I often hear Christians and even Christian leaders brush of their involvement in someone else’s life by saying “well, they are an adult, they can make their own choices.” On the whole I think there are very few adults in this time and place, but I don’t think this the correct model of the Church, even were we as wise as Christians once were. I wonder if Christ thought the Pharisees he berated constantly were adults. Was Peter an adult when Jesus called him Satan? (Matthew 16:23) Is the great care in pointing out sin in another person, given to us by Jesus in Matthew 18, for adults? Were the Corinthians adults when Paul told them he was feeding them milk instead of solid food? And on less of a crisis note, when Paul told the Church to meet together and bear one another’s burdens(Galatians 6:1,2) was he speaking to adults? Were any of his letters of exhortation written to adults?

Jews never mix meat with dairy, but in the Church the Old must disciple the Young.

So, we make the adult vs. non-adult division, but Paul uses some different divisions. In I Corinthians, he is addressing division in the Church. The people had divided themselves in warring factions, or sects, or tribes. There was the Apollos camp the Paul camp the Peter camp and even the Jesus camp. The last one is a little odd, and seems to indicate that claiming exclusivity with Christ in argument, is worse than getting along with the whole body.

Paul gives them some better divisions.

1:18 The Perishing vs. Those Being Saved

1:20 God vs. The ‘Wise’ Scribes

1:22 Jews Demanding Signs & Gentiles Demanding Logic vs. Christ Crucified

1:25 The Foolishness of God vs. the Wisdom of Men

1:28 The Low and Despised of God vs. The Chosen of the World

But God chose the foolish and the weak and the low and the despised, for his team.

Then he gets into the division of the mature from the immature.

2:6-8 We Give the Mature Wisdom vs. The Rulers of This Age
The Secret Wisdom of God vs. Wisdom of This Age

2:13 Taught by Logic vs. Taught by the Spirit

2:14,15 Spiritual Man vs. Unspiritual Man

Then Paul gets to his audience and their situation, with one final division Milk vs. Meat. But they are on the wrong side, they are not spiritual men they are infants. We as Christians are to view things differently from the world. Maturity is not about how many years you have been on the planet or whether the government considers you responsible for yourself legally. It’s about drawing these divisions the correct way and then judging which side we should be on. Ironically the main charge agains them is that they have not judged rightly. They are down in the nursery forming cliques. They pride themselves on which branch of doctrine they are following, while they miss the whole point and what is happening on the adult level. It’s about the work of God, not our work choosing the right tribe. It’s about being connected to the body of Christ, about building on the foundation laid by the Apostles. We shouldn’t play the game like the world, boasting about which scholars we understand or claim as our teachers. We shouldn’t take pride in having the most advanced degree from the best schools. That’s child’s play. We are children of the King, we shall inherit the Earth, all of it. It’s ours. So act like it. Act like an adult.

Adults know how to tell good from evil, they get past the gospel and on to good living by it (Hebrews 5:11- 6:3). Paul continues; Don’t tolerate sexual immorality, judge disputes amongst yourselves, don’t be unrighteous; immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, greedy drunkards, revilers, robbers. And live like a free man, everything else is permissible, so go nuts. Except don’t pick up prostitutes.

We like the adult vs. child comparison, because we all want to be hyper individualistic. We fancy ourselves mature adults. We think we have everything under control and we don’t need anyone. We are Americans after all. Later in Chapter 12 Paul speaks of the Church as a body. Our tendency is to join a tribe of eyes, or a club of hands or a league of feet. But instead, we should each do what we do individually, while still being united to the whole. The real whole, the Church catholic, universal, all those denominations we dislike for petty reasons. This is modeled after the character of God, the trinity, he is both three and one. We are not a bunch of autonomous adults, we are each a part of the puzzle, working closely together.

We shouldn’t neglect the small sins or the separation by members of the body, by saying they are an adult and they can fend for themselves. They can’t, you were put there to see what they can’t see, to advise when they need it. I think often we like this individualism because we like our own sin and we don’t want anyone telling us what to do. Or on the other hand we have spoken up in the past only to have our heads ripped off. Listening to wise counsel is not exactly in our cultural DNA. Pastors and leadership can see correction as pointless, because people can just go to another church or start their own. But it’s worth it. Speak up!  How will the less mature ever learn to be more mature without exhortations like those of Paul, without the older adults speaking to the younger?