1Cor 3 | ISV | STEP | Spiritual Immaturity Brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as mere infants in Christ.

1 Corinthians 3

1 Spiritual Immaturity

Brothers, I couldn't talk to you as spiritual people but as worldly people, as mere infants in Christ.1Cor 2:14-15; Heb 5:13 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, because you weren't ready for it. Why, you're still not ready for it!John 16:12; Heb 5:12-13; 1Pet 2:2 3 That's because you are still worldly. As long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, you are worldly and living by human standards, aren't you?1Cor 1:11; 11:18; Gal 5:20-21; James 3:16 4 For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” you are merely human, aren't you?1Cor 1:12

5 What is Apollos anyhow? Or what is Paul? Mere servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave to each of us his task.Rom 12:3, 6; 1Cor 4:1; 2Cor 3:3; 1Pet 4:11 6 I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God kept everything growing.Acts 18:4, 8, 11, 24, 27; 19:1; 1Cor 1:30; 4:15; 9:1; 2Cor 3:5; 10:14-15 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is significant, but God, who keeps everything growing, is the one who matters.2Cor 12:11; Gal 6:3 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive a reward for his own work.Ps 62:12; Rom 2:6; 1Cor 4:5; Gal 6:4-5; Rev 2:23; 22:12 9 For we are God's co-workers. You are God's farmland and God's building.Acts 15:4; 2Cor 6:1; Eph 2:20; Col 2:7; Heb 3:3-4; 1Pet 2:5

10 Christ Is Our FoundationAs an expert builder using the grace that God gave me, I laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each person must be careful how he builds on it.Rom 1:5; 