Devotional 24 October 2025

October 24, 2025 • Steve Torres

1 Corinthians 3:1.jpg

“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human?” (1 Corinthians 3:1–4, ESV)

Paul’s words to the Corinthians are not simply an indictment of poor theology but a sobering diagnosis of spiritual immaturity. Their division and jealousy were not theological errors, they were evidences of the flesh. The believers in Corinth had attached worldly standards of greatness to spiritual life, measuring maturity by eloquence, knowledge, or success. They admired gifted teachers and powerful speakers, but Paul confronts them with a painful truth: their pride reveals their infancy.

This is not the first time Paul has said it. From the opening chapters, he’s shown that when we mix human wisdom with divine truth, we empty the cross of its power (1 Cor 1:17). The wisdom of God is revealed not through human accomplishment but through humility: through the crucified Christ (1 Cor 1:23–24). To be “spiritual,” then, is not to be lofty, but lowly. It is to walk in the same mind as Christ, who “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:5–8).

Paul’s imagery of “milk” and “solid food” (v. 2) is not a slight against beginners in the faith; it’s a call to grow up in humility. The Corinthians still craved human recognition, but those who walk by the Spirit seek only the glory of God (Gal 5:16–26). The “solid food” of the mature is not new doctrine or secret insight, but a deeper participation in the life of Christ: learning to serve, forgive, and love as He loved.

The world rewards achievement and celebrates those who rise above others. But God gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Humility, not human success, is the mark of spiritual maturity. It is the posture that allows us to receive more of God’s truth, like teeth able to chew the solid food of His wisdom. Without humility, we can only sip the milk of grace without truly tasting its fullness.

So Paul’s challenge still echoes to every believer: Are we busy doing the functions of the church (teaching, serving, giving) without growing in the likeness of Christ? Are we measuring maturity by accomplishment or by surrender? To mature in faith is not to rise higher, but to bow lower, to walk by the Spirit in humility and love, and thus partake more deeply in the life of our Savior Jesus Christ.