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1 Corinthians

Chapter 3

Infants, Builders, and God's Temple

Paul tells the Corinthians that their jealousy and party spirit show they are still immature, unable to bear solid food and still thinking in merely human terms. He recasts Paul and Apollos as servants in one work where God alone gives growth, then warns that all building on Christ's foundation will be tested by the Day. The chapter closes by naming the church as God's temple and ending their boasting in human leaders by placing everything under Christ.

This chapter takes the themes of cross, wisdom, and boasting from the first two chapters and presses them into Corinth's actual life together. It turns theological argument into a diagnosis of their immaturity and a warning about how the church is being built.

3 sections·440 words·~2 min read

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1 Corinthians 3

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vv. 1-9

God’s Fellow Workers

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B1rothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly — as infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, 3for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? 4For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?

5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. 6I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

vv. 10-15

Christ Our Foundation

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B10y the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.

vv. 16-23

God’s Temple and God’s Wisdom

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D16o you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” 20And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

21Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

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  1. 01vv. 1-9God’s Fellow WorkersPaul says the Corinthians' jealousy and divisions show that they are still infants in Christ, unable to receive more than milk. Their party slogans prove they are thinking too much in human terms, because Paul and Apollos are only servants with different tasks while God alone gives the growth.
  2. 02vv. 10-15Christ Our FoundationPaul shifts from field to building and says that by God's grace he laid a foundation on which others now build. Since that foundation is Jesus Christ himself, the concern is not whether one builds, but how, because the Day will test every work and reveal what kind of material has truly been used.
  3. 03vv. 16-23God’s Temple and God’s WisdomPaul reminds the Corinthians that together they are God's temple and that his Spirit dwells among them, which makes harm to the church a grave matter. He then returns to the theme of wisdom, urging them to stop deceiving themselves and stop boasting in men, because all things already belong to them in Christ.
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