Reflections on 1 Corinthians 3:3
“For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?” (1 Corinthians 3:3, NIV)
Paul gives the Corinthians a test they can check for themselves. Spiritual babies don’t show it by what they don’t know. They show it by how they treat each other: jealousy, quarreling, and, as Beck adds, “forming different parties.” The Living Bible asks whether that doesn’t prove they are “still babies, wanting your own way.” The Remedy, by Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries, calls it “the infection of selfishness,” with people “looking out for yourselves and promoting your own agenda.”
Paul gives us the stages of growth in another letter: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). Love comes first, and that surprised me. How would a new baby know a thing about what love is? But this list is about what we receive and then are able to give. As we grow through the stages Paul gives us, the way we are treated by Christ and by our mentor is mirrored in the way we are then able to treat others.
The bickering and infighting at Corinth belong to stage three: learning to be comfortable with a peaceful environment.
The need to stir the pot, to keep tension and animosity churning, comes from the need to keep people’s focus off yourself and on others. It can grow out of insecurity or a lack of self-confidence: If people really looked at me, they would not like me. I am at fault. Usually what you point out in someone else is a finger pointing back at yourself. We see our own weak points of character mirrored in other people, or we project them onto others. The one doing the stirring or the blaming needs to be looked at the closest. They are normally the ones who need the most help.
So at this level, the work is to deal with yourself and stop projecting your issues on everyone else. Patience and kindness, the next two on the list, fit this healing perfectly.
God gives each of us our own gifts and makes each of us responsible for using them. When we are working on our own lives and our own connection with Christ, we do not have the time or the inclination to look at others with an eye to putting ourselves above them.
The mature need to lead by example. They keep showing up in the church and in the lives of the babies, available and consistent in their emotional and spiritual life.
Those new to the faith need to develop habits of study. Set up your day around times to study, while the interest is high and the desire to learn is strong. Habits formed in the beginning will stick and stay part of your day. The mind is ready to learn, ready to take in a new habit and clear out old, useless ones. Take full advantage of the crisis or time of change. Your mind and heart are ready to move forward with a new life, so start living it. Protect your time with Christ by choosing to start new things.
Take care. Remember, when you point a finger at someone else, you are pointing three back at yourself. Think carefully about why you feel the need to point out issues in someone else, and find a good mirror to look in. Be honest with yourself. The issue is in you. Deal with yourself.
