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1 Corinthians · Chapter 3

1 Corinthians 3

Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits

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God’s Fellow Workers

(Hebrews 5:11–14)

1Brothers, 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.

Christ Our Foundation

(Isaiah 28:14–22; Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Peter 2:1–8)

10By 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.

God’s Temple and God’s Wisdom

(Romans 12:1–8; 1 Corinthians 6:18–20)

16Do 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.

Source notes

  1. 3:8 Literally are one
  2. 3:16 Or among
  3. 3:19 Job 5:13 Read Job 5:13
  4. 3:20 Psalms 94:11 Read Psalms 94:11
  5. 3:22 That is, Peter

Old Testament references

References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.

Job 5:13

He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.

Psalms 94:11

The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.

Hosea 6:7

But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

Proverbs 11:25

A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Psalms 62:9

Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

Psalms 62:11

God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,

Psalms 92:13

Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

Psalms 92:14

In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain,

Psalms 92:15

to proclaim, “The LORD is upright; He is my Rock, and in Him there is no unrighteousness.”

Psalms 127:1

Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.

Isaiah 55:10

For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

Isaiah 55:11

so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

Isaiah 61:11

For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Psalms 115:1

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.

Read the commentary on 1 Corinthians 3

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