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
The Church and Its Leaders
1Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t speak to you as people who were led by the Holy Spirit. I had to speak to you as people who were still following their own wrong desires. You’re not growing as Christ wants you to. You’re still like babies. 2The words I spoke to you were like milk, not solid food. You weren’t ready for solid food, and you’re still not ready for it. 3You’re still following your own wrong desires. If you’re jealous and you’re arguing, aren’t those desires in charge? Aren’t you acting like ordinary human beings? 4When one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting like ordinary human beings?
5After all, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants who helped you to believe. The Lord has given each of us our own work to do. 6I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7So the one who plants doesn’t matter, and neither does the one who waters. It’s God who matters. He makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and the Lord will give each of them a reward for their work. 9We’re working together to serve God. You’re like God’s field and God’s building.
10God has given me the grace to lay a foundation as a wise builder. Now someone else is building on it. But each one should build carefully. 11No one can lay any other foundation than the one that has already been laid, and that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12A person might build on it using gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13Every person’s work will be recognized for what it is, because the Day of Judgment will expose it. Everyone’s work will be put through fire to test how good it is. 14If what a person has built doesn’t burn up, God will give them a reward for their work. 15If what a person has built does burn up, they’ll lose everything. They’ll still be saved, but only like someone escaping from a fire.
16Don’t you know that together you are God’s temple? Don’t you know that God’s Spirit lives among you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. God’s temple is holy, and you together are that temple.
18Don’t fool yourselves. If any of you think you’re wise by the standards of the world, you should become “fools” so that you can become truly wise. 19The wisdom of this world is foolish in God’s eyes. It is written, “God catches wise people in their own clever plans.” 20It is also written, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of wise people don’t really amount to anything.” 21So don’t brag any more about human leaders! Everything is yours, 22including Paul and Apollos and Peter, and the world and life and death and the present and the future. All these things are yours, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
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