1 Corinthians 1-4
Carnal Christians

(*See note on Ps 120) This is the last of the fifteen Step Psalms which Hezekiah wrote in response to the fifteen extra years of life that God gave him (Isaiah 38:20). Praise is the preoccupation of God's servants. Blessing is the occupation of God. When we acknowledge who He is, and respond appropriately (worship=response to revelation), we set ourselves up for His blessings. The background to this psalm is probably found in Hezekiah's instructions to the priests when he regathered them to reopen the temple in the first year of his reign.

2Chronicles 29:6 For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him. 10 "Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense."

Paul, who was directly and vocally called to be an apostle, writes to the church/assembly at Corinth, those who are set apart or sanctified in Christ (that means they are believers), and called (as in a written invitation to a future event) to be saints (holy ones), along with all the other believers (Rm 10:14) who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Messiah. As with the Romans he wishes them the blessings of grace and peace, and instructs them about how to get blessed. He starts with thanking God for the confirming grace He gave them (since there wasn't a whole lot else that was praiseworthy about their behavior). Note that the manifestations of the Spirit were given to confirm the testimony of Christ (Mk 16:20), and enable them to successfully wait for the return of the Messiah. All seven times “wait” is used in the NT, it refers to the expectation of the hope of the Messiah's reward when He glorifies His saints (Rm 8:19, 23, 25; Gal 5:5; Phil 3:20; Heb 9:28) at His revelation (1Pt 1). God will establish them so they may be blameless when Christ returns. God called/invited people into fellowship (union) with Jesus, and it is such abiding that results in blamelessness (being above reproach, nothing that anyone can find fault about, a condition that the carnal Corinthians don't possess, yet). This word is used in Col 1:22; 1Tim 3:10; Titus 1:6-7.

Verse 10 is a great statement of the unity God desires for Bodies of believers. Note the characteristics in the text. It's not outward conformity or uniformity, but an inner embracing of the will of God as revealed by the Spirit of Truth, in the objective word (mostly) and subjectively (when necessary) in the minds of those submitted to the word and Lordship of Christ. People can't know the subjective will of God if they aren't doing the objective will (because He is not on speaking terms with rebellious sinners, except to tell them to repent). Group-speak and group-think are usually dangerous, unless people are thinking Biblically and speaking the truth. Then there is a basis for unity. Notice that “same judgment” indicates that there has been debate and discussion, and a verdict has been reached based upon the facts (correctly), not preconceptions, nor theories.

Paul address the disunity of factions. When people get their worth and value from being individually pleasing to God, they aren't as concerned about group affiliation. Nationalists, Nazis, rabid sports fans, gang-members and those who cling to ethnic or affiliation (college, corporation, church, culture) identities as a basis of their worth and value usually have nothing intrinsically or meritoriously valuable about them. Unless one finds their identity as a faithful child of God, and their worth from being pleasing in His sight (through doing what is right in His sight), they will seek it in all the wrong places, and lose value from God. (See The Magic Lamp of Self-esteem on Truthbase.net for outline.)

God didn't send Paul to baptize (must not be that crucial in the overall scheme of things) but to proclaim the message of the cross (which is that Christ died for our sins so we don't have to die). This is a weak and foolish message to those who look for power and wise words. It is through the “foolish” message that people are saved, and receive wisdom and power, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption/reward (Rom 8:23). Christ will be seen as powerful and wise when He returns, and no one will boast or glory in anyone or anything other than Him.

When Paul was at Corinth for a year and a half (Acts 18:1-17), he didn't use fancy schmancy Greek rhetoric to convince his hearers, but he reasoned/debated and persuaded about the facts of Jesus the prophesied Messiah and his death (and its benefits). People believed the words and were baptized. Acts doesn't mention Paul performing miracles in Corinth which engendered belief as had happened at other places (Acts 13:12; 15:12; 19:11).

Paul isn't opposed to wisdom, and in fact, speaks it among the mature. This wisdom is the previously undisclosed (mystery -Rm 11:25; 16:25; Eph 1, 3) plan of God which He had planned for our glory. Note this is not for our forgiveness, but our glorification, reversing the effects of the Fall. If you don't fully understand this, please see comments at end of Romans 16. Had people understood that the Messiah was bringing the glory they craved, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of Glory, who gives that glory to those who loyally love/serve Him. The blessings God has planned for those who love Him (see John 14:21 in the TMS above) go far beyond what we could even imagine. Trust that if there is anything in this cursed world that you like, God will have something hugely better in the future for those who are loyal to Him.

God has revealed His plan to the miracle working apostles, not you and me, unless we study their words. Only the miracle working Spirit knows the mind of God and has communicated that to the miracle working apostles (these are the "we" to which verse 12 refers to, not every believer). They are the ones who have the mind of Christ. The only way non-apostles develop that is through renewing our minds in the accurately understood word.

