1 Corinthians 3:1-9 (Changed to be Growing)

Liturgical Setting

Christmas and Epiphany seem long ago. Yet Transfiguration Sunday is just two weeks away and Ash Wednesday is soon approaching. As this mission season of the Church draws to its close, it is still the perfect time to see how God’s Word calls us to change—not to change ourselves, but to be changed by the Gospel. The changed Church—and the changed-in-Christ disciple—matures as God continues to give the growth.

All of the appointed lessons deal with change or transition. The Old Testament Reading is a portion of Moses’ words to the Israelites forty years after Mount Sinai, as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. At this time of transition, he warns them not to change, to turn their hearts away from the Lord (). Today’s Psalm is the very first portion of the great acrostic . It speaks of movement through the changing steps of life, “Blessed are those . . . who walk in the law of the Lord” (119:1), and yet remain unchanged, “having fixed [their] eyes on all [his] commandments (119:6b). The lengthy Gospel is from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus calls for growth and maturing in faith in a corrected understanding of God’s Law: “You have heard that it was said . . . but I say to you . . . ” By God’s grace, through the Spirit’s work, we will change the way we deal with anger, with lust, with marriage and divorce, and with oath making (, , , ).

The Introit reminds us that God is always the change agent: “The Lord has made known his salvation” (). And today’s Collect prays for the most important change of all, that “we who justly suffer the consequences of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness.”

Relevant Context

Paul planted the new Christian community in Corinth during his second missionary journey (AD 49–51) as recorded in . Apollos, a gifted and eloquent teacher from Alexandria, followed Paul, arriving from Ephesus. Luke affirms Apollos’s act of “watering” when he writes, “When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed” (). A contrast between the two was inevitable—witness the common reality today of one pastor being called to follow another. Paul himself gives a hint that his own preaching was seen by some to be unimpressive (see as well as ; ). However, there is no scriptural evidence that the relationship between Paul and Apollos was conflicted but was, rather, harmonious.

Textual Notes

V 1: There is a strong contrast between spiritual people (pneumatikois) and fleshly people (sarkinois). As Gregory Lockwood points out, sarkinos and sarkikos (v 3, which means “pertaining to or controlled by the flesh”) reflect Paul’s theology of the flesh—that is, the sinful nature of fallen humanity. (See 1 Corinthians, Concordia Commentary [St. Louis: CPH, 2000], 106). Consider: the new spiritual nature of those baptized into Christ is contradicted by behavior reflecting those subject to the fallen flesh (sarx) (Lockwood, 108).

Those who receive and read this God-breathed letter are babies. Note that there is a great difference between being childlike (see ) and being childish (the immaturity of the Christians in Corinth). They are still drinking milk (v 2). They are “behaving only in a human way” (v 3b) rather than being strong and steady in their growing maturity. Indeed, their immaturity is evidenced in their claims (v 4): “I follow Paul!” or “I follow Apollos!” (and, in 1:12: “I follow Cephas!” and “I follow Christ!”).

Though he does not use himself as an example, Paul’s description of the Corinthian congregation as infants in Christ hints at autobiography. When Saul was confronted, called, and converted on the road to Damascus, this new Christian was certainly an infant in the faith, not ready for solid food (v 2a). His briefer time in that city () and his longer time in “Arabia” () were used by the Lord of the Church to help him grow up.

V 2: gala hymas epotisa is usually rendered “I fed you with milk” (as in the ESV). However, more literally it is, “I gave you milk to drink.” As such, this same verb (potizō) can be used to mean “watering” a plant. (See the three additional uses of potizō in vv 6–8.)

V 3: kata anthrōpon is another expression of the spiritual immaturity of the Corinthians. It might have the force, “with merely human motives or feelings.”

peripateite (present, indicative, active), from the verb meaning “to walk, to conduct one’s life,” is translated “behaving” in the ESV. It points to an action that was happening in the congregation of Corinth.

