1 Corinthians 3
3
Laying a true foundation
1And yet, I myself, brethren, did not speak to you as spiritually minded beings, possessing the mind of Christ, but I spoke to you as to carnal men, still entangled in the mind of the flesh, and in Christ the merest babes, 2needing milk, not real meat. That was your condition. You were not able to receive what I might have told you. And that is still your state. 3The mind of the flesh works in you still. You are not spiritual, you are the human being, the human rent by division and strife, 4one of you saying that he is Paul’s disciple, another that he is Apollos’. 5-6That is not the divine unity, wherein Paul planted and Apollos watered, and wherein all life and growth is of God. What is Paul or Apollos? Servants of your faith, each one according to the task assigned by God. 7-9In this great oneness each receives the fulfilment and reward of his own function, sower and tiller all belong to one unity which is God’s field and harvest, or God’s building. In ourselves we are nothing. 10What if I, resembling a good and skilful architect, laid a foundation on which another is building? My function was an expression of God’s own grace imparted to me, and all the building similarly is of God, its parts expressing the grace which He confers. 11If a man misapply his own mission, and attempt to lay a foundation other than that already laid which is Christ Jesus, let him be sure he will receive the appropriate reward for such a corruption and reversal of the grace God gave him. 12Or if, instead of building on this foundation gold and silver and costly marble and stone, he build wood, thatch, straw, 13he shall certainly receive the appropriate reward of this faithlessness. The fire will burn up his work. 14-15The great day of truth will dawn, and reveal his faithless evil work, and the havoc he has made of the Church. It will all be destroyed, all pass away, yet shall he himself thereby be saved. 16For this is God’s temple, God’s building, the Spirit of God dwells here, 17and you yourselves are the one building of God, and therefore not one shall perish though the evil doer reap his own destruction.
Self-deception to be guarded against
18Cleverness and the wisdom of the world are not sufficient for these things. Thereby you may become self-deceived. 19And if one must become a fool in order to be wise, this is the wisest course, for the world’s wisest is a species of folly. “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (Job v. 13.). 20“The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity” (Ps. 94:11.). 21There is nothing in merely human wisdom, and why? because you already have the wisdom that includes all, 22that includes Paul, Apollos and Cephas, yes, and the world, life, death, the present and the future; 23it is yours because it and you are Christ’s, who is of God, and who therefore includes it all.
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Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
1 Corinthians 3
3
1And I, brethren, have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly; as to babes in Christ. 2I have given you milk to drink, not meat, for ye have not yet been able, nor indeed are ye yet able; 3for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there are among you emulation and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk according to man? 4For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos, are ye not men?
5Who then is Apollos, and who Paul? Ministering servants, through whom ye have believed, and as the Lord has given to each. 6I have planted; Apollos watered; but God has given the increase. 7So that neither the planter is anything, nor the waterer; but God the giver of the increase. 8But the planter and the waterer are one; but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9For we are God's fellow-workmen; ye are God's husbandry, God's building. 10According to the grace of God which has been given to me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation, but another builds upon it. But let each see how he builds upon it.
11For other foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any one build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, straw, 13the work of each shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire shall try the work of each what it is. 14If the work of any one which he has built upon the foundation shall abide, he shall receive a reward. 15If the work of any one shall be consumed, he shall suffer loss, but he shall be saved, but so as through the fire.
16Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye.
18Let no one deceive himself: if any one thinks himself to be wise among you in this world, let him become foolish, that he may be wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written, He who takes the wise in their craftiness. 20And again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are vain.
21So that let no one boast in men; for all things are yours. 22Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things coming, all are yours; 23and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.