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In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul calls the Corinthian Christians “babes in Christ” who aren’t ready for the “meat” of the word. They had failed to mature as Christians.
Hebrews 6 sheds additional light on this figure of speech. Everyone who is still on the “milk” of the word is “without experience of the word of righteousness”
These spiritual infants are contrasted with spiritual “full-grown men” who are able “by reason of use have their senses exercised to differentiate between good and evil”
The Corinthians who were spiritual babies were actively engaged in sin… they gloried in who baptized them and in so doing diminished those who were baptized by someone else. They failed to “differentiate between good and evil” in their failure to take action against fellow members who were actively engaged in fornication and they had civil law suits against each other. They were whiney little thumb sucking spiritual babies.
Full grown Christians can not only differentiate between the black and white of sin but also are wary of those gray areas… like where a gray activity might lead.
For instance, I made it a policy in my life not to eat lunch or any other kind of meal (by myself) with a woman who was not my wife. Why? because of where it might lead.
I have a friend who is a drug rep. and in the course of his business would go out to eat with young pretty women who were also drug reps. As a friend I told him that if I was him I would not engage in that behavior. He responded… but thats my job.
The next week he told me he had mentioned our conversation to his wife and continued… Rob, why would I go eat a hamburger when I have Filet Mignon at home? I responded, I like Filet Mignon too but every once in a while I like a hamburger.
Grow up as Christians and not only stay away from that black, black sin but also stay away from activities that could lead you in that direction.
Think of all the consequences. Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13
A few thoughts about what was going on in 1 Corinthians 5. As we all know Paul acknowledges the report that one of the Christians in the church at Corinth committed fornication with his father’s wife.
The text does not identify her as his mother but she may well have been. She may have been identified as “wife” to further illustrate that the guilty party had “uncovered his father’s nakedness which is expressly prohibited in the Law (Leviticus 18:7).
The father could have been either alive or deceased. Even deceased his son would “uncover his nakedness” by having sex with his widow.
The woman was certainly not a Christian. If she were she would have received the same admonishment that her Christian lover received. She was probably not a Jew either. She was probably a polytheistic pagan and she may have been a current or former prostitute.
Twice in 1 Corinthians Paul uses the phrase “All things are lawful for me… “ to introduce a conclusion. In 10:23 he draws some conclusions about eating meats sacrificed to idols.
Likewise in 6:12 he is drawing a conclusion about the subject of fornication that was introduced in chapter 5. In this conclusion he states that Christians should not be joined sexually to a prostitute. I think this has reference to the father’s wife that the Christian had sex with.
There was a temple in Corinth to the false Goddess Aphrodite and history records that there were male and female prostitutes available to the devotees of Aphrodite. It’s possible that the father’s wife was engaged in this activity.
Certainly some of these Christians came out of paganism and still may have felt the “hook” of not only the Priestesses of Prostitution but also the eating of meats sacrificed to idols.
Sometimes it takes time to fully eliminate deeply engrained sin in our lives. Fortunately according to 2 Corinthians 2:7 Paul’s admonishment worked and the guilty young Christian man repented of his heinous sin.
