Chapter 3
You Are Still Infants in Christ. 1 Brethren, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as worldly, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, rather than with solid food that you were not ready to digest. Indeed, even now you are still not ready to receive it, 3 for you are still of the flesh.
As long as jealousy and rivalry continue among you, are you not of the flesh and acting as mere mortals? 4 Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another asserts, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not acting in a merely human fashion?
Missionaries and Servants of Christ[a]
God’s Coworkers. 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? We are only servants through whom you have come to believe, as the Lord assigned each to accomplish. 6 I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it, but God caused it to grow.
7 Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is of any importance but only God who causes the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have a common end, and each will be rewarded in accordance with his labor. 9 For we are God’s coworkers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 By the grace that God has given to me, I laid a foundation like a skilled master builder, and someone else is building on that foundation. But each one must be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has already been laid, namely, Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, or with wood, hay, and straw, 13 the work of each person will come to light. For the Day[b] will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the worth of each person’s work 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will be rewarded. 15 If it burns down, that person will suffer loss. The person will be saved, though only by passing through fire.[c]
16 You Belong to Christ. Do you not realize that you are God’s temple, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one delude himself. If anyone among you considers himself to be wise by worldly standards, he must become a fool in order to be truly wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It is written,
“He catches the wise in their own craftiness,”
20 and again,
“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile.”
21 And so, let no one boast about human beings. For everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, the world or life or death, the present or the future. All belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 3:5 The apostles are not inventors of foreign mysteries and strange secrets. They are sent to build up the community of God, and are therefore subject to the Lord’s judgment. This is one of the main texts in which Paul gives a glimpse of how he understood his personal mission.
- 1 Corinthians 3:13 The Day: the day of judgment—to the joy of the righteous and the gloom of the wicked. Fire: an element that destroys but also purifies.
- 1 Corinthians 3:15 Many theologians see in this verse an implicit reference to purgatory.