Team Paul and team Apollos - Notes on 1. Corinthians 3:1-7

Verse 1:

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.

It's all connected

We are starting a new Chapter of 1. Corinthians today. But we need to be aware of the fact that Paul has no idea about that. When he sat down and wrote this letter, he didn't turn the page and write the number three and a chapter title in big letters across the top. He just kept writing. The chapter and verse divisions were created about 1500 years later, to make it easier to reference scriptures.

So let's read this the way Paul wrote it. As a continuation of what he was saying in chapter 2, about how those who have the Spirit share in this common wisdom of the Gospel, and speak about it with spiritual words (verse 13).

I could not speak to you

It is in this context Paul utters his complaint. “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual men”. As we will learn, there is something going on in the Corinthian church, that hinders this deep fellowship in the Gospel. Paul Couldn't speak to them the way spiritual men speak to each other, because they were lacking this maturity. And they were lacking it because they had not grown together by sharing in this spiritual unity among themselves.

Mature Christians always have unity with each other, because they all know and love the same God, by the same Spirit. There is only one Holy Spirit, so it is only natural that as He increases and we decrease, we share more and more in common with each other.

And the more we have in common, the more easily we talk about things. You do not talk the same way to a small child as you do to a grownup. You can't, because they wouldn't understand. You have to explain everything to them. And there are some things they would never understand no matter how much you explained it.

Verse 2-3:

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

Milk to drink

It grieves Paul to have to talk to the Corinthians as infants, even though they've been saved for several years now. He wants to share in a deeper fellowship with them. There are deep spiritual truths he wants to share with them, but they are not able to understand or receive it. They desperately need the nutrition of solid food, but they still can barely digest milk.

Jealousy and strife:

It's hard to tell whether their spiritual immaturity was caused by their lack of unity or vice versa. Most likely it was both, creating a vicious circle of immaturity and disunity. Either way, one thing can be said with certainty: Where there is Jealousy and strife, there is flesh, because the Spirit is not jealous of Himself, and He never disagrees with Himself.

Verse 4:

For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men?

Following men:

It would seem that the subject matter of the jealousy and strife among the Corinthians was related to the preachers who had served among them. Verse 4 mentions Paul and Apollos. Back in chapter 1 verse 12, we find a similar list, including Cephas and Christ as well.

Of course we are not strangers to this sinful tendency to gather around a certain preacher to the exclusion of others. However, you'll remember what we've talked about concerning Greek culture and their particularly strong predisposition toward idolizing eloquent orators and philosophers. “I am of Paul” and “I am of Apollos” is the language of competition.

Apollos:

Let's take a detour for a moment to Acts 18 to learn about Apollos. When Paul left Corinth, he took with him Aquila and Priscilla, who had served with him there. They sailed to Ephesus. Here he left Aquila and Priscilla, while he himself sailed on to Cesarea. It was when Aquila and Priscilla were ministering in Ephesus that Apollos came to town. We can read of it in Acts 18:24-26

Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

After spending some time with Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus, Apollos wanted to travel to Achaia, which is the region of Greece where Corinth is located. They gave him a letter of recommendation to the brethren in Corinth (27-28)

And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

And so it was that Apollos ended up in Corinth, continuing the work that Paul had started there. Even though the two of them most likely hadn't even met each other, through the providence of God they had now become coworkers in building the church in Corinth.

The problem was the Corinthians didn't see them this way. They saw a new preacher in town, and some liked him better than Paul and became “of Apollos”. Others remained faithful to Paul, rejecting this new preacher and his ilk. They were “of Paul”, and these two fractions were teaming up against each other. You could probably let your imagination run wild with what kind of arguments and debates they might have had with each other.

Maybe you can imagine how grieved Paul must have been to receive the news that first of all he had a team, and second of all his team was fighting against his fellow servant in Christ. So he writes this letter to put an end to it.

Verse 5-6:

What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

Divine gardening:

To explain this concept to the Corinthians, Paul utilizes a gardening metaphor. Paul planted the Church. Apollos came along later and watered them. They are not competing philosophers, but fellow workers in God's garden.

Not only are they working together, but Paul Also points out that neither he who plants or he who waters can take any credit for the growth of the plant. So Paul is not looking to make them transition from idolizing them as individuals to idolizing them as a team. He is looking to turn them away from looking at flesh, and point them to God.

A warning against Ecumenism:

Unity in the Church is important, but there is a ditch on the other side of the road as well. We need to keep in mind that the same Bible who tells us to unite with each other, also tells us to separate ourselves from the world, and from false brethren.

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. (2Cor 6:14-17)

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. (2Cor 11:13-15)

We are seeing a movement today of historic proportions, away from the worship of Christ in Spirit and in truth, and toward the worship of Christian unity. This is a religion centered around man. You will hear them preach with great conviction about what we as a unified church can do if we only stand together, with little mention of the Power of God.

This movement looks to numbers as their source of power, and in order to increase it's power it must include as many people as possible in this unified church. To achieve this they ignore the Biblical warnings, and unite with every one who mention the name of Jesus, no questions asked about who they believe Jesus to be.

This is not the unity the Bible calls for, because it's a unity of flesh, and not a unity of Spirit. And if you should ever find yourself in the situation of having spiritual unity with such a wide variety of worldly people, you should not thereby assume that they are of Christ, but rather that you are of the world.