring” the meat of the Word! Essentially, this speaks to the depth and yearning of our “spirit man”—not the soulish man (major difference). In addition, not only should there be maturity in understanding the Word, but it should also spill over into godly behavior.
To add, Paul’s expectations of the Corinthians to be mature was without them having Bibles. Indeed, the New Testament wasn’t fully written at that time Paul wrote to the Corinthians. What would he say to us today? We have Bibles, commentaries, a plethora of theological tools, and etc. Yet, most Christians that claim to be in the faith 5, 10, 15, 20+ years rarely desire to dig deep in the Word, which contributes to them remaining babes with baby rattles in their hands as opposed to swords (Eph. 6:17). Also, when it comes to desiring a godly life, a good number of professing Christians are more satisfied with just “getting into heaven”. As Leonard Ravenhill once said, “People are more afraid of holiness than they are of sinfulness.”
If there will be a shift in the effectiveness of the Church in reaching the world and having a voice—there must be a shift in our hearts that prioritizes His Word, holiness, and Presence above all things. If not, we will be a bunch of babes that enjoy the playpen and rattle, instead of standing down and conquering the Goliath’s in our land.
