1 Corinthians 3
3
Fleshly Divisiveness
1 And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual persons, but as to fleshly persons, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to eat it.* Indeed, now you are still not able, 3 because you are still fleshly. For where there is jealousy and strife* among you, are you not fleshly, and do you not walk according to the principles of mere humans?* 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere humans?*
5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept it growing. 7 Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8 Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward* according to his own labour.* 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated field,* God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God* given to me, I laid a foundation as a wise master builder, and another is building on it. But let each one pay attention to how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay another foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 the work of each one will become manifest. For the day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test the work of each one to determine* what kind it is. 14 If anyone’s work* which he has built on it, survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is completely consumed, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: “He is the One who catches the wise in their own craftiness,”* 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,* that they are empty.”* 21 Therefore, let no one boast in men.* For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
Notes
2 The infinitive phrase to eat it is supplied on contextual considerations for the sake of clarity
3 Some ancient manuscripts insert and divisions
3 Greek according to man
4 Greek you are not men
8 Greek the own reward
8 Greek the own labour
9 Or farm
10 Some ancient manuscripts omit the genitive phrase of God
13 The infinitive phrase to determine is supplied on contextual considerations for the sake of clarity
14 Greek the work of anyone. So also v. 15
19 Quoted from Job 5:13
20 In conjunction with the Septuagint of Ps. 94:11, some manuscripts read men instead of wise
20 Quoted from Ps. 94:11
21 Or people, as the term is understood in a generic sense
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
