1 Corinthians 3
3
Chapter 3
God wants his people to grow as believers
1My Christian friends, I could not teach you as I would teach people who have God's Spirit. I had to teach you as people who belong only to this world. You were like little children who could not understand the message about Christ very well. 2I had to teach you things that were easy to understand, like a mother gives milk to a baby. You were not yet ready to receive proper food. And you are still not ready to receive God's complete message! 3You still do what your human nature wants to do. You are jealous of each other, and you quarrel with each other. Yes! This shows that you do what your human nature wants to do. You live like people who do not know God. 4Some of you say, ‘Paul is my leader.’ And other people say, ‘Apollos is my leader.’ When you speak like that, you are talking like people who belong to this world.
5Is Apollos important? Is Paul important? No! We are God's servants. We told you God's good news and you believed it. Each of us is doing the job which the Lord has given to us. 6When I told you God's good news, I was like someone who planted seeds. Then Apollos was like someone who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused everything to grow. 7The person who plants the seeds is not important. The person who gives water to the plants is not important. The important person is God, because he causes everything to grow. 8The person who plants and the person who gives water both have the same purpose. God will pay each person what is right for their work. 9Apollos and I work together as God's servants. You are like God's field that we work in.
You are also like a building that belongs to God. 10I am like a good builder. God has given that job to me and he has helped me to do it well. I was the person who built the foundation. Now other people are building on that foundation. #3:10 Paul was the first person to tell God's good news to the people in Corinth. Other people, like Apollos, helped the believers to understand more about God's message. But each person must be careful how he builds. 11God has already put Jesus Christ as the only foundation of this building. So nobody can put any other foundation there.
12People may build on this foundation with gold, silver or valuable stones. Or they may build on it with wood, dry grass or leaves. 13One day, God will show clearly how good each builder's work is. God will put each person's work into a fire on that great day. #3:13 That is the day when Christ will return and judge everyone. The fire will show whether their work is good or bad. 14If the fire does not destroy the work, then that builder will receive good things from God. 15But if the fire destroys a builder's work, that person will lose everything. The person himself will be safe. But he will be like someone who has run through the fire to a safe place.
16You surely know that you are like God's special house. As God's people, God's Spirit lives in you. 17If anyone destroys God's special house, then God will destroy that person. And you are like that house. You belong to God in a special way.
18Be careful! Do not think that you are better than you really are. Maybe you think that you are wise, like people today want to be wise. But if you want to become truly wise, be ready for other people to think that you are a fool. 19People in this world think that some people are wise. But God thinks that those wise people are fools. It says in the Bible:
‘God causes the clever thoughts of wise people to confuse them.’ #3:19 See Job 5:13.
20In another place, the Bible says:
‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of wise people have no value.’ #3:20 See Psalms 94:11.
21Because of that, you should not be proud of any human leader. All leaders are there to serve you, as God's people. 22Do not be proud of Paul, Apollos or Peter. We belong to you. All of this world, and life and death belong to you. The things of today and tomorrow belong to you. Everything belongs to you, 23you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
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1 Corinthians 3
3
1Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, you aren’t ready even now, 3for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men? 4For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly?
5Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him? 6I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. 7So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.
10According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. 11For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. 14If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. 15If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
16Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.
18Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”#Job 5:13 20And again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.”#Psalms 94:11 21Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, 22whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, 23and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
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