1st Corinthians Chapter 3 verse 1 Holy Bible

ASV 1stCorinthians 3:1

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
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BBE 1stCorinthians 3:1

And the teaching I gave you, my brothers, was such as I was able to give, not to those who have the Spirit, but to those who are still in the flesh, even to children in Christ.
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DARBY 1stCorinthians 3:1

And *I*, brethren, have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly; as to babes in Christ.
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KJV 1stCorinthians 3:1

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
read chapter 3 in KJV

WBT 1stCorinthians 3:1


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WEB 1stCorinthians 3:1

Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ.
read chapter 3 in WEB

YLT 1stCorinthians 3:1

And I, brethren, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly -- as to babes in Christ;
read chapter 3 in YLT

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 1-4. - The carnal conceit of the spiritually immature. Verse 1. - I... could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Though softened by the word brethren, there was a crushing irony of reproof in these words: "You thought yourselves quite above the need of my simple teaching. You were looking down on me from the whole height of your inferiority. The elementary character of my doctrine was after all the necessary consequence of your own incapacity for anything more profound." As unto carnal. The true reading here is sarkinois, fleshen, not sarkikois, fleshly, or carnal; the later and severer word is perhaps first used in ver. 3. The word sarkinos (earneus), fleshen, implies earthliness and weakness and the absence of spirituality; but sarki-kos (carnalis) involves the dominance of the lower nature and antagonism to the spiritual. As mite babes in Christ. The word "babes" has a good and a bad sense. In its good sense it implies humility and teachableness, as in 1 Corinthians 14:20, "In malice be ye babes;" and in 1 Peter 2:2, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word;" and in Matthew 11:25. Here it is used in its bad sense of spiritual childishness.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersIII.(1) And I.--Again, as in 1Corinthians 2:6, the Apostle shows how general principles which he has just explained were exemplified in his own conduct. In the closing verses of 1 Corinthians 2 St. Paul has enunciated the general method of teaching spiritual truth as being dependent upon the receptive powers of those who are being taught. He now proceeds to point out to them that their own character, as being wanting in spirituality, was the real hindrance to his teaching them the higher spiritual truth which may be called "the wisdom" of the gospel.As unto carnal.--Better, as being carnal. Our version may seem to imply that the Apostle spoke to them as if they were carnal, though they really were not so; but the force of the passage is that they were indeed carnal, and that the Apostle taught them not as if they were such, but as being such. "Carnal" is here the opposite of "spiritual," and does not involve any reference to what we would commonly speak of as carnal sin.Babes in Christ.--This is the opposite of the "full grown" in 1Corinthians 2:6, to whom the "wisdom" could be taught. (See also Colossians 1:28, "full grown in Christ.") It may be an interesting indication of the "manliness" of St. Paul's character and his high estimate of it in others, that he constantly uses the words "babe" and "childhood" in a depreciatory sense. (See Romans 2:20, Galatians 4:3, Ephesians 4:14.) . . .