V 4: “I follow” (or “belong to,” RSV) is the wrong statement, a wrong—even heretical—boast. For each Corinthian—and each now-living Christian—should say, “I belong to God the Father through his Son by the Spirit’s working!” (Which is why we sing, “God’s own child, I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ” LSB 594:1.) And we should also boldly and gladly say, “I belong to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.” Paul will assert this truth in ch 12: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (12:13). In the same way, “I follow Christ” should be the same as the later confession of faith: “Jesus is Lord” (12:3b), rather than a proud boast against my weaker brothers and sisters. Consider: the fleshly perspective is the outlook oriented toward the self (self-absorbed), which pursues its own ends in a self-sufficient, self-indulgent “selfie” culture, independent of God. Donald Carson observes about this immaturity still present in the visible Church of our Lord Jesus:

Not for them solid knowledge of Scripture; not for them mature theological reflection; not for them growing and perceptive Christian thought. They want . . . something that won’t challenge them to think, to examine their lives, to make choices, and to grow in their knowledge and adoration of the living God. (D. A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry: An Exposition of Passages from 1 Corinthians, [Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993], 72; quoted in Lockwood, 108.)

V 5a–b: Many translations follow the Textus Receptus with tis rather than ti to open this verse. Therefore, they ask, “Who, after all, is Apollos? And who is Paul?” Bruce Metzger points out: “the implication of the neuter ti in v 7 is decisive for (the place of) ti in v 5,” as the implied answer is “nothing” rather than “no one” (see Lockwood, 110).

Vv 5c–6: Paul uses four aorist verbs to say, “you believed” (looking back to the Corinthians’ conversion by the Gospel), “the Lord assigned,” “I planted,” and “Apollos watered.” Pointedly, he then uses an imperfect for ēuzanen (from auxanō, “to cause to grow”) to indicate the ongoing, continuous blessing of God through the planting and watering by Paul and Apollos (Fritz Rienecker, A Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, Vol 2, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976], 47).

V 7: Three participles are used here: phyteuōn (“the planting one”), potizōn (“the watering one”), and auxanōn (“the causing to grow one”).

V 9: theou gar esmen synergoi (“For we are God’s co-workers”). The noun, synergos, and the verb, synergeō, occur a total of eighteen times in the New Testament. There are two ways this might be understood: “We are God’s co-workers” or “We are partners working together for God” (GNT). Lockwood also makes this insightful observation: “Whereas Paul and Apollos are nothing, God is everything. To emphasize this, Paul places ‘God,’ theos, last” (Lockwood, 113). It is clear that, as he addresses the distinctive action of Apollos (the watering one) in contrast to his own action (the planting one), Paul wants the Corinthians to know that the planter and the waterer do not have different ministries, but are in the same service for the kingdom of God.

Reformation 500th Anniversary Prompts

Martin Luther considers the challenges facing the Corinthian congregation and writes, “This clever wisdom and reason can well serve to make nothing but mad saints and wild Christians” (AE 35:382).

As Paul, Apollos, and others planted and watered in Corinth, there were others—many others—who preceded and followed Martin Luther and the German reformers. Consider John Wycliffe (in England) and John Hus (in Bohemia) as examples of the former and Chemnitz and Andreae and Chytraeus and Wyneken and Walther and Loehe (even Walter A. Maier and Oswald Hoffmann and Wallace Schulz and Dale Meyer and Kenneth Klaus and Gregory Seltz) as representative of the latter. But always, God gives the growth.

Sermon Outline

Introduction: A baby needs a change. Don’t worry, moms; I’m not suggesting I’ve noticed one of your little ones needs immediate attention. I’m just making a general statement, something we all know to be true. A baby needs a change. Now and then, actually pretty regularly, every baby needs a change. We’ve all been there; we’ve all done that. And many of us have been on the other end, doing the changing. A baby can’t change himself. Oh, they grow out of it. But in the meantime, if babies are going to grow up and be healthy, they need a change.

In our text for this Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, St. Paul tells the Christians in Corinth that they’re babies, still spiritual babies. And if they’re babies, you know what that means: babies need a change. If they’re going to grow up spiritually, they need a change.

Fortunately, St. Paul also tells the Corinthians—and us—that

God Gives Us the Change We Need to Grow.

