I Corinthians 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

God directed Paul to teach us that there are basically three divisions of humans. In chapter 2 we learned there is the “natural man”. The natural man is lost. He does not have the indwelling Holy Spirit in his life. He does not have eternal life.
We also have the “spiritual man”. This man is saved. He has the indwelling Holy Spirit in his life. He has eternal life. This man is alive. This man walks faithfully with the Lord. He has discernment and he judges all things by the Word of God. This man is not guaranteed to be known by God as a “spiritual man” at all times. The spiritual man can get sidetracked when he lets pride get in the way. He then needs to confess his sin and be restored to a right place of fellowship.
In chapter three we are told there is a third category of humans and that is the “carnal man”. The carnal man is saved, but disobedient to the will of God. He has the indwelling Holy Spirit but he is fighting against the Holy Spirit. He is called a babe in Christ here. A babe needs milk and needs extra guidance and protection. He does not act upon what he knows to be right, but resists the truth. This is not a good place to be and God is not satisfied with anyone of His children being in this carnal state. As we see here, this person is not willing to receive the truth and needs more active “persuasion” to get him out of that spiritual slump.
In verse 2 we see that Paul fed these people with milk and not with meat. They were saved and thus had the capacity to take meat, but they were resisting the help that was available to them through the grace of God. These saints were still resisting the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They were not in danger of losing their salvation, but they were being chastened. The fact that God told Paul to address this problem publicly was evidence of the chastening they were receiving.
In verse 3 Paul identified the character of the carnal Christian. They were envious, there was strife among them, and divisions. There was no doubt that they were carnal. As we see here, Paul is not telling us to find a way to compromise and avoid divisions. These divisions were not for the sake of purity. They were due to petty, “in the flesh” ways. God told Paul to point out the problem and then to challenge the saints with the facts. There was no way they could deny what Paul was writing here.
In verse 4 we see more detail on their carnality. Paul had addressed this earlier in this epistle. Here he went into further detail on the problem. They were choosing their leader for the wrong reason. They were all part of the same local church. In the local church there must be unity in Christ. True unity can only be found in Christ.
In verse 4 Paul was directed to mention two men in the division among the Corinthian saints. Apollos was an Alexandrian Jew. He was an eloquent speaker. He needed some further teaching as we learn from Acts 18-19. Aquila and Priscilla were led to take him aside and teach him of some things he was lacking. He did not take offence to being taught further. He continued to be a preacher of the Gospel. As we noted, the Scriptures point out that he was an eloquent speaker as compared to Paul’s more plain manner of speaking.
Neither of these two men were the pastor of the church in Corinth. They were men that God directed to help out where needed; Paul as an apostle, and Apollos as an itinerant preacher. There was no reason for the people to be so divisive about this. They were acting like little children by their actions.
In verse 5 we see that Paul and Apollos both understood that it was Jesus Christ that needed to be exalted. Paul and Apollos were simply ministers that God had used to help the Corinthians to believe in God. It was not that these men had failed in their preaching. It was the carnality of the Corinthians that was the problem. We see that the Lord used these two men in a particular way to help the people. Just because one of them was instrumental in pointing out the need of salvation in some individual did not mean that the saved person needed to be tied to Paul or Apollos’ “apron strings”. When a person is saved, they become a child of God. It is important for the saved person to be baptized and join a local church. It seems these saints had done that. They were members of the church in Corinth. We are not told who the pastor was there. The saints in a local church should appreciate the local pastor but the local pastor will also be sure to help the saints to grow in the Lord and keep Him as the “chief Shepherd”.
Paul went on to make this point in the following verses.
In verse 6 he noted that he had planted, Apollos had watered, but God gave the increase. God directed these men to fulfil their responsibilities to God first of all and to the people as they served God. Thus the saints needed to be reminded that it was God Who saved them. We as people can have a part in bringing the truth to a lost person. However, it is the Holy Spirit Who impresses the truth upon the heart of the hearer. There are false teachers who want to use manipulation to coerce a person into repeating a prayer after them. This method is never taught in the Scriptures. When you make the person dependent upon you, you are failing in your calling.
Those who are saved need to be led by the Holy Spirit in helping the lost person to see their need of salvation. If the saved person is obedient to the Lord in their witnessing, the lost person will understand what to say once they yield to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.
In verse 7, Paul continued to remind the saints that the person that plants is nothing, and the same is true for the one who waters the seed. It is God that gives the increase and thus He must be exalted. He is worthy of praise.
I received a report this week of a false religion that had 100 baptisms over the past month. The person giving the report was quite excited about this. It would be great to hear of that number of Biblical baptisms. That would mean that there were 100 people who were saved in the past short while. Baptism without salvation is nothing.
Salvation requires repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The religious group referenced above does not teach that. They use the world’s music to entertain the people prior to the story time. They use perversions in their story time. The ‘pastoral’ team includes the husband and wife who are both ‘ordained’. There are so many unbiblical things going on in that religious group. It is a shame that so many people are being deceived.
We see again how important it is to have the Word of God. When we follow what Paul has just written in chapter 2 we know that the “spiritual man” has discernment. That discernment is based on the sure Word of God. It is not based on feelings. It is not an emotional high. It is based on truth.
Sadly that is missing in many professing Christian’s lives. They accept the feelings of others and they also operate on feelings, not facts. If feelings is the standard, there is no way to have discernment. How dare we question someone’s feelings. That is the argument used. Thus there are many people who are deceived into thinking thy are ‘saved’ when all they have done is had an experience.
God wants us to know the truth and to build on truth. God’s Word is Truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. He stated:

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Let us, those who are saved, submit ourselves to the will of God and not be guilty of being carnal.
Pastor Bartel