Inductive Bible Study: 1 Corinthians chapters 3-4
PRAY: Lord Jesus, help me not to look to human leaders when I should be focused on you and your truth embodied in the gospel. Thank you that you are the truth, and the life (John 14:6). In knowing you is spiritual maturity.
READ: 1 Corinthians 3:1–5
MEDITATE:
Paul was upset with the Corinthians. He expected them to be ready for solid spiritual food, but instead they were only ready for spiritual milk. If a child is feeding only on milk when he or she should be eating solids, we know something is By the grace of God, the Corinthians had had enriching and profound experiences of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1:4–7). Paul longed for them to be mature followers of the Lord Jesus, to be mature spiritual men and women. Yet they were worldly. They were still spiritual infants. They were pridefully claiming to follow different spiritual leaders in order to take sides and boast. They were “acting like mere rather than the redeemed and transformed followers of the Lord Jesus.
Paul is clear. The Corinthians should not be dividing themselves up by allegiance to human leaders, regardless of how God had used these leaders in their lives. Rather, as Paul makes clear in other letters, the teaching of the true nature of gospel is the crucial aspect of faith that must be fought for (Gal 1–3). The human leaders of the church are simply servants of Christ.
Questions and Application:
- What are some of the characteristics of a worldly Christian?
- What are the characteristics of spiritually mature Christians?
- What is the source of all jealousy?
- Why is quarreling a fruit of the flesh?
- How should you regard the person who led you to faith in Christ?
PRAY: Lord Jesus, show us with clarity the way to move from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity through the cross on which you died for us, that we may be true and valuable servants.