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
1 And so, brothers, I was not able to speak to you as if to those who are spiritual, but rather as if to those who are carnal. For you are like infants in Christ.
2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. For you were not yet able. And indeed, even now, you are not able; for you are still carnal.
3 And since there is still envy and contention among you, are you not carnal, and are you not walking according to man?
4 For if one says, "Certainly, I am of Paul," while another says, "I am of Apollo," are you not men? But what is Apollo, and what is Paul?
5 We are only the ministers of him in whom you have believed, just as the Lord has granted to each of you.
6 I planted, Apollo watered, but God provided the growth.
7 And so, neither he who plants, nor he who waters, is anything, but only God, who provides the growth.
8 Now he who plants, and he who waters, are one. But each shall receive his proper reward, according to his labors.
9 For we are God's assistants. You are God's cultivation; you are God's construction.
10 According to the grace of God, which has been given to me, I have laid the foundation like a wise architect. But another builds upon it. So then, let each one be careful how he builds upon it.
11 For no one is able to lay any other foundation, in place of that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus.
12 But if anyone builds upon this foundation, whether gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble,
13 each one's work shall be made manifest. For the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And this fire will test each one's work, as to what kind it is.
14 If anyone's work, which he has built upon it, remains, then he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer its loss, but he himself will still be saved, but only as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives within you?
17 But if anyone violates the Temple of God, God will destroy him. For the Temple of God is holy, and you are that Temple.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become foolish, so that he may be truly wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. And so it has been written: "I will catch the wise in their own astuteness."
20 And again: "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain."
21 And so, let no one glory in men.
22 For all is yours: whether Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future. Yes, all is yours.
23 But you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
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