1 Corinthians 3
3
Working together for God
1My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That's why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. 2So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot,#He 5.12,13. 3because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves that you are not spiritual and that you are acting like the people of this world.
4Some of you say that you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn't that how ordinary people behave?#1 Co 1.12. 5Apollos and I are merely servants who helped you to have faith. It was the Lord who made it all happen. 6I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow.#Ac 18.4-11; Ac 18.24-28. 7What matters isn't those who planted or watered, but God who made the plants grow. 8The one who plants is just as important as the one who waters. And each one will be paid for what they do. 9Apollos and I work together for God, and you are God's garden and God's building.
Only one foundation
10God was kind and let me become an expert builder. I laid a foundation on which others have built. But we must each be careful how we build, 11because Christ is the only foundation. 12-13Whatever we build on that foundation will be tested by fire on the day of judgment. Then everyone will find out if we have used gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. 14We will be rewarded if our building is left standing. 15But if it is destroyed by the fire, we will lose everything. Yet we ourselves will be saved, like someone escaping from flames.
16All of you know that you are God's temple and that his Spirit lives in you.#1 Co 6.19; 2 Co 6.16. 17Together you are God's holy temple, and God will destroy anyone who destroys his temple.
18Don't fool yourselves! If any of you think you are wise in the things of this world, you will have to become foolish before you can be truly wise. 19This is because God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish. It is just as the Scriptures say, “God catches the wise when they try to outsmart him.”#Job 5.13. 20The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless.”#Ps 94.11. 21-22So stop boasting about what anyone has done. Paul and Apollos and Peter#3.21,22 Peter: See the note at 1.12. all belong to you. In fact, everything is yours, including the world, life, death, the present, and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Corinthians 3
3
1My brothers and sisters, I couldn't talk#3:1. Presumably while he was visiting them previously. with you as spiritual believers, but as worldly people—like baby Christians. 2I gave you milk—I couldn't give you solid food to eat, because you weren't ready for it. 3Even now you're not ready for it, because you're still worldly. Since you're still jealous and argumentative, doesn't that show you're worldly, behaving just like ordinary people do? 4When one of you says, “I follow Paul,” while another says, “I follow Apollos,” doesn't that show you're being so very human?
5Who is Apollos, anyway? And who is Paul? We're just servants through whom you believed. Each of us does the work God gave us to do. 6I did the planting, Apollos did the watering—but it was God who made you grow!
7So the one who does the planting doesn't count for anything, any more than the one who does the watering. The only one who matters is God who is growing you! 8The one planting and the one watering have the same goal, and both will be rewarded according to what they've done.
9We are workers together with God—and you are God's field, his building. 10Through the grace of God that he gave to me, I laid down the foundation like a skilled building supervisor. Now someone else is building on it. Whoever does the building needs to watch what they're doing. 11For no one can lay any other foundation than what's already laid—that is Jesus Christ. 12Those who build on that foundation may use gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, or straw— 13but whatever is used to build with will be exposed. For on the Day of Judgment, fire will reveal it and test it. Everyone's work will be shown for what it is. 14Those whose building survives will be rewarded. 15Those whose building is burned up will lose out. They will still be saved, but it will be like passing through fire! 16Don't you know you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? 17Anyone who destroys God's temple will be destroyed by God, for God's temple is holy, and you are the temple.
18Don't deceive yourselves. If there's any one of you who thinks they're worldly wise, they should become fools so they can become truly wise! 19This world's wisdom is plain foolishness to God. As Scripture says, “He uses the cleverness of the wise to catch them out,”#3:19. Quoting Job 5:13. 20and “The Lord knows the arguments of the wise are pointless.”#3:20. Quoting Psalms 94:11. 21So don't boast about people. For you have everything, 22whether it's Paul or Apollos or Peter—or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future. You have everything— 23and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com