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
Wisdom applied to divisions in the church
1Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you like spiritual people but like unspiritual people, like babies in Christ. 2I gave you milk to drink instead of solid food, because you weren’t up to it yet. 3Now you are still not up to it because you are still unspiritual. When jealousy and fighting exist between you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards? 4When someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and someone else says, “I belong to Apollos,” aren’t you acting like people without the Spirit? 5After all, what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants who helped you to believe. Each one had a role given to them by the Lord: 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. 7Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters work together, but each one will receive their own reward for their own labor. 9We are God’s coworkers, and you are God’s field, God’s building.
10I laid a foundation like a wise master builder according to God’s grace that was given to me, but someone else is building on top of it. Each person needs to pay attention to the way they build on it. 11No one can lay any other foundation besides the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12So, whether someone builds on top of the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, or hay, 13each one’s work will be clearly shown. The day will make it clear, because it will be revealed with fire—the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14If anyone’s work survives, they’ll get a reward. 15But if anyone’s work goes up in flames, they’ll lose it. However, they themselves will be saved as if they had gone through a fire. 16Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person, because God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.
18Don’t fool yourself. If some of you think they are worldly-wise, then they should become foolish so that they can become wise. 19This world’s wisdom is foolishness to God. As it’s written, “He catches the wise in their cleverness.”#3.19 Job 5:13 20And also, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are silly”.#3.20 Ps 94:11 21So then, no one should brag about human beings. Everything belongs to you— 22Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, things in the present, things in the future—everything belongs to you, 23but you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.