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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1 Corinthians 3
3
1-4But for right now, friends, I’m completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You’re acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I’ll nurse you since you don’t seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything’s going your way? When one of you says, “I’m on Paul’s side,” and another says, “I’m for Apollos,” aren’t you being totally childish?
5-9a Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working.
9b-15 Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
16-17You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
18-20Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being relevant. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture,
He exposes the hype of the hipsters.
The Master sees through the smoke screens
of the know-it-alls.
21-23I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.
* * *
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.