The last phrase of verse 13 is frequently not understood. Literally it's three Greek words: “spiritual spiritual together-judge.” The first is a dative adjective (indirect object), the second an accusative adjective (direct object), and the verb is a present participle (modifying how Paul and the apostles speak). The verb means to “judge together” or closely compare, or interpret or explain. A decent rendering is “interpreting/explaining spiritual (truths) to spiritual men (note the contrast in the next phrase with natural men). Those who haven't accepted Christ, and thus don't have His Spirit, don't receive/accept or appropriate the things of God's Spirit because they are “spiritually” discerned/appraised. “Discerned” in verse 14 is the same word for interpreted or discern/judged in the verses before and after. Unbelievers can trace the argument and meaning of a passage better than believers sometimes, so the issue isn't being able to understand the words, but to accept and embrace them, and thus experience or “intimately know” them. The “spiritual men” to whom Paul explains the wisdom of God are able to accept it, not because of some magic work of the Holy Spirit (because then all believers would understand accurately, and all commentaries by prayerful believers would agree), but rather they accept it because they approach the truth from a spiritual rather than carnal perspective (they value the spiritual, as shown by their reception of Christ). They also have experienced the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in their lives (Jn 16:8) and are more “in tune” with the Spirit of Truth who wants to communicate to them His truth. Alas, this is not the case with many, otherwise they'd know and apply/obey the Scriptures better. See 1Cor 3:1 where being spiritual is contrasted with being a babe in Christ. The one who looks at things from a “spiritual” perspective, discerns (comparatively judges) the truth about all things.

A babe in Christ is a fleshly/carnal, immature, non-spiritual believer, who walks/lives like an unbeliever, with an unbeliever's values, who will receive no reward. Their lack of progress and growth in Christ keeps them a creepy caterpillar, causing strife, jealous of the butterflies who sip nectar from the flowers. They try to get worth by crawling over others. Yes, there are such critters as carnal Christians; not a pretty sight.

Believers who are rewarded for their service are those who've actually served. You can't hear “Well done!” unless you've done something praiseworthy. Paul planted the seed of God's word, and Apollos watered it, but God gave the growth. Farmers don't really grow anything, they tend soil, pull weeds, and trim off/prune unprofitable or diseased growth (they also protect it from dangers).

Please make sure you totally understand this passage. If you're a carnal Christian, it might be your motivation to be metamorphosized (Rm 12:1-2). Paul laid the foundation of Christ, which means he preached the death and resurrection of Jesus as the basis of forgiveness for sins. This can't be redone, and when all is said and done, is all that remains of the life of a carnal Christian. Jesus died for your sins so you don't go into the lake of fire. You believed it, and became a child of God. Now are you going to be a good son/daughter or a rotten, unprofitable one? The good, spiritually minded ones build on their justification, using valuable, costly and difficult materials (gold, silver, and precious stones, which have to be mined and refined).

The carnal caterpillar uses whatever is easy, and piles it up to look good. But when Christ returns, everyone's work will be judged by fire. Only the good spiritual building remains. Everything else goes up in smoke. The mature who serve in building up others, get rewarded. The carnal babes lose everything, including their pampers, in the fire. (Most likely the burning of their works in the garbage dump of Gehenna -See comments on Mt 5). They will still be saved, but will spend the Kingdom singed and smokey. Suffer loss involves suffering. Here are the only NT usages of loss: Mt 16:26; Mk 8:36; Lk 9:25; 2Cor 7:9; Phil 3:8. How happy would you be if everything you valued and gave your life to, vanished in flames?

But, wait, it gets worse. Believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, thus being God's temple, both individually (1Cor 6:19) and corporately. The corporate aspect is in view here, since that's the thing that can be destroyed by carnal Christians doing their own thing and violating the unity God desires (1Pt 2:5). The temple destroyer/defiler (same word) will themselves be destroyed/defiled. Defiled is the better translation since the consequence is a loss of the holiness which is needed for service in the present and reward in the future.

Paul concludes the argument in this chapter with a reminder not to be self-deceived (believing what you want, rather than all that is revealed). The context is negative judgment for worldly Christians who disrupt unity by their lack of maturity (they're the people who would not have followed Christ to the next town, as the initial disciples did). The immature get worth and value not from God's approval and anticipated reward, but from human sources.

Paul was very conscious of facing the Lord's future judgment (Acts 24:16; 1Cor 9:27). The judgment is not on whether or not a person has believed in Christ; the judgment is of believers for their faithfulness. God will judge us for all He's entrusted to us. Paul admonishes the Corinthians to not judge each other because it's the judgment of the Lord that matters. The Lord will bring to light the motives of the heart. Why we do what we do is more important than the trivial externalities most times. So it is important to examine ourselves and question the motives of those we love who are deceived to bring them to an awareness of what their behavior looks like (see the Ministry of Reproof).

In one of the most sarcastic passages of Scripture, Paul rebuffs the pride of the carnal Corinthians, who think incorrectly, going beyond what the Scriptures reveal, and put each other down. Their pride even spilled out into their attitude toward Paul, as if they had already been exalted (perhaps due to their “gifts” or “wisdom”).

Paul humbly but firmly reminds them that he is their father in Christ, and they should imitate him and follow his teachings. To that end he sends Timothy to remind them of what Paul had taught and still taught all the believers. Those who were disrespecting Paul and his teaching were acting as if he were not coming (just like many people act regarding Christ). But when it was in the Lord's will to do so, he would visit, and it wouldn't be pleasant for those who had big words, but no power. If they repented, Paul would visit in love and gentleness. Otherwise they would face the disciplinary rod of the powerful apostle, through whom God worked mightily.