You know how babies are; they need a lot of changes. And this, our text, won’t be the first time we’ve been changed. Already, for many of us years ago,

I. We’ve been changed!

A. The fact is, every Christian has already been changed.

1. Every human being is conceived and born in sin—an adorable little baby who nevertheless inside is a spitting, spiting hater, enemy of God.

2. But when a soul becomes a believer in Christ Jesus, a new person is created inside who loves God, trusts God above all things. That’s every Christian.

B. That was St. Paul and the Christians in Corinth.

1. There had been a great change in Saul: from his former way of life, from pursuer and persecutor of the Way to proclaimer and planter of the way, the truth, and the life.

2. There had been a change in the Corinthians. They had heard and believed the Gospel that changes people, so that Paul can now address them as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1:2).

a. This change had happened largely through the ministry of two men, Paul and Apollos: “servants through whom you believed” (v 5).

b. Each had preached the Gospel that changes people so miraculously.

C. So how are we like the people of Corinth? We are changed already by the Good News!

1. We’ve been brought to faith in Christ—many of us by Baptism as babies.

2. Before we even remember, the Holy Spirit created that new, believing person in us. Already back when we were needing many changes a day, we were changed!

Transition: In certain areas of my life, I’m not a big fan of change. A simple example: when the furniture is arranged in our home, its place has been determined. It doesn’t need to be moved twice a year or every five years or ever!

II. But we’re still babies who need a change (v 1).

A. Change was still needed in the congregation at Corinth (vv 1–4).

1. Change was needed so there could be growth: from mother’s milk to solid food, from people of the flesh to people of the Spirit.

2. There were still those sinful rivalries in the church—factions for Paul or Apollos, members against one another, though Paul and Apollos themselves weren’t divided at all.

B. So how are we like the people of Corinth? We are changed already by the Good News, and we still need to be changed!

1. Are we jealous? Do we have rivalries? That’s behaving only in a fleshly, human, not spiritual way. (Consider how to speak directly but pastorally to the divisions that exist within the congregation[s] you serve.)

2. These sins that separate us from God and one another—even in the church—are evidence that we’re still babies! This leads only to death.

Transition: We, too, are people of the flesh who need to hear that one became flesh for all people.

III. The Son of God made the change we need.

A. Christ, the unchanging God, nevertheless did become flesh for all jealousy, for all strife, for all who are behaving only in a human way.

B. And since “each will receive his wages according to his labor” (v 8b), we rejoice in what our Christ Jesus has done:

1. For the wage of his labor on the cross is full and free forgiveness.

2. And the wage of his labor in (and out of) the grave is life new and never-ending.

3. Even more: these wages, these gifts, of Jesus’ cross and his open tomb are delivered to us in the simple water and strong Word of Holy Baptism and the Supper of our Lord’s very body and blood.

C. This is the food we babies need to grow. (See the illustration from the Ideas for Illustrating section.) And God gives us this food, even as we’re still babies.

Transition: This is how God changes us. Only God can give this change!

IV. And when God changes us, we grow (vv 5–6).

A. Let’s say he gets us ready for kindergarten. That’s the place where bigger babies, kinder, children, are planted, watered, grow.

1. There is growth beyond divisions when Paul and Apollos—and the man standing in front of you—are seen correctly—not as something in themselves, but as the Lord’s servants.

2. There is growth after watering and planting. Servants do this work (yes, the servant called to be your pastor), and these servants wait with patience (vv 7–9).

3. And, just as God gives growth in his creation, so he is the source of growth in his new creation, the Church. For the Church is God’s field!

B. God is always about change. God is always about growth.

1. In many parts of the country, it’s not even close to planting time (except for the winter wheat drilled last fall). Fields and gardens have not been plowed or tilled to receive seeds. (You may recall for the hearers the children’s message spoken earlier.)

2. But even though it’s February, it is planting and watering time. The Epiphany season—a time to consider and commit to Christ’s mission for his Church—is always a time for God to give growth.

3. And the Church faithfully sows the seed of Christ’s Gospel and faithfully waters what is planted, that the harvest will be greater and greater.

4. For this truth must be affirmed and celebrated (v 7b): It is “only God who gives the growth.”

Conclusion: Yes, God makes the change. Amen.