1 Corinthians 3:4 Kommentar

In this chapter the apostle, I. Blames the Corinthians for their carnality and divisions (Co1 3:1-4). II. He instructs them how what was amiss among them might be rectified, by remembering, 1. That their ministers were no more than ministers (Co1 3:5). 2. That they were unanimous, and carried on the same design (Co1 3:6-10). 3. That they built on one and the same foundation (Co1 3:11-15). III. He exhorts them to give due honour to their bodies, by keeping them pure (Co1 3:16, Co1 3:17), and to humility and self-diffidence (Co1 3:18-21). IV. And dehorts them from glorying in particular ministers, because of the equal interest they had in all (Co1 3:22 to the end).

INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 3 In this chapter the apostle returns to the charge of schisms and contentions upon the Corinthians, which were the occasion of the epistle; and reproves them for their divisions, which were about their ministers; and gives them their just and due character, and who, though they were useful and commendable in their places, were not to be gloried in; and especially it was a great piece of weakness and folly, to set up one against another, when they had an equal interest in them all. Having, in the latter part of the preceding chapter, made mention of the spiritual man, the apostle tells the Corinthians, to whom he writes, that he could not address them as spiritual, but as carnal; and not as perfect men, among whom he spake the wisdom of God, but as babes in Christ, Co1 3:1 and this rudeness and ignorance of theirs account for his conduct towards them, in delivering the plain and easy, and not the sublime doctrines of the Gospel to them, because they were not able to bear them; nor were they yet able, notwithstanding the length of time, the proficiency they had made, and the many teachers they had had among them, Co1 3:2 and to prove that they were carnal, and not spiritual, he instances in their envy, strife, and contentions, which were carnal works, or works of the flesh, Co1 3:3 and gives some particulars of their contentions about their ministers, which put it out of all doubt that they were carnal, Co1 3:4 and reproves them for such contentions, and argues the folly and sinfulness of them; partly from the character of their preachers, as servants and ministers, who were the instruments of their faith and conversion, through the grace of God, and therefore not to be set up at the head of them as their lords and masters, Co1 3:5 and partly from the unprofitableness of their ministry, without a divine blessing, Co1 3:6 and also from the unity and equality of the ministers among themselves, though their labours and reward were different, Co1 3:8 and therefore parties and factions were not to be made on their account; and besides, as they were labourers with God, and the church were his husbandry and building, in which they were employed, Co1 3:9, though they might differ in some superstructure points, yet they agreed in the foundation; and the apostle instances in himself under the character of a wise master builder, laying the foundation, and others building on it, Co1 3:10 and declares what this foundation was, which he and other Gospel ministers agreed in laying; nor was there any other that could be laid, to any good purpose besides, which is Jesus Christ, Co1 3:11 and then distinguishes between the different sorts of builders, the one laying on the foundation things of the greatest worth and value, and others things very trifling and useless, Co1 3:12 and intimates that there would be a time, when there would be a revelation and declaration of every man's work, of what sort it is, Co1 3:13 so that, according to their different structures, there will be a different reward, as is suggested, Co1 3:8 for though both sorts of preachers are upon the foundation, and so their persons will be safe, yet what they have built upon that foundation, according to the nature of it, shall either abide or be destroyed, Co1 3:14 wherefore inasmuch then as the church of Christ is a temple, a building laid on such a foundation as Christ, it ought not to be defiled by factions and divisions, by errors and heresies; especially since it is holy, and the Spirit of God dwells in it; and whoever does defile it shall surely be destroyed; and therefore the apostle dissuades from it, both from the turpitude of the action, and the danger of it, Co1 3:16 he cautions against the wisdom of this world, which was the cause of their divisions; as being self-deceiving, and contrary to true wisdom, Co1 3:18 and as being foolishness in the account of God, which he proves by some passages of scripture, Co1 3:19 and concludes, therefore, that no man ought to glory in men, in the best of men, not even in ministers, Co1 3:21 so as to separate and divide them, one from another, and set up one above another, since they, and all things else, were theirs, Co1 3:22 the ground and evidence of which their right and property in them are given, they being Christ's, and Christ's God's, Co1 3:23.

