1 Corinthians 3:1
Context3:1 So, brothers and sisters, 1 I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, 2 as infants in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:3-4
Context3:3 for you are still influenced by the flesh. 3 For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people? 4 3:4 For whenever someone says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” are you not merely human? 5
1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.
2 tn Grk “fleshly [people]”; the Greek term here is σαρκινός (BDAG 914 s.v. 1).
3 tn Or “are still merely human”; Grk “fleshly.” Cf. BDAG 914 s.v. σαρκικός 2, “pert. to being human at a disappointing level of behavior or characteristics, (merely) human.” The same phrase occurs again later in this verse.
4 tn Grk “and walking in accordance with man,” i.e., living like (fallen) humanity without the Spirit’s influence; hence, “unregenerate people.”
5 tn Grk “are you not men,” i.e., (fallen) humanity without the Spirit’s influence. Here Paul does not say “walking in accordance with” as in the previous verse; he actually states the Corinthians are this. However, this is almost certainly rhetorical hyperbole.