Homily 8 — First Corinthians 3, verses 1 to 11

“And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to fleshly people, as to infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, and not with solid food, for you were not yet able to take it. No, not even now are you able, for you are still fleshly.” [a]

After overturning the philosophy that comes from outside and casting down all its arrogance, he moves on to another argument. For they were likely to say: “If we were putting forward the opinions of Plato or Pythagoras or any of the other philosophers, you would have good reason to spin out such a long speech against us. But if we are announcing the things of the Spirit, why do you keep turning the outside wisdom upside down?”

Now hear how he takes his stand against this: “And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as to spiritual people.” In the first place, he says, even if you had been fully mature in spiritual things as well, you still ought not to be puffed up, for what you preach is not your own, and not something you found by your own means. But as it is, you do not know even these things as you ought to know them. You are learners, and the last of all. So if it is the wisdom of the pagans that gives you such lofty ideas, that has been shown to be nothing — no, where spiritual things are concerned, it is even opposed to us. Or if it is because of spiritual things, in these too you fall short and take your place among the hindmost. That is why he says, “I could not speak to you as to spiritual people.”

He did not say, “I did not speak,” in case it should look as though it came from some grudging on his part. Instead he brings down their high spirit in two ways: first, because they did not know the mature teaching; next, because their ignorance was their own doing. Yes, and in a third way besides, by pointing out that “not even now” are they able to take it. For their being unable at the start might perhaps have come from the nature of the case. But in fact he does not leave them even this excuse. It was not because they were unable to receive lofty teaching, he says, that they did not receive it, but because they were “fleshly.” Still, at the beginning this was not so much to blame; but that after so long a time they had not yet arrived at the more mature knowledge was a sign of the most complete sluggishness.

Notice that he brings the same charge against the Hebrews, though not so forcefully. For they, he says, are in that state partly because of distress, but these because of a certain appetite for wickedness, and the two things are not the same. He also shows that in the one case he meant to rebuke, and in the other rather to stir them up, when he spoke these true words. For to these Corinthians he says, “Not even now are you able,” but to the others, “Therefore let us stop speaking of the first principles of Christ, and press on to maturity” (Hebrews 6, verse 1), and again, “We are persuaded of better things concerning you, things that go with salvation, even though we speak in this way” (Hebrews 6, verse 9).

But how can he call them “fleshly,” when they had received so large a measure of the Spirit, and when at the beginning he had gone on at such length in their praise? Because those people were fleshly too to whom the Lord says, “Depart from me, you who practice wrongdoing; I do not know you” (Matthew 7, verses 22 and 23). And yet they cast out demons, and raised the dead, and prophesied. So it is possible even for someone who works miracles to be fleshly. For God worked in this way through Balaam; he revealed things to come to Pharaoh, and to Nebuchadnezzar; and Caiaphas prophesied without knowing what he was saying. Yes, and some others cast out demons in his name, though they were “not with him” (Luke 9, verse 49). For these things are not done for the sake of those who do them, but for the sake of others; and it has happened not seldom that people who were thoroughly unworthy have been made the instruments of them. [e]

Why be surprised, then, if with unworthy men these things are done for the sake of others, when it is so even when they are worked by saints? For Paul says, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or life or death” (First Corinthians 3, verse 22), and again, “He gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12). If it were not so, nothing would have kept everything from being ruined. For it can happen that those who preside are wicked and defiled, and those under them good and virtuous; that lay people live in godliness, and priests in wickedness. And there could have been no baptism, no body of Christ, no offering through such men, if grace in every case required worthiness. But as it is, God is accustomed to work even through the unworthy, and the grace of baptism is not damaged in any way by the life of the priest; otherwise the one receiving it would suffer the loss. So although such things happen rarely, still, it must be admitted, they do happen.

I say these things so that no one standing here, busying himself with the priest’s life, may stumble over the rites being performed. For a human being adds nothing to the things set before us. The whole is the work of the power of God, and it is he who initiates you into the mysteries.

