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.
Currently Selected:
1 Corinthians 3: GWC
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Translated in 1916, published in 1937.
1 Corinthians 3
3
Foundations for Living
1And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able, 3for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people? 4For when one person says, “I am #3:4 Lit ofwith Paul,” and another, “I am #3:4 Lit ofwith Apollos,” are you not ordinary people?
5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one; but each will receive his own #3:8 Or wagesreward according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s #3:9 Or cultivated landfield, God’s building.
10According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test #3:13 Lit of what sort each man’s work isthe quality of each one’s work. 14If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire.
16Do you not know that you are a #3:16 Or sanctuarytemple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys the #3:17 Or sanctuarytemple of God, God will destroy #3:17 Lit thisthat person; for the #3:17 Or sanctuarytemple of God is holy, #3:17 Lit who you areand that is what you are.
18 Take care that no one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: “He is the one who catches the wise by their craftiness”; 20and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are useless.” 21So then, no one is to be boasting in people. For all things belong to you, 22whether Paul or Apollos or #3:22 Peter’s Aramaic nameCephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE® NASB®
Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977,1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation
A Corporation Not for Profit
La Habra, CA
All Rights Reserved
www.lockman.org