October 21: 1 Corinthians 1-9

Milk, seeds, buildings.

I like the word pictures Paul uses in 1 Corinthians Chapter 3. Similar to the parables Jesus told, these pictures helped the church in Corinth (and us) understand the meaning of his messages.



Milk

Paul says he gave the Corinthians "milk, not solid food" and called them "infants in Christ". Babies need to start with the basics first (milk or formula) and more complex foods are introduced later, once they can handle the milk. In the same way, Paul first provided the basic formula for following Christ, the Gospel, and only later encouraged the Corinthians to grow beyond this basic understanding. He wanted them to mature in their faith by learning how to use the spiritual gifts they have been given, but knew the correct order in which to teach them.

Seeds

Paul wants to make sure that God, not human messengers, receive the credit for the Good News. He says in 1 Cor. 3: 6-7 "I planted the sead, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." It is good to remember this for a two reasons.

First, we must always give God the Glory and Honor because He is the One who makes all things possible. Without him, nothing is possible.

Second, each of us are assigned certain tasks...some of us to plant, some of us to water. Verse 8 says "The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor." Therefore, we must fulfill our duty, but not get frustrated when we cannot be the planter, waterer, weeder, fertilizer, sun, rain, moon and stars. Sometimes it is only our job to plant and we have to know that the Master Gardener has others in line to complete the other tasks.

Buildings

Paul also compares the faith of the Corinthians (and that of all mankind) to a building. Verses 10-11 say "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he buils. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." I think this word picture was meant to teach the Corinthians three things.

• Jesus is the foundation. Anything else will fall.
• We should not depend on gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw. None of these will last. Just as a fire burnsaway all impurities in ore to get to the essence of the metal, the "fire" at the end of times will detroy all worldly things and only our core-our true essence of who we are in Christ- will matter.
• God does not want his temple (his people) destroyed. At that time, the church was being destroyed by disputes and divisions among the Corinthians. Arrogant believers were scorning those they considered spiritually inferior, people were dividing over food and drink rules, and there was not a spirit of oneness. This is why Paul talks so much about unity and about the strong helping the weak instead of trying to convince the weak they are wrong (see previous post).

I'm glad Paul used word pictures that help us understand his letter to the church in Corinth. The timelessness of the Bible is amazing--that 2000 years later we can still relate to infants drinking milk before solid food, to planting and watering fields, and to building on strong foundations.