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
Building Together on God’s Foundation
1And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as Spirit-filled but as worldly—as infants in Messiah.
2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. Indeed, even now you are not yet ready,
3for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, aren’t you worldly and walking in a human way?
4For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere humans?
5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to trust—and to each as the Lord gave.
6I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.
8Now he who plants and he who waters work as one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each consider carefully how he builds on it.
11For no one can lay any other foundation than what is already laid—which is Yeshua the Messiah.
12Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13each one’s work will become clear. For the Day will show it, because it is to be revealed by fire; and the fire itself will test each one’s work—what sort it is.
14If anyone’s work built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss—he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
16Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that the Ruach Elohim dwells among you?
17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
18Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so he may become wise.
19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written, “He catches the clever in their craftiness.”
20And again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are useless.”
21So let no one boast about men. For all things are yours—
22whether Paul or Apollos or Kefa, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come. All are yours,
23and you are Messiah’s, and Messiah is God’s.
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