TUESDAY
Our text for this week is 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, where Paul again calls the church the temple of God. He uses this metaphor in the context of spiritual growth and maturity. So let’s look at the first couple of verses today.
1 Corinthians 3:1–23 (ESV) 3 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
Paul says that the Corinthian believers are still infants in Christ and people of the flesh. They are saved, as they believe in Jesus, but they are not very mature in their faith. Paul seems to think that they should be further along in their faith at this point than they clearly are. They are still drinking spiritual milk when they should be on to solid food. It’s been 4 or 5 years since he spent 18 months with them planting the church (Acts 18:11) and their divisions reveal that they haven’t matured much since he left.
Paul uses three metaphors in our passage this week. In this first paragraph he uses growing up, physically maturing, as a metaphor for spiritual maturity. This is a metaphor we find often in Scripture and one I’ve used on our 
Grow page. I remember when my kids were little there were milestones that we obsessed over—solid food, rolling over, walking, first words, potty training, etc. As parents of little ones we thought about this constantly as a way to measure whether our children were developing properly or not. If they weren’t, it would be a sign that something may be wrong and some treatment may be necessary.
The same applies for our spiritual maturity. Like it would be abnormal for a 4-year-old to still be drinking only milk, it is abnormal for a 5-year-old Christian to not know how to read their Bible. Like it’s abnormal for a 6-year-old to still be wearing diapers, it’s abnormal for an 8-year-old Christian to still be divisive in the church. These are signs that something is wrong and treatment is needed.The problem is that they are still living in the flesh. This is one of Paul’s favorite terms and he uses it in a number of ways. He can use it to simply refer to our physical bodies compared to our spiritual life. He can use it to refer to our human nature. He can also use it to refer specifically to the sinful aspect of our human nature as well, which is how he is using it here. We know which one he is using by the context. Our sinful nature is that part of us that desires sin and self-reliance apart from God. Then, when we come to believe in Jesus, we receive the Spirit of God to dwell within us. These two are then in conflict—the flesh and the Spirit. The one we surrender to more will win the day. Paul talks about this at length in Romans 7-8.
The Corinthians were not surrendering to the Spirit but they were giving in to their flesh, as was evidenced by the jealousy and strife among them. Jealousy and strife are factors of fleshly, worldly, sinful living. Love, peace, and unity are factors of living according to the Spirit. To be a spiritual person is to be one who is surrendered to and led by the Spirit of God. This is a mystical reality with very tangible effects. We see it in how we live. Are we living in more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? (Gal. 5:22-23) If so, we are surrendering more and more to the Spirit. Are you living in more sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these”? (Gal. 5:19-21) If so, then you are surrendering more and more to the flesh.
“Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
So walk by the Spirit, live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit, be led by the Spirit. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Surrender to the Spirit!
Additional Content
Galatians 5:16–26 (ESV) 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Romans 8:5–9 (ESV) 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Reflection
Assess your spiritual maturity. Are you living, acting, thinking more in the flesh or in the Spirit? If you’re living more in the aspects of the flesh, ask the Spirit to reveal what thinking needs to change or what you haven’t surrendered to the Spirit yet. Confess and repent of what he reveals and “offer your body as a living sacrifice” and “be transformed by the renewal of your mind”(Rom. 12:1-2).
If you are growing more in the fruit of the Spirit, continue surrendering at even deeper levels to the Spirit. Thank God and praise him for his work of transformation that he is doing in your life.