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. 2#He 5.12,13. So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, 3because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves you are not spiritual and you are acting like the people of this world.
4 #
1 Co 1.12. Some of you say you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn't this how ordinary people behave? 5Apollos and I are merely servants who helped you to have faith. It was the Lord who made it all happen. 6#Ac 18.4-11; Ac 18.24-28. I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow. 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 treated me with undeserved grace 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 this 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.
16 #
1 Co 6.19; 2 Co 6.16. All of you surely know you are God's temple and his Spirit lives in you. 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. 19#Job 5.13. This 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.” 20#Ps 94.11. The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless.” 21-22So stop bragging 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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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 3
3
Divisions in the Church
1But I, brothers,#3:1 Or brothers and sisters could not address you as #ch. 2:15; Rom. 7:14 spiritual people, but as #[ch. 2:14] people of the flesh, as #Heb. 5:13; [ch. 2:6]infants in Christ. 2#Heb. 5:12, 13; 1 Pet. 2:2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for #John 16:12you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For while there is #Gal. 5:19, 20; [ch. 1:11; 11:18; Rom. 13:13]jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4For #See ch. 1:12 when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” #[ver. 3]are you not being merely human?
5What then is Apollos? What is Paul? #2 Cor. 6:4; Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:25; [2 Cor. 3:3] Servants through whom you believed, #See Rom. 12:6as the Lord assigned to each. 6#ch. 4:15; 9:1; 15:1; Acts 18:4-11; 2 Cor. 10:14, 15 I planted, #Acts 18:27 Apollos watered, #[ch. 15:10; Col. 1:18]but God gave the growth. 7So #2 Cor. 12:11; Gal. 6:3; [Gal. 2:6]neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8He who plants and he who waters are one, and each #ver. 14; ch. 15:58; 2 John 8; [ch. 4:5; Gal. 6:4, 5]; See Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6will receive his wages according to his labor. 9For we are #Mark 16:20; 2 Cor. 6:1 God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, #Eph. 2:20-22; Col. 2:7; [ver. 16; Ps. 127:1]God’s building.
10 # [2 Pet. 3:15]; See Rom. 12:3 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled#3:10 Or wise master builder I laid a #ver. 11, 12; Rom. 15:20; [Rev. 21:14] foundation, and #[ch. 4:15]someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11For no one can lay a #Isa. 28:16 foundation other #[2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6, 7] than that which is laid, #[Eph. 2:20]which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13#ch. 4:5 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed #ver. 15; 2 Thess. 1:8 by fire, and #1 Pet. 1:7the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, #See ver. 8he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, #[Ps. 66:12; Isa. 43:2; Jude 23]but only as through fire.
16 # ch. 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21 Do you not know that you#3:16 The Greek for you is plural in verses 16 and 17 are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For #[2 Cor. 7:1]God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18 # [Isa. 5:21; Gal. 6:3] Let no one deceive himself. #[ch. 8:2; Jer. 8:8, 9]If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19For #See ch. 1:20 the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, #Cited from Job 5:13“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20and again, #Cited from Ps. 94:11“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21So #ver. 4-6; ch. 1:12; 4:6 let no one boast in men. For #Rom. 8:28all things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23and #2 Cor. 10:7; Gal. 3:29 you are Christ’s, and #[ch. 11:3]Christ is God’s.
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