For while one saith, I am of Paul,.... This shows what their envying and strife, and divisions were about, and from whence they sprung; and which serve, to strengthen the proof, and support the charge of carnality brought against them; for when one sort made a party for Paul, and set up him as their minister above all others; and said another, I am of Apollos, preferring him for his eloquence above Paul, or any other preacher, as appears from Co1 1:12 there was a third sort for Cephas, whom they cried up as superior to the other two, or any other man; and a fourth were for Christ, and despised all ministers whatever: are ye not carnal? all this was a demonstration of it: they could never clear themselves from it, they must be convicted in their own consciences of it; to which the apostle appeals: the Alexandrian copy and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, "are ye not men?"

"For when one saith, I am Paul, and I of Apollos, are ye not carnal?" And he points out that this, so far from helping them at all or causing them to acquire any thing, had even become an obstacle to their profiting in the greater things. For this it was which brought forth jealousy, and jealousy had made them "carnal;" and the having become "carnal" left them not at liberty to hear truths of the sublimer sort.

He designates by the names of Paul and Apollos the distinguished men and teachers among the Corinthians.

Fourthly, he clarifies the proof, saying: For when one of you says, I belong to Paul, because I have been baptized and instructed by Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, which shows that there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not merely men, i.e., carnal and not spiritual, indulging in jealousy and strife for human things? For as a man is, so is he affected by corresponding things and desires them: "They became detestable as the thing they loved" (Hos 9:10).

Because of the carnal, divided state of the people at Corinth, the apostle was obliged to treat them as children in the knowledge of sacred things, Co1 3:1-3. Some were for setting up Paul, others Apollos, as their sole teachers, Co1 3:4. The apostle shows that himself and fellow apostles were only instruments which God used to bring them to the knowledge of the truth; and even their sowing, and watering the seed was of no use unless God gave the increase, Co1 3:5-8. The Church represented as God's husbandry, and as God's building, the foundation of which is Christ Jesus, Co1 3:9-11. Ministers must beware how and what they build on this foundation, Co1 3:12-15. The Church of God is his temple, and he that defiles it shall be destroyed, Co1 3:16, Co1 3:17. No man should depend on his own wisdom; for the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, Co1 3:18-20. None should glory in man as his teacher; God gives his followers every good, both for time and eternity, Co1 3:21-23.

For while one saith, I am of Paul, etc. - It was notorious that both Paul and Apollos held the same creed; between them there was not the slightest difference: when, therefore, the dissentients began to prefer the one to the other, it was the fullest proof of their carnality; because in the doctrines of these apostles there was no difference: so that what the people were captivated by must be something in their outward manner, Apollos being probably more eloquent than Paul. Their preferring one to another on such an account proved that they were carnal - led by their senses and mere outward appearances, without being under the guidance either of reason or grace. There are thousands of such people in the Christian Church to the present day. See the notes on Co1 1:10, etc.

PAUL COULD NOT SPEAK TO THEM OF DEEP SPIRITUAL TRUTHS, AS THEY WERE CARNAL, CONTENDING FOR THEIR SEVERAL TEACHERS; THESE ARE NOTHING BUT WORKERS FOR GOD, TO WHOM THEY MUST GIVE ACCOUNT IN THE DAY OF FIERY JUDGMENT. THE HEARERS ARE GOD'S TEMPLE, WHICH THEY MUST NOT DEFILE BY CONTENTIONS FOR TEACHERS, WHO, AS WELL AS ALL THINGS, ARE THEIRS, BEING CHRIST'S. (1Co. 3:1-23) And I--that is, as the natural (animal) man cannot receive, so I also could not speak unto you the deep things of God, as I would to the spiritual; but I was compelled to speak to you as I would to MEN OF FLESH. The oldest manuscripts read this for "carnal." The former (literally, "fleshy") implies men wholly of flesh, or natural. Carnal, or fleshly, implies not they were wholly natural or unregenerate (Co1 2:14), but that they had much of a carnal tendency; for example their divisions. Paul had to speak to them as he would to men wholly natural, inasmuch as they are still carnal (Co1 3:3) in many respects, notwithstanding their conversion (Co1 1:4-9). babes--contrasted with the perfect (fully matured) in Christ (Col 1:28; compare Heb 5:13-14). This implies they were not men wholly of flesh, though carnal in tendencies. They had life in Christ, but it was weak. He blames them for being still in a degree (not altogether, compare Co1 1:5, Co1 1:7; therefore he says as) babes in Christ, when by this time they ought to have "come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph 4:13). In Rom 7:14, also the oldest manuscripts read, "I am a man of flesh."

(Co1 1:12). are ye not carnal--The oldest manuscripts read, "Are ye not men?" that is, "walking as men" unregenerate (Co1 3:3).