“And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to fleshly people. I fed you with milk, and not with solid food, for you were not able to take it.” [g]

He did not want it to seem that he had said what he had just said out of love of show, to win favor — “The spiritual man judges all things,” and “he himself is judged by no one,” and “we have the mind of Christ.” He also wanted to put down their pride. So notice what he says: “It was not for this reason that I kept silent, that I was unable to tell you more, but because ‘you are fleshly; not even now are you able.’”

Why did he not say, “You are not willing,” but, “You are not able”? Because he put the one for the other. The lack of ability comes from the lack of will. For them this is a ground of accusation, but for their teacher it is an excuse. If they had been unable by nature, they might perhaps have been forgiven; but since it came from their own choice, they were stripped of every excuse.

Then he names the particular thing that makes them fleshly: “For since there is among you strife and jealousy and division, are you not fleshly, and walking as mere human beings?” He could also have spoken of their sexual immorality and their impurities, but he sets down instead the fault he had been trying to correct for some time. Now if jealousy makes people fleshly, it is high time for us to weep bitterly, and to clothe ourselves in sackcloth and lie in ashes. For who is clean of this passion? Unless, of course, I am only guessing at others from myself. If jealousy makes people fleshly, and does not let them be spiritual, even when they prophesy and do other wonderful works, then now, when we do not have even that much grace, what place will we find for our own conduct — we who stand convicted not in this matter alone, but in others of greater weight?

From this passage we learn that Christ had good reason to say, “Whoever does evil does not come to the light” (John 3, verse 20), and that an unclean life is an obstacle to lofty teaching, since it does not let the clear sight of the understanding show itself. Just as it is simply not possible for someone who is in error but lives uprightly to stay in error, so it is not easy for someone raised in wrongdoing to look up quickly to the height of the teachings handed down to us. Whoever is to hunt after the truth must be clean of all the passions; for whoever is set free from these will be set free from his error as well, and will reach the truth. [h]

And do not think, I beg you, that keeping away from greed or sexual immorality alone is enough for this purpose. It is not. Everything must come together in the one who seeks the truth. That is why Peter says, “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation whoever fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him” (Acts 10, verses 34 and 35) — that is, he calls him and draws him to the truth. Do you not see Paul? He was fiercer than anyone in waging war and persecuting; yet because he led a blameless life, and did these things out of no human passion, he was both received and reached a mark beyond everyone.

But if anyone should say, “How is it, then, that such a one — a Greek who is decent and good and kind to his fellow human beings — stays in error?” this would be my answer: he has some other passion — empty glory, or laziness of mind, or carelessness about his own salvation, thinking that everything that concerns him drifts along loosely and at random. Peter calls the man who is blameless in all things one who “practices righteousness,” and Paul says, “as to the righteousness that is in the law, found blameless,” and again, “I give thanks to God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a clean conscience” (Second Timothy 1, verse 3).

You will say, “How then were unclean people counted worthy of the good news?” Because they wished and longed for it. So the one kind, though in error, are drawn by him because they are clean of the passions; the others, coming of their own accord, are not pushed away. And many have also received the true religion from their ancestors.

Verse 3: “For since there is jealousy and strife among you.” At this point he gets ready to wrestle with those whose part was to obey. In what went before he had been casting down the leaders of the church, when he said that wisdom of speech is worth nothing. But here he strikes at those under them, in the words of verse 4: “For when one says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and, ‘I of Apollos,’ are you not fleshly?” [i]

And he shows that this, far from helping them at all or gaining them anything, had even become an obstacle to their progress in the greater things. For this was what gave birth to jealousy, and jealousy had made them “fleshly,” and being “fleshly” left them unable to hear the loftier truths.

Verse 5: “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos?”

In this way, after producing and proving his facts, he now makes his accusation more openly. And he uses his own name, to take away all harshness and to keep them from being angry at what is said. For if Paul is nothing and does not complain, much less should they think themselves badly treated. So you see, he has two ways of soothing them: first by bringing forward his own person, then by not stripping them of everything, as if they contributed nothing. Rather, he allows them some small share; small as it is, he does allow it. For after saying, “Who is Paul, and who is Apollos?” he adds, “but servants through whom you believed.” Now this in itself is a great thing and deserves great rewards, though compared with the original source and root of all good it is nothing. (For our benefactor is not the one who serves us in bringing our blessings, but the one who provides and gives them.)

