1 Corinthians 3King James Version (KJV)
3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your’s;
22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your’s;
23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.
Commentary
Lack of spiritual growth (3:1-9)
When Paul was in Corinth a year or two previously, he could not speak to the believers as spiritual people (such as those just described in 2:6-16), because they were then little different from ordinary, natural people of the world. They were babes in Christ and Paul treated them so. He did not find fault with them then, because one expects new converts to be like that; but he does find fault with them now, because they are still like that (3:1-2). They are like people ‘of the flesh’, people whose lives are characterized by the old sinful nature. They are like the people of the world that Paul has just been describing in Chapter 2. Their behaviour is not according to the wisdom of God, but according to the wisdom of the world. Their quarrels and divisions are proof of this (3-4).
Some of the Corinthians were exalting Paul, others exalting Apollos. But Paul and Apollos are not in opposition; they are working together. The work of God in Corinth is likened to a field in which Paul did the planting, and Apollos the watering. Though the two have different functions, both are necessary, but neither of them can make the plants grow. Only God can do that (5-6). Those who plant will not see as much fruit as those who water or those who reap. For that reason the reward does not depend on the fruit people see but on the work they faithfully carry out (7-9).
Christian activity tested (3:10-23)
The Corinthians are likened also to a building. Paul laid the foundation, and now other Christians, in particular the teachers, have the responsibility to build on that foundation (10). There is only one foundation, Jesus Christ, but the structure may be built in all sorts of ways. People may build something of lasting worth through using valuable materials (gold, silver and precious stones), or they may build something of no lasting worth through using cheap materials (wood, grass and straw) (11-12).
When each building is tested by fire on the day of judgment, quality alone will count. The valuable materials will survive, but the cheap materials will be burnt up. Christians who have made the effort to grow spiritually have built something that is permanent and worthy of reward. Christians who have lived like ordinary people of the world have built nothing permanent and in the end will lose everything. They will be like those who run from a burning house but lose all their possessions. They themselves are saved, but they have nothing to show after a lifetime of activity (13-15).
Since the church (that is, the group of believers as a whole) is the temple of God, it must be holy. God will act in judgment on those who destroy his temple through division or makes it unclean through sinful behaviour (16-17).
Paul returns to the subject of wisdom, because the divisions in Corinth were caused by those who considered themselves wise in following favourite teachers. The humblest believer can understand the things of God, whereas those who are wise by the world’s standards cannot. Heavenly wisdom is foolishness to the ordinary people of the world; but the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God (18- 20). By attaching themselves to one particular teacher, the Corinthians are not increasing God’s blessing, but limiting it. All teachers are theirs, not just one. Since they belong to Christ, their blessings are unlimited (21-23).