1 Korintus 3:2

3:2 I fed you milk, ¹  not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,

1 Korintus 3:1

Immaturity and Self-deception

3:1 So, brothers and sisters, ²  I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, ³  as infants in Christ.

1 Petrus 2:2

2:2 And ⁴  yearn ⁵  like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, ⁶  so that by it you may grow up to ⁷  salvation, ⁸ 

[3:2]  ¹ sn Milk refers figuratively to basic or elementary Christian teaching. Paul’s point was that the Corinthian believers he was writing to here were not mature enough to receive more advanced teaching. This was not a problem at the time, when they were recent converts, but the problem now is that they are still not ready.

[3:1]  ² tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.

[3:1]  ³ tn Grk “fleshly [people]”; the Greek term here is σαρκινός (BDAG 914 s.v. 1).

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Here “And” has been supplied in the translation to show clearly the connection between vv. 1 and 2.

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Grk “getting rid of…yearn for.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn The word for spiritual in Greek is λογικός (logikos), which is a play on words with the reference in 1:23-25 to the living and enduring word (λόγος, logos) of God, through which they were born anew. This is a subtle indication that the nourishment for their growth must be the word of God.

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “in, in regard to.” But the focus of “salvation” here, as in 1:5, 9, is the future deliverance of these who have been born anew and protected by God’s power.

[2:2]  ⁸ tc The Byzantine text lacks εἰς σωτηρίαν (ei" swthrian, “to salvation”), while the words are found in the earliest and best witnesses (Ì⁷² א A B C K P Ψ 33 81 630 1241 1505 1739 al latt sy co). Not only is the longer reading superior externally, but since the notion of growing up [in]to salvation would have seemed theologically objectionable, it is easy to see why some scribes would omit it.