Fredd was a showdog, plain and simple. Being a showdog, he had been babied and fussed over and the result was that, as an adult dog, he had some fairly significant gaps in his development. This was, of course, well before we got him. By the time he came to live with us he was no longer Aramis, the award-winning canine supermodel, or even Aramis, the gigolo... Nope, for us he was just our dog, Fredd, and came to us late in his wonderful life with a load of irreversable baggage. We want to ensure our new dog, Hef (Hephaestus, blacksmith of the gods, tossed off of Olympus because he was so ugly) doesn't present the same kind of challenges to us as a household, so we’ve been taking him to puppy school. See, there are expectations for a dog that is no longer a puppy...
Paul is exasperated when speaking to the Corinthian church, for many of the same reasons that having a dog can be exasperating. The church has been established for a year a half and yet Paul finds himself not only having to clean up messes that should not be happening, but restricted as to how he can relate to the church in order to help it move forward, beyond mere humanity, into the thing that God desires for her to become...
First off, there's a language barrier. Paul says ‘I could not address you as spiritual people, but as worldly...’ The words Paul longs to use have no real meaning because there is a basic cultural difference between himself and his readers: they are still coming at things from a natural, worldly perspective, rather than an elevated, spiritual one.
It's like trying to teach algebra to students who have not mastered basic operations. When the foundational learnings aren't in place, the insight and experience available to the students through the teacher never gets beyond superficial levels. This is always frustrating for the teacher.
There are also some basic discipleship issues here. When Paul speaks of spiritual people, he uses a word that addresses ‘the aspect of a person who is akin to God and ready to serve as God’s instrument or organ... being higher than man, yet inferior to God... filled with and governed by the Spirit of God... Exposed to the wind”
There is no evidence of this in the Corinthian church.
So when Paul confesses his frustration, he chooses to illustrate it rather vividly. It's not so much that he is saying 'You're all a bunch of babies- grow up!' as it is that he is saying 'You are too big to be breast-feeding. It's kinda yecch! Just sayin...'
There was an expression that was fairly regularly used about ten years ago. It was even part of our present mayor's campaign for election:
It's time.
There’s a sense that time has passed and change has taken place but is being resisted. Paul is saying “People, it’s time.”
Time to move forward.
Time to stop making excuses.
Time to quit expecting leaders to spoon-feed.
Time to quit blaming others for disappointments.
Time to release old grudges.
Time to drop the shields.
Time to stop expecting to receive and start exploring how to give.
Yeah, it's time.
