SUMMARY
Factions have developed in the church on account of loyalty to different leaders. PaulThe Apostle Paul, originally known as Saul of Tarsus, was the author of several New Testament letters and the founder of many Christian communities. More names these loyalties as childish and points out that human leaders, no matter their order of appearance or style of ministry, are all hired hands. They are gardeners, tending a field in which God alone gives growth.
ANALYSIS
In 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Paul tells his readers that he taught them in the most simplistic terms when he introduced JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. More to them. “I fed you with milk, not solid food” (1 Corinthians 3:2). On the question of lining up behind their favorite leaders, Paul says to the Corinthians that they are still behaving like children. They are again looking at the world as if nothing has changed. This sense of an unchanged world is what Paul refers to with the words, “flesh” and “human inclinations.”
To recognize Christ as Lord is to see the world as changed. In this new landscape, the Spirit draws the Corinthians together across their different tastes in leaders. Paul exhorts them to outgrow their jealousy and quarreling. To do this, he uses a gardening metaphor: “I planted, ApollosEloquent Jewish Christian from Alexandria who worked with Paul. More watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6). Human leaders, for all their differences, have at least one thing in common: they are servants of God. Any growth that results from their leadership comes from God.
