1Cor 3 | BSB | STEP | Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly

1 Corinthians 3

God's Fellow Workers

1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly— as infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready [for solid food] . In fact, you are still not ready, 3 for 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? 4 For when one [of you] says, “I [follow] Paul,” and another, “I [follow] Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? [They are] servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each [ his role ] . 6 I planted [the seed] [and] Apollos watered [it] , but God made [ it ] grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but [only] God, who makes [things] grow. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one [ in purpose ] , and each will be rewarded according to [his] own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Christ Our Foundation

10 By 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. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the [one] already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on [this] foundation [using] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, [or] straw, 13 his 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. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If [it] is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through [the] flames.

You are God's Temple

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

Worldly Wisdom

18 {Let} 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. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. [As] it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” ^{▼▼Job 5:13} 20 And again, “ [The] Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” ^{▼▼Psalm 94:11} 21 Therefore stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas ^{▼▼That is, Peter} or [the] world or life or death or the present or the future. All [of them] [belong to] you, 23 and you [belong to] Christ, and Christ [belongs to] God.