And he did not say “evangelists,” but “servants,” which is more. For they had not only preached the good news, but had also served us; the one is a matter of words only, while the other involves deeds as well. And so, if even Christ is only a servant of good things, and not himself the root and the fountain — I mean, of course, as the Son — see how far this matter is carried. You will ask, “How then does he say that he ‘became a servant to the circumcised’?” (Romans 15, verse 8). In that place he is speaking of his hidden plan of salvation in the flesh, and not in the sense we have just described. There, by “servant” he means “the one who fulfilled” — that is, who fulfilled the types — and not one who hands out the blessings from his own store.

Again, he did not say, “those who guide you into the faith,” but “those through whom you believed,” once more giving the greater share to them, and by this too showing that the teachers were servants. Now if they were serving another, how is it that they seize the authority for themselves? But I would have you notice how he nowhere lays the blame on the teachers for seizing it, but on those who hand it to them. For the ground of the error lay in the people: had they fallen away, the other party would have broken up. Here are two things he has skillfully provided for. First, he has dug under, as miners do, at the very spot where the mischief had to be overthrown. And second, on the teachers’ side, he avoids stirring up ill will, or making them more quarrelsome.

Verse 5: “Even as Christ gave to each one.” For not even this small thing came from themselves, but from God, who put it into their hands. He says this in case they might say, “What then? Are we not to love those who serve us?” Yes, he says; but you should know how far. For not even this itself is from them, but from God who gave it.

Verse 6: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” That is: I cast the word into the ground first; but so that the seeds would not wither away through trials, Apollos added his own part. But the whole was from God.

Verse 7: “So then neither the one who plants is anything, nor the one who waters, but God who gives the growth.” [m]

Do you see how he soothes them, so that they would not be too much provoked on hearing, “Who is this one?” and “Who is that one?” Both sayings are hard to take — both “Who is this one? Who is the other?” and “Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything.” How then does he soften them? First, by attaching the low estimate to his own person: “Who is Paul, and who is Apollos?” And next, by referring the whole to God, who gave everything. For after saying that such a one planted, and adding, “the one who plants is nothing,” he went on, “but God who gives the growth.” And he does not stop even there, but applies yet another healing phrase, in the words of verse 8: “The one who plants and the one who waters are one.”

By this he establishes another point too: that they should not be puffed up against one another. When he says that they are one, he means that neither can do anything without “God who gives the growth.” By saying this he did not allow those who had labored much to exalt themselves over those who had contributed less, nor these in turn to envy the former. Next, since this could make people lazier — all being counted as one, whether they had labored much or little — see how he sets it right, saying, “But each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” As if he said: “Do not be afraid because I said, ‘You are one.’ Compared with the work of God, they are one; but as regards their labors they are not, for ‘each will receive his own reward.’”

Then, having achieved what he wanted, he smooths it over still more, and where it is allowed, he pleases them generously. Verse 9: “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s farm, God’s building.” Do you see how he has assigned them too no small work, after first laying it down that the whole is from God? Since he is always urging them to obey those who lead them, for this reason he avoids making very light of their teachers.

“You are God’s farm.” Because he had said, “I planted,” he kept to the image. Now if you are God’s farm, it is right that you be named not after those who work you, but after God. For a field is not called the farmer’s, but the owner’s.

“You are God’s building.” Again, a building belongs not to the workman, but to the master. Now if you are a building, you must not be pulled apart, for then it would be no building. If you are a farm, you must not be divided, but walled in with a single fence, which is oneness of mind.

Verse 10: “According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation.” Here he calls himself wise, not to exalt himself, but to give them an example, and to show that laying a foundation is the part of a wise man. And notice, as one instance of his modesty, that in calling himself wise he did not let it stand as though it were something of his own. First he credited himself wholly to God, and only then did he call himself by that name. For he says, “according to the grace of God given to me.” So at once he shows both that the whole is from God, and that this above all is grace: not being divided, but resting on one foundation.

