1 Corinthians 3

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—

each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.

If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,

whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours,

and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

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1 Corinthians 3

Paul rebukes the Corinthians for remaining infants in Christ, still on milk rather than solid food, their immaturity exposed by the divisions among them—quarreling as though they belonged to the world. He redirects their focus: Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth; the ministers are servants, not masters or sources of loyalty. The foundation is Christ alone, and others build upon it with different materials—gold, silver, precious stones versus wood, hay, straw—and the Day will reveal each one's work, for it will be disclosed by fire and tested to determine its quality. Each worker will receive wages according to their labor, or lose reward if the work burns. The temple metaphor shifts focus: you are God's temple, and if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person, for the temple is holy. Paul closes with a reversal of status: all things are yours—whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, world, life, death, things present or things to come—but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.

1 Corinthians 3:1

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly — mere infants in Christ — Paul shifts to direct address and gentle rebuke. The Corinthians are 'infants' (nēpioi) despite their spiritual gifts. 'Worldly' (sarkikoi, 'fleshly') does not mean the flesh as body but flesh as the fallen nature focused on self-interest. One can possess the Spirit and still operate in fleshly competition over status and teachers—the Corinthian predicament.

1 Corinthians 3:2

I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready — the metaphor of milk versus solid food echoes Hebrews 5:12-14. Infants require milk; the mature eat solid food. Paul fed them foundational gospel; they remain unable to digest its implications for humility, unity, and the cross's centrality. The repetition 'you are still not ready' (oupe gar dynasthe) signals stalled spiritual development.

1 Corinthians 3:3

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? — 'jealousy and quarreling' (zēlos kai eris) are quintessential flesh-works. 'Acting like mere humans' (kata anthrōpon peripateitē, 'walking according to human standards') means living by the world's logic of status competition rather than Christ's logic of sacrifice. The Corinthians' divisions are not theological disagreement but social jockeying.

1 Corinthians 3:4

For when one of you says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere humans? — the return to the faction language (v. 4 echoes 1:12) now exposes the humiliating truth: they are 'mere humans' (anthropoi), not yet mature believers. The divisions they treasure as marks of discernment are actually signs of spiritual infancy. Paul is not naming individuals but the faction mentality itself.

1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3:5

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1 Corinthians 3:16

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