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
Following Men Is Wrong
1Brothers, in the past I could not talk to you as I talk to spiritual people. I had to talk to you as I would to people of the world—babies in Christ. 2The teaching I gave you was like milk, not solid food. I did this because you were not ready for solid food. And even now you are not ready. 3You are still not spiritual. You have jealousy and arguing among you. This shows that you are not spiritual. You are acting like people of the world. 4One of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos.” When you say things like this, you are acting like worldly people.
5Is Apollos important? No! Is Paul important? No! We are only servants of God who helped you believe. Each one of us did the work God gave us to do. 6I planted the seed of the teaching in you, and Apollos watered it. But God is the One who made the seed grow. 7So the one who plants is not important, and the one who waters is not important. Only God is important, because he is the One who makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have the same purpose. And each will be rewarded for his own work. 9We are workers together for God. And you are like a farm that belongs to God.
And you are a house that belongs to God. 10Like an expert builder I built the foundation of that house. I used the gift that God gave me to do this. Others are building on that foundation. But everyone should be careful how he builds. 11The foundation has already been built. No one can build any other foundation. The foundation that has already been laid is Jesus Christ. 12Anyone can build on that foundation, using gold, silver, jewels, wood, grass, or straw. 13But the work that each person does will be clearly seen, because the Day# The day Christ will come to judge all people and take his people home to live with him. will make it plain. That Day will appear with fire, and the fire will test every man’s work. 14If the building that a man puts on the foundation still stands, he will get his reward. 15But if his building is burned up, he will suffer loss. The man will be saved, but it will be as if he escaped from a fire.
16You should know that you yourselves are God’s temple. God’s Spirit lives in you. 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him, because God’s temple is holy. You yourselves are God’s temple.
18Do not fool yourselves. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this world, he should become a fool. Then he can become truly wise, 19because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. It is written in the Scriptures, “He catches wise men in their own clever traps.”# Quotation from Job 5:13. 20It is also written in the Scriptures, “The Lord knows what people think. He knows they are just a puff of wind.”# Quotation from Psalm 94:11. 21So you should not brag about men. All things are yours: 22Paul, Apollos and Peter; the world, life, death, the present, and the future—all these things are yours. 23And you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.