“Another builds on it. But let each one take care how he builds on it.” Here, I think, and in what follows, he puts them on trial over their conduct, after once for all binding them together and making them one. [n]

Verse 11: “For no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” No one, I say, can lay it so long as he is a master builder; but if he lays one, he ceases to be a master builder.

See how he proves the whole of his point even from the notions everyone shares. His meaning is this: “I have preached Christ; I have handed the foundation over to you. Take care how you build on it, in case it is done out of empty glory, in case it is done so as to draw the disciples away after human beings.”

So let us pay no attention to the heresies. “For no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid.” On this, then, let us build, and cling to it as a foundation, as a branch clings to the vine, and let there be no gap between us and Christ. For if there is any gap, we perish at once. The branch draws in the sap by holding fast, and the building stands because it is cemented together; if it stands apart, it perishes, having nothing to support it. So let us not merely keep hold of Christ, but let us be cemented to him, for if we stand apart, we perish. “For those who withdraw far from you will perish” (Psalm 73, verse 27, as the Greek Old Testament reads it), so it is said. Let us cling to him, then, and let us cling by our works. “For whoever keeps my commandments remains in me” (John 14, verse 21, in substance).

And so there are many images by which he brings us into union. Notice them. He is “the head,” we are “the body” — can there be any empty gap between the head and the body? He is “a foundation,” we “a building”; he “a vine,” we “branches”; he “the bridegroom,” we “the bride”; he “the shepherd,” we “the sheep”; he is “the way,” we “those who walk in it.” Again, we are “a temple,” he “the one who dwells in it”; he “the firstborn,” we “the brothers”; he “the heir,” we “heirs together with him”; he “the life,” we “the living”; he “the resurrection,” we “those who rise again”; he “the light,” we “the enlightened.” All these point to unity, and they allow no empty gap, not even the smallest. For whoever moves off even a little way will keep going until he has become very far away.

So too the body, if it receives even a small cut from a sword, perishes; the building, though there is only a small crack, falls into ruin; and the branch, though cut off from the root only a little while, becomes useless. So this trifle is no trifle; it is almost everything. Whenever, then, we commit some small fault or some negligence, let us not overlook that small thing, since if it is ignored it quickly becomes great. So too when a garment has begun to tear and is neglected, the tear tends to run all the way through; and a roof, when a few tiles have fallen and nobody pays attention, brings down the whole house.

Let us keep these things in mind, then, and never make light of small things, so that we do not fall into great ones. But if we have made light of them and have come into the abyss of evils, even when we have come there let us not lose heart, so that we do not fall into recklessness. For it is hard ever after to climb out from there for anyone who is not extremely watchful — not because of the distance alone, but because of the very position we find ourselves in. For sin too is a pit, and it tends to press down and crush. Just as people who have fallen into a well cannot easily get out, but need others to pull them up, so it is with someone who has come into any depth of sins. To such people, then, we must let down ropes and pull them up. Or rather, we need not others only, but ourselves too, so that we for our part may take hold of ourselves and climb — not only as far as we went down, but much further, if we are willing. Why? Because God helps as well; for he does not desire the death of a sinner so much as his turning back. [p]

So let no one despair; let no one take on the attitude of the ungodly, for this kind of sin belongs properly to them: “When an ungodly man comes into the depth of evils, he makes light of it.” So it is not the number of people’s sins that causes their despair, but their ungodly mind.

Even if you have gone to every length of wickedness, still say to yourself: God loves humankind and desires our salvation. For “though your sins are like scarlet, I will make you white as snow” (Isaiah 1, verse 18, as the Greek Old Testament reads it), he says, and I will change you into the opposite condition. So let us not give up in despair. To fall is not so grievous as to lie where we have fallen; to be wounded is not so dreadful as to refuse healing after the wounds. “For who will boast that he has a pure heart? Or who will say with confidence that he is clean of sin?” (Proverbs 20, verse 9, as the Greek Old Testament reads it). I say these things not to make you more careless, but to keep you from despairing.

Do you want to know how good our Master is? The tax collector went up full of countless wicked deeds, and by saying only, “Be merciful to me,” went down counted righteous (Luke 18, verses 13 and 14). Yes, and God says through the prophet, “Because of sin I grieved him for a little while, and I saw that he was grieved and went about gloomy, and I healed his ways” (Isaiah 57, verses 17 and 18, as the Greek Old Testament reads it). What is equal to this love for humankind? On condition of his being only sorrowful, so he speaks: “I forgave him his sins.” But we do not do even this, and that is why we provoke God to anger most of all. (For he who is won over even by small things is, of course, indignant when he does not meet with even these, and he exacts the utmost penalty from us, for this comes from utter contempt.)

Who, for instance, has ever become downcast over his sins? Who has lamented over himself? Who has beaten his breast? Who has been anxious about it? Not one, as far as I can tell. But people weep for days without number over dead servants, over the loss of money, while as for the soul, which we are ruining day by day, we give it not a thought. How then will you be able to win God’s favor, when you do not even know that you have sinned?

“Yes, I have sinned,” someone says. “Yes” is what you say to me with your tongue. Say it to me with your mind, and along with the word, mourn heavily, so that you may have lasting cheerfulness. For if we grieved over our sins, if we mourned heavily over our offenses, nothing else could bring us sorrow; this one pain would drive out every kind of dejection. So here is another thing we would gain by thorough confession: not being swamped by the pains of this present life, nor puffed up by its splendors. And in this way, too, we would win God’s favor more fully, just as by our present conduct we provoke him to anger.

For tell me: if you have a servant, and he, after suffering many wrongs at the hands of his fellow servants, takes no account of any of the rest, but is anxious only not to provoke his master, is he not able by this alone to take away your anger? But what if his offenses against you are no concern to him at all, while about those against his fellow servants he is full of thought — will you not lay the heavier punishment on him? God does the same. When we neglect his anger, he brings it on us more heavily; but when we take it seriously, more gently. Or rather, he no longer lays it on us at all. He wants us to punish ourselves for our offenses, and after that he does not exact the penalty himself. This is why he threatens punishment at all: so that by fear he may destroy contempt. And when the threat alone is enough to make us afraid, he does not let us undergo the actual ordeal.

See, for instance, what he says to Jeremiah: “Do you not see what they are doing? Their fathers light a fire, their children gather sticks, their women knead dough” (Jeremiah 7, verses 17 and 18, as the Greek Old Testament reads it). It is to be feared that the same kind of thing may be said about us too: “Do you not see what they are doing? No one seeks the things of Christ, but all seek their own. Their children run into impurity, their fathers into greed and plunder, and their wives, far from holding their husbands back from the show and emptiness of life, sharpen their appetite for them instead.” Just take your stand in the marketplace and question the people coming and going, and you will not see one hurrying on a spiritual errand; all are running after the things of the flesh. How long before we wake up from our overindulgence? How long will we keep sinking into deep sleep? Have we not had our fill of evils?

And yet one would think that even without words, experience itself is enough to teach you the nothingness of present things and their utter meanness. At any rate, there have been men who practiced only the wisdom of the pagans and knew nothing of the future, yet because they had tested the great worthlessness of present things, they gave them up for that reason alone. What pardon, then, can you expect to obtain, groveling on the ground and not despising the small and passing things for the sake of the great and everlasting — you who hear God himself declaring and revealing these things to you, and have such promises from him? [s]

For those who kept away from the things here even without any promise of greater things have shown that these things have no real power to hold a person. What wealth did they expect, that they came down to poverty? None. They knew full well that such poverty is better than wealth. What kind of life were they hoping for, that they gave up luxury and gave themselves over to hard discipline? None at all. They had come to see the very nature of things, and saw that of the two this is the more suitable, both for the strict training of the soul and for the health of the body.

Weighing these things properly, then, and continually turning over in our minds the blessings to come, let us withdraw from this present world, so that we may obtain the one that is to come, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory, power and honor to the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to everlasting ages. Amen.