| 1 | However, brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates], as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [
[a]unable to talk yet!] |
| 2 | I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it], |
| 3 | For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy
and
wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual
and
of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard
and
like mere (unchanged) men? |
| 4 | For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not [proving yourselves] ordinary (unchanged) men? |
| 5 | What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministering servants [not heads of parties] through whom you believed, even as the Lord appointed to each his task: |
| 6 | I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow
and
[He] gave the increase. |
| 7 | So neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but [only] God Who makes it grow
and
become greater. |
| 8 | He who plants and he who waters are equal (one in aim, of the same importance and esteem), yet each shall receive his own reward (wages), according to his own labor. |
| 9 | For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with
and
for God;
you
are God’s
[b]garden
and
vineyard
and
field under cultivation, [you are] God’s building. |
| 10 | According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect
and
master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it, |
| 11 | For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). |
| 12 | But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, |
| 13 | The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose
and
declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test
and
critically appraise the character
and
worth of the work each person has done. |
| 14 | If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. |
| 15 | But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. |
| 16 | Do you not discern
and
understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God’s temple (His sanctuary), and that God’s Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you,
[c]collectively as a church and also individually]? |
| 17 | If anyone
[d]does hurt to God’s temple
or
corrupts it [
[e]with false doctrines]
or
destroys it, God will
[f]do hurt to him
and
bring him to the corruption of death
and
destroy him. For the temple of God is holy (sacred to Him) and that [temple] you [
[g]the believing church and its individual believers] are. |
| 18 | Let no person deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [let him discard his worldly discernment and recognize himself as dull, stupid, and foolish, without true learning and scholarship], that he may become [really] wise. |
| 19 | For this world’s wisdom is foolishness (absurdity and stupidity) with God, for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their [own] craftiness; |
| 20 | And again, The Lord knows the thoughts
and
reasonings of the [humanly] wise
and
recognizes how futile they are. |
| 21 | So let no one exult proudly concerning men [boasting of having this or that man as a leader], for all things are yours, |
| 22 | Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter), or the universe or life or death, or the immediate
and
[h]threatening present or the [subsequent and uncertain] future—all are yours, |
| 23 | And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. |
Cross references:
-
1 Corinthians 3:9 : Isa. 61:3.
-
1 Corinthians 3:15 : Job 23:10.
-
1 Corinthians 3:18 : Isa. 5:21.
-
1 Corinthians 3:19 : Job 5:13.
-
1 Corinthians 3:20 : Ps. 94:11.
|