1 Corinthians 3:2 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

Here, I. Paul blames the Corinthians for their weakness and nonproficiency. Those who are sanctified are so only in part: there is still room for growth and increase both in grace and knowledge, 2 Pet. 3:18. Those who through divine grace are renewed to a spiritual life may yet in many things be defective. The apostle tells them he could not speak to them as unto spiritual men, but as unto carnal men, as to babes in Christ, 1 Cor. 3:1. They were so far from forming their maxims and measures... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

3:1-9 And I, brothers, could not talk to you as I would to spiritual men, but I had to talk to you as to those who had not yet got beyond merely human things, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. But now not even yet can you digest solid food, because you are still under the sway of human passions. Where there is envy and strife among you, are you not under the sway of human passions and is not your behaviour on a purely human level? For when anyone says, "I... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:2

I have fed you with milk ,.... It is usual with the Jews to compare the law to milk, and they say F3 Kimchi in Isa. lv. 1. Abarbinel, Mashamia Jeshua, fol. 26. 1. , that "as milk strengthens and nourishes an infant, so the law strengthens and nourishes the soul;' but the apostle does not here mean חלב של תורה , "the milk of the law", as they F4 Jarchi in Cant. v. 12. call it, but the Gospel; comparable to milk, for its purity and wholesomeness, for the nourishing virtue... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:2

I have fed you with milk - I have instructed you in the elements of Christianity - in its simplest and easiest truths; because from the low state of your minds in religious knowledge, you were incapable of comprehending the higher truths of the Gospel: and in this state you will still continue. The apostle thus exposes to them the absurdity of their conduct in pretending to judge between preacher and preacher, while they had but a very partial acquaintance even with the first principles of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:2

Verse 2 2.I have fed you with milk Here it is asked, whether Paul transformed Christ to suit the diversity of his hearers. I answer, that this refers to the manner and form of his instructions, rather than to the substance of the doctrine. For Christ is at once milk to babes, and strong meat to those that are of full age, (Hebrews 5:13,) the same truth of the gospel is administered to both, but so as to suit their capacity. Hence it is the part of a wise teacher to accommodate himself to the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

The carnal conceit of the spiritually immature. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

Spiritual condition of these Corinthian partisans characterized. These men were in a low state of Christian development, their growth in grace having been arrested by the jealousy and strife dominant in their midst. Under such circumstances, personal progress and Church progress were impossible. Individual self assertion and arrogance could net but lead to the depreciation of others, nor could envious rivalries tolerate merit and worth in those whom it sought to crush. On the other hand,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-8

Reflections for Churches. "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual," etc. In these verses are three subjects worthy of the profoundest contemplation. I. THE GRADUATING METHOD OF TEACHING . "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk," etc. Truth is to be administered with a practical regard to the receptive powers of the student, just as the administration of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Christian teachers and their work. The apostle has still in view the dissensions prevailing in the Corinthian Church. Throughout the first four chapters this subject is never absent from his mind, even when it is most in the background. The spirit of party, with the various phases of thought and life that found expression therein, suggests the several topics on which he enlarges. I. THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER ADAPTS HIS TEACHING TO THE CAPACITIES OF HIS HEARERS . ( ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:2

I fed you with milk. The metaphor is expanded in Hebrews 5:13 , "Every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the Word of righteousness; for he is a babe." The same metaphor is found in Philo; and the young pupils of the rabbis were called "sucklings" ( תוקונית ) and "little ones" (camp. Matthew 10:42 ). Not with meat; not with solid food, which is for full grown or spiritually perfect men ( Hebrews 5:14 ). For hitherto; rather, for ye were not yet— when I... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:2

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:2

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Corinthians 3:2

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-8

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:2

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