among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ?
Their unfitness to receive any other nourishment than that adapted to children, is proved by their being carnal ; and their being carnal is proved by the divisions existing among them. Te are yet carnal^ i. e. under the influence of the flesh, or cor- rupt nature. They were imperfectly sanctified. Even Paul said of himself, ' I am carnal.' This term therefore may bo applied even to the most advanced Christians. Its definite meaning depends on the context.
The existence among them of the evils mentioned was proof of their low religious state. Of these evils the first was envying iffiko'i). The word means zeal, fervid feeling. Whether good or bad, and of what particular kind depends on the con- nection. Here party spirit would seem to be the special evil intended. This gives rise to strife (epts), and that again to divisions (hxocrTaa-La), literally, standing apart / here not sects, but parties. K these things are among you, asks the apostle, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? ' To walk as men ' is to be guided by principles which belong to men, as distinguished from the Spirit of God. The doctrine that human nature is cor- rupt, and that all holiness in man is due to the influence of the Spirit, is taken for granted every where in the Bible. There- fore " the world " means the wicked or the unrenewed ; to be worldly, or to act after the manner of men, is to act wickedly.
The description here given of the state of the church of Corinth is not inconsistent with the commendations bestowed upon it in the beginning of the first chapter. Viewed in com- parison with the heathen around them, or even with other churches, the Corinthians deserved the praise there given them. But judged by the standard of the gospel, or of their privileges, they deserved the censures which the apostle so laithfully administers. Besides, in addressing the same church, the apostle has sometimes one class of its members in view, and sometimes another. He therefore sometimes speaks as if they were all Jews, at other times as though they were all Gentiles ; sometimes as though they were weak and nar- row-minded, and sometimes as if they were latitudinarian — one time he addresses them as if they were in a high state of piety, and at another, as if they were in a very low state. His language is to be limited in its application to those for whom the context in any case may show it was intended.