The time has come for the Corinthians to grow up. This early
church had received the gospel from Paul when he spent
more than a year and a half teaching them about life in Christ
(Acts 18:11). While there, Paul says in today’s reading, “I fed you
with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.”

Now, though the church is older, its members still eat
applesauce and mushed-up bananas, metaphorically speaking.
They continue to live in childish ways, obsessing over the same
things that divided them before they became the body of Christ.
They quarrel over which human leader they will follow—Paul
or Apollos, another teacher who has come among them.

Paul asks, Why are you still stuck on this kids’ stuff? Life
doesn’t grow out of such division. Life as God intends comes
from a collaborative effort—Paul planting, Apollos watering,
God giving the growth. Saying yes to new life in Christ involves
living in a cooperative community, a community undivided
by petty allegiances. Paul models this maturity through his
respect of Apollos as a fellow worker whose good desires for
the community are the same as his own, even if they manifest
differently.

Even today churches split over seemingly small issues,
from allegiances to human leaders to the color of the carpet or
the presence of video screens in the sanctuary. We divide as a
wider society over political viewpoints, nationalistic commitments,
socioeconomic differences, and power struggles. Grow
up! Paul says to us as well. Focus on the things that matter, that
are essential to life—the common purpose we share in growing
in God’s ways. Then we’ll truly thrive.