Illustrated New Testament1 Corinthians 3

Who? what natural man?—Instruct him; instruct the spiritual man.—The mind of Christ; the revealed will of Christ.

With milk; with merely the elementary principles of Christianity.

Ministers; servants, subordinate instruments.

It will be seen by the account in Acts 18:24, 27, 28, that Apollos commenced his ministry in Corinth, after Paul had left it.

Are one; they have one end and aim.

Ye are God's husbandry; that is, although Paul and Apollos had been employed as laborers in the field, it was upon God that they had really to depend for their spiritual life and growth.

Gold, silver, &c. In other words, whatever materials he may incorporate in the Christian edifice, whether valuable and permanent, or destructible and worthless, the true character of his work would be revealed in a future day.

Revealed by fire; tried and exposed by the terrible scrutiny of the great day.

Yet so as by fire; with difficulty,—as one escapes from a burning building.

Let him become a fool; let him abandon all his dependence upon his worldly wisdom, and seek wisdom from above, with meekness and docility.

It is written; Job 5:13.

Ps. 94:11.

Let no man glory in men. The apostle thus bringing his train of remark to a conclusion which bears directly upon the great cause of their dissensions,—their excessive personal predilections for the various individuals who had been the instruments of bringing them the gospel.

Ye are Christ's; that is, ye do not belong to Paul and to Apollos, &c., as one in might suppose from your undue and inordinate interest in such human leaders; ye are Christ's.—And Christ is God's; you owe, therefore, no spiritual allegiance to any but to Christ and to God.