Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Monday, 17 February 2025 11:24

Infants in Christ
by Sarah Wooten Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

I am the favorite and fun aunt of three nieces and one nephew. Most of them live far away, so every time I see them, it’s like someone sprinkled Miracle-Gro on their heads; they are always so much taller than I remember. But their appearances aren’t the only difference; their interests change as well. My nephew surprised us at Thanksgiving by showing us how he could count. My oldest niece joined the school band. In an effort to find new “fun aunt” activities, I took the two oldest to DeSoto Falls. One was terrified of the towering cliffs, while the other said, “This is my first ever hiking trip. I love hiking!” It’s mind-blowing at how fast they change. I teased them once and said, “You need to stay little forever,” to which my wise six year old niece replied, “I can’t stay little forever. That’s not how God made me. I have to grow bigger.” She was right. God created us to grow. But for those in Christ, our concern is more with our spiritual growth.

The day the Lord saved me was a miraculous day – a dead girl was given life. At the moment of salvation, I received all the blessings of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3, 13). Yet, I didn’t know how to apply these gospel blessings to my everyday life. As Peter prayed for his readers, I needed to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” (1 Peter 3:18, ESV). This can come by spending time with the Lord, reading His Word, fervently praying, and applying His wisdom to one’s own life.

But for the Corinthian believers, they weren’t acting as if they wanted to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord. Instead, they were guilty of laying aside God’s wisdom in order to pick up the world’s foolishness. They were acting as those of the flesh (1 Corinthians 3:1) and as mere humans (3:4), rather than the Spirit-filled Christians that God created them to be.
So you can imagine Paul’s frustration when he called them infants (3:1). He was being sarcastic, letting them know that they weren’t acting like the wise believers they claimed to be. Instead, they were acting like children; therefore, he spoke to them as if they were children. Paul wanted to talk to them like they were spiritual people, but he had to address them as if they were still in the flesh.

Their childish ways left a very sick church, which was evident by the symptoms of jealousy and strife (3:3). The Spirit produces love in the lives of believers (13:1-13), and the Corinthians had the Spirit since the day that they believed – just like all believers. But instead of loving one another, the Corinthians pitted themselves against each other. Clearly, they were not walking according to God’s wisdom.

But all was not lost. These “wise” Corinthian believers may have thought that they outgrew the foundation of the gospel, but in fact, the gospel was the only thing that could provide a cure to their terribly sick condition. That’s why Paul started the letter by reminding them of the gospel and referred to them as in Christ (1:2; 3:1). So how should Christians respond when we find ourselves in sin? Do we make a commitment to ourselves to try harder next time by our willpower? Do we ignore the issue and pretend it’s not a big deal? Neither of those ways are faithful responses to our sin. Instead, we are to repent and trust. Repent before God knowing that we have broken His law, trust that the blood of Christ has taken away the wrath we deserve, believe that true forgiveness is found in Him, and begin to walk in God’s wisdom in that area of life.

As we walk into the following chapters of the letter, we will see many sins that the Corinthian believers were guilty of committing, but it all started with the fact that they laid aside the wisdom of God; therefore, they acted like men of the flesh. But in each of these issues that Paul will confront them with, the cure to their sickness is the same: repent, believe, and apply the gospel to every area of life. This is true for both the new believer and the old believer as we grow in grace and knowledge of our Savior because we never outgrow the gospel.