The Diaper Brigade Text: 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
Introduction: The Stench of the Nursery
The church at Corinth was a mess. It was a vibrant, gifted, chaotic, and carnal mess. Paul loved these people, but he was not about to flatter them. They thought of themselves as the spiritual elite, the varsity squad of Christendom. They were puffed up with knowledge, fluent in spiritual gifts, and confident in their own wisdom. They believed they were ready for the deep end of the theological pool. But Paul comes to them here not with a steak dinner, but with a baby bottle. He tells them, in effect, that for all their vaunted spirituality, the air in their church still smells like a nursery that needs a good airing out.
We live in an age that prizes affirmation above all else. We are told that the pastor's job is to discover everyone's "felt needs" and to scratch them where they itch. But the apostle Paul operates on a different principle entirely. He understands that the first duty of a spiritual father is to tell his children the truth, even when it stings. The Corinthians thought they were spiritual giants, but Paul diagnoses them as spiritual infants. And the proof of their infancy was not a lack of giftedness, but a lack of grace. The evidence was not a deficiency of knowledge in their heads, but a surplus of carnality in their hearts.
This passage is a bucket of cold water in the face of all spiritual pretension. It teaches us that the true measure of spiritual maturity is not how much you know, or what spectacular gifts you can manifest, but rather how you treat your brother. The litmus test of spirituality is charity. And the Corinthians were failing this test spectacularly. They were divided, contentious, and puffed up, sorting themselves into factions based on their favorite preachers. They were acting, as Paul puts it, like "mere men," which is to say, they were acting like unregenerate pagans in the church potluck line.
This is a perennial temptation. The flesh loves to disguise itself in religious garb. It loves to create personality cults. It loves to turn theological distinctives into tribal war paint. And so we must receive this word as though it were addressed to us, right here, right now. Because the moment you think, "I'm glad I'm not like those carnal Corinthians," is the very moment you prove that you are.
The Text
And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are still not able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men?
(1 Corinthians 3:1-4 LSB)
The Necessary Diet (v. 1-2)
Paul begins with a painful diagnosis. He calls them brothers, assuring them of their position in Christ, but immediately follows it with a sharp rebuke of their condition.
"And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are still not able." (1 Corinthians 3:1-2 LSB)
Paul distinguishes between the "spiritual man" (pneumatikos) and the "fleshly man" (sarkinos). In the previous chapter, he contrasted the spiritual man with the natural man, the unregenerate man who cannot receive the things of God. But here, the contrast is inside the church. These are Christians, "infants in Christ," but they are behaving as though they are still operating on the world's software. They are saved, but they are not sanctified. They have the Spirit, but they are walking according to the flesh.
The word for "fleshly" here, sarkinos, means made of flesh. It's a statement of fact about their immaturity. Later, he will use a different word, sarkikos, which means characterized by the flesh. They are infants, and so they are acting like infants. The tragedy is not that they started as babies, everyone does. The tragedy is that they have stayed babies. They should have been weaned long ago, but they are still fussing for the bottle.
Because of this, Paul had to put them on a restricted diet. "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food." This is not a comment on the content of the gospel, as though there were two gospels, one simple and one complex. The milk and the meat are both Christ. But milk is Christ pre-digested, the foundational truths of the faith: repentance, faith, the resurrection, the judgment. Solid food is the application of that same gospel to every area of life, the "whole counsel of God." It is the rich, theological depth of what the cross accomplishes and what covenant faithfulness demands.
The Corinthians couldn't handle the meat, not because it was intellectually too difficult, but because it was morally too demanding. A diet of solid food requires a mature digestive system. It requires humility, love, and a willingness to submit to the Word. But they were too full of themselves to have any appetite for the solid food of God. Their pride and partisan spirit made them spiritually sick, and you don't give a porterhouse steak to a man with the stomach flu. You give him broth. The problem was not a lack of intelligence, but a surplus of carnality. And Paul adds, with a twist of the knife, "Indeed, even now you are still not able." Time has passed, but nothing has changed. They are stuck.
The Infallible Proof (v. 3)
How does Paul know they are still fleshly? He doesn't need some secret spiritual insight. The evidence is on public display for all to see.
"for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" (1 Corinthians 3:3 LSB)
Here is the proof: "jealousy and strife." These are not the fruits of the Spirit. These are the works of the flesh, listed right alongside sexual immorality and idolatry in Galatians 5. Jealousy, or envy, is the bitter resentment of the gifts and successes of others. It is the sin that cannot stand to see another blessed. Strife is the inevitable result of jealousy. It is the contention, the quarreling, the party spirit that tears a church apart. When these things are present in a church, it is an infallible sign that the flesh is in the driver's seat.
Notice the logic. He says if these things are among you, "are you not fleshly?" The question is rhetorical. Of course you are. You can talk in tongues all day long, you can have a systematic theology that is buttoned down from election to eschatology, but if you are eaten up with envy and are constantly stirring up division, you are a carnal Christian. You are a baby Christian. You are all chassis and no engine.
And what is the result of this? They are "walking like mere men." This is a devastating insult. To walk as a "mere man" is to live as though you have not been born again. It is to live by natural, unregenerate human standards. The world operates on the basis of envy, rivalry, and power plays. That's just Tuesday in the fallen world. But for Christians, who have been united to Christ, indwelt by the Spirit, and made part of one body, to behave this way is a scandal. It is to drag the name of Christ through the mud of common, worldly behavior. It is to be indistinguishable from the lost.
Slogans of the Flesh (v. 4)
Paul now gives the specific, concrete example of their carnality. It manifests in their partisan slogans.
"For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not mere men?" (1 Corinthians 3:4 LSB)
This is what their jealousy and strife looked like in practice. They were turning their preachers into mascots. The church was fracturing into fan clubs. Paul had planted the church. He was the founding apostle, a spiritual heavyweight. Apollos was a gifted and eloquent teacher from Alexandria who had come after Paul and watered the seed he had planted. Both were faithful men of God, preaching the same gospel. But the Corinthians, in their carnality, were pitting them against each other.
They were creating a cult of personality. "I am of Paul" likely meant, "We're the old guard, the ones who hold to the rugged, foundational truth." "I am of Apollos" likely meant, "We're the sophisticated ones, the intellectuals who appreciate eloquent rhetoric and deep thinking." And as we know from the first chapter, there were other factions as well: "I am of Cephas," for the Jerusalem traditionalists, and the most pious-sounding faction of all, "I am of Christ." This last group was likely the most carnal of the bunch, using the name of Jesus as their club to beat everyone else over the head. They were the arch-sectarians, claiming to be above all the petty divisions while being the most divisive of all.
Paul's point is that this whole enterprise is fleshly. It is the behavior of "mere men." Why? Because it puts men where only Christ should be. It glories in men. It makes the messenger more important than the message. It divides the body of Christ over secondary loyalties. Whenever our loyalty to a man, a ministry, a denomination, or a theological tribe becomes more important than our shared loyalty to Christ and His universal church, we have stepped into carnality. We are back in the nursery, fighting over our toys.
Conclusion: Growing Up
The diagnosis is sharp, but it is not without hope. Paul rebukes them as infants, but he does so in order that they might grow up. The solution to carnality is not to navel-gaze or to have a big group hug. The solution is to fix our eyes on the foundation, which is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Paul and Apollos are nothing but servants, gardeners, and construction workers. One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth. The foundation is Christ, and everything else is just the building that goes on top. The problem in Corinth was that they had fallen in love with the construction workers instead of the Architect. They were praising the trowel instead of the Treasurer of all things.
This is the way out of spiritual infancy. We must repent of our envy. We must put away our strife. We must stop glorying in men and glory only in the Lord. We must see that all things are ours in Christ, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas. They are our servants, for our sake, because we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Spiritual maturity, then, is not a matter of acquiring more knowledge, but of applying the knowledge we have in love. It is moving from the bottle of basic doctrine to the solid food of cruciform living. It means that when you see God bless another man's ministry, you rejoice without envy. When you have a disagreement, you handle it without strife. When you admire a teacher, you do so without making him an idol. This is what it means to grow up. This is what it means to stop walking like mere men and to begin walking like the spiritual men and women God has called us to be.