Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [1 Corinthians: Chapter 3].
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3:1 {But as unto carnal} (\all' h•s sarkinois\). Latin _carneus_.
"As men o' flesh," Braid Scots; "as worldlings," Moffatt. This
form in \-inos\ like \lithinos\ in 2Co 3:3 means the material
of flesh, "not on tablets of stone, but on fleshen tablets on
hearts." So in Heb 7:16. But in Ro 7:14 Paul says, "I am
fleshen (\sarkinos\) sold under sin," as if \sarkinos\
represented the extreme power of the \sarx\. Which does Paul mean
here? He wanted to speak the wisdom of God among the adults (1Co
2:6), the spiritual (\hoi pneumatikoi\, 2:15), but he was
unable to treat them as \pneumatikoi\ in reality because of their
seditions and immoralities. It is not wrong to be \sarkinos\, for
we all live in the flesh (\en sarki\, Ga 2:20), but we are not
to live according to the flesh (\kata sarka\, Ro 8:12). It is
not culpable to a babe in Christ (\n•pios\, 1Co 13:11), unless
unduly prolonged (1Co 14:20; Heb 5:13f.). It is one of the
tragedies of the minister's life that he has to keep on speaking
to the church members "as unto babes in Christ" (\h•s n•piois en
Christ•i\), who actually glory in their long babyhood whereas
they ought to be teachers of the gospel instead of belonging to
the cradle roll. Paul's goal was for all the babes to become
adults (Col 1:28).
3:2 {I fed you with milk, not with meat} (\gala humas epotisa, ou
br•ma\). Note two accusatives with the verb, \epotisa\, first
aorist active indicative of \potiz•\, as with other causative
verbs, that of the person and of the thing. In the LXX and the
papyri the verb often means to irrigate. \Br•ma\ does not mean
meat (flesh) as opposed to bread, but all solid food as in "meats
and drinks" (Heb 9:7). It is a zeugma to use \epotisa\ with
\br•ma\. Paul did not glory in making his sermons thin and
watery. Simplicity does not require lack of ideas or dulness. It
is pathetic to think how the preacher has to clip the wings of
thought and imagination because the hearers cannot go with him.
But nothing hinders great preaching like the dulness caused by
sin on the part of auditors who are impatient with the high
demands of the gospel.
3:3 {For ye are yet carnal} (\eti gar sarkikoi este\).
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/1CO3.RWP.html (1 of 10) [28/08/2004 09:11:04 a.m.]
Word Pictures in the New Testament
(1 Corinthians: Chapter 3)