“United Through Christ, Bound to Each Other” Lesson Two

Lesson Two: Connected in Christ

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3–4

The section of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians that you’re studying in Lesson Two contains some of my favorite metaphors in the Bible: both a metaphor Paul uses for himself, and some metaphors he uses for the church.

At the beginning of the third chapter, Paul tells his friends, “I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food.” Although “you were not ready for solid food” might sound like a criticism—and we’ll return to that point shortly—I love the fact that Paul matter-of-factly describes his apostolic ministry in terms people, especially first-century people, would associate most closely with a mother or a wet nurse. Clearly, Paul was comfortable blurring gender lines that many people, in his time and ours, would have drawn much more clearly.

Referring to himself in maternal terms, here, wasn’t a fluke on Paul’s part. We see it, too, in his letter to the Galatians, where he takes an even more stern tone than he does in First Corinthians. In Galatians 4, Paul calls his siblings in Christ “my little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Obviously, Paul didn’t know personally what the pain of childbirth was like. You might or might not appreciate him using that metaphor, as someone who was never going to labor to bring another human being into the world. That’s something your group can discuss if you’re interested.

But I like the fact that Paul uses these maternal, or at least, feminine, nurturing images for himself, because I think it shows he was not locked into a strict gender binary. He was comfortable using his imagination and whatever image best suited his need to communicate to the Corinthian church that he was trying to teach them, nurture them, even shape them into new people, in the ways parents do, and people in parental and nurturing roles do. Sometimes Paul refers to himself as the Corinthians’ father, too, even in this same section of the letter.

One final thing I like about Paul’s metaphor of infancy is something that might not have occurred to him. Although I have been a Christian since my early thirties, when I study the Bible I have sometimes found it helpful to think of myself as an infant, a novice, a complete beginner. Even when I’m reading a biblical book I think I know well, I’m often reminded that God can surprise me. Sometimes that happens through my own new response to a text; sometimes it happens through an insight someone else shares—and sometimes that person is an actual child.

As you and your Bible study companions make your way through reading Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, I encourage you to offer each other your insights, and be open to each other’s perspectives. Something that seems obvious to you might be new to someone else, and vice versa. In some ways, we’re all beginners in the life of faith, starting anew every morning, and at the same time, each of us has wisdom to share. Blessings on you as you remain open to new insights together.

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This blog is the second in a series of nine blogs.

United Through Christ, Bound to Each Other is the Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA), Inc. Bible study for 2026–2027. Go to presbyterianwomen.org/bible-study/united to find more resources and copies for you and your group to study along with us. Call 800/533-4371 or order online.