Ministry of Grace Church

I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;

Truth to Learn

Infants are satisfied with milk. Those who are growing require a lot more nourishment in order to grow.

Behind the Words

The word translated “fed” is potidzō, which means “to give a drink to” or “to let drink.”

“Milk” is from gala, which literally refers to the milk of an animal. Figuratively it refers to the rudimentary elements of the Word of God from which Christians receive spiritual nourishment.

“Solid food” is the translation of the Greek word broma, which refers specifically to food which must be chewed before it is swallowed.

Oupō is the word translated “until now.” It is made up of ou, meaning “not” and pō, meaning “yet.” So this word literally means “not yet.”

The words “you were … able” are translated from the Greek verb dunamai, which means “to have the power or ability to do something. It is expressed in the imperfect tense, indicating past continuous action.

Meaning Explained

In chapter two of 1 Corinthians, Paul contrasted two types of people: those who live according to the thoughts and desires of the flesh (the natural, physical, and emotional part of man) and those who live according to the spirit (the spiritual part of man that is only enabled by God’s Holy Spirit). In yesterday’s verse he introduced a third type of person: the carnal Christian who, although having God’s spirit, chooses to live life according to the flesh, rather than the spirit.

In today’s verse Paul is specifically talking to carnal Christians, those whom he referred to as infants in Christ. For the year and a half that Paul was in Corinth, he put most of his effort into witnessing about Christ and spoon feeding the new converts in the basics of Christianity. Now, several years later, he is writing to the church and chastens them for still being babies in their Christian walk.

Our Christian life very much parallels our physical life. In our physical life we started out as a newborn infant. At this stage in our development we could not tolerate solid food, so our mother fed us milk. As we grew, however, we began eating solid food by which we continued to grow and get stronger. Likewise, in our Christian life, we started out by becoming “born again,” as Jesus described it in John 3:3. As a baby in Christ, we were not able to handle deep theological truths. Instead, we had to first learn about the basics of our spiritual life. As our spiritual life continued to grow, we began to receive and understand these deeper spiritual truths.

If a baby is never fed anything other than milk, he or she will not mature. Likewise, if a Christian never feeds on anything other than spiritual milk, he or she will not grow in his or her spiritual life. It takes more effort to consume spiritual solid food, but it is necessary for spiritual growth.

Application

Do you crave spiritual meat, or are you satisfied with spiritual milk?