1 Corinthians 3
On Divisions in the Corinthian Church
1 And so, brothers and sisters,a
I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the
flesh, as infants in Christ. 2I fed you with
milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you
are still not ready, 3for you are still of the
flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you
not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4For
when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are
you not merely human?
5 What then is Apollos? What is
Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to
each. 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave
the growth. 7So neither the one who plants nor
the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8The
one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will
receive wages according to the labor of each. 9For
we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's
building.
10 According to the grace of God given to
me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is
building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11For
no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that
foundation is Jesus Christ. 12Now if anyone
builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
straw-- 13the work of each builder will become
visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with
fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14If
what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a
reward. 15If the work is burned up, the builder
will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
16
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in
you?b 17If anyone destroys
God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and
you are that temple.
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If
you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you
may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God. For it is written,
"He catches the wise in
their craftiness,"
20and again,
"The
Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are futile."
21So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are
yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or
the world or life or death or the present or the future--all belong to you, 23and
you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.