1 Corinthians 3:3

The reason Paul did not feel he should give them more advanced instruction was that their flesh (Gr. sarkikos) still dominated them. As believers they were making provision for the flesh to fulfill its desires rather than following the leading of the Holy Spirit. They were not only immature believers but also carnal believers. The carnal, fleshly believer is the fourth type of person Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:14 to 1 Corinthians 3:4.

Various students of this section of the epistle have understood Paul as describing several different kinds of people. Some believe he saw only a difference between unbelievers (natural) and believers (spiritual). [Note: E.g., John F. MacArthur Jr., Faith Works, p. 126.] Others have seen three kinds of people in view: unbelievers, spiritual believers, and carnal believers. [Note: E.g., Lewis S. Chafer, He That Is Spiritual, pp. 3-14.] Still others have seen four: unbelievers (psychikos), mature believers (pneumatikos), immature believers (sarkinos), and carnal believers (sarkikos). [Note: E.g., Stanley D. Toussaint, "The Spiritual Man," Bibliotheca Sacra 125:498 (April-June 1968):139-46.] I believe the last view is the best.

Paul let the Corinthians diagnose themselves. Are not jealousy and strife the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:20)? Did these qualities not indicate that they were conducting themselves as unbelievers, as people who do not even possess the Holy Spirit? [Note: For an excellent discussion of carnal believers, see Joseph C. Dillow, The Reign of the Servant Kings, pp. 311-31.] Their inability to get along with other Christians showed that their flesh (sinful human nature) controlled them.

"Being human is not a bad thing in itself, any more than being sarkinoi [fleshen] is (1 Corinthians 3:1). What is intolerable is to have received the Spirit, which makes one more than merely human, and to continue to live as though one were nothing more." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 127.]