More Than Mere Men

1 Corinthians 3:1, 3

And I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual but as to carnal, as babes in Christ…Are ye not yet carnal, behaving like mere men?

It is expected that believers grow and mature in Christ after they are born again. There should be noticeable maturity in the life of each and every person who becomes a Christian. The idea that a person gets born again and then never grows toward maturity in Christ is just not Biblical, although it has been a problem in the Church almost since its conception. This is the problem that Paul is addressing here in the church at Corinth. He says that these believers should, by now, have grown beyond the bickering, backbiting and gossiping that is so prevalent among the people of the world. He says that they are still acting like mere men.

The truth is that as a Christian, a person is not a mere man anymore, he is more than a man. If we could understand what happens when we are born again. No longer is a man just a man. The Bible says that we become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Wow! Just think of the implications here. God lives in the person with all the power, might and glory that He possesses. In the Old Testament, God set aside a tabernacle for His place of dwelling. No man could approach the presence of God in the Most Holy Place. Now God has chosen man to be His Most Holy Place.

This new position of man has tremendous advantage for the believer as well as for the world in general. Now man is loosed from the bonds of humanity and is empowered to walk in the realm of the Spirit. In this new ability, man can now accomplish great feats. He can walk in the miracles of God. He is now a laborer together with God to see the power of God manifested to humanity.

Why would a believer, armed with this information, ever want to walk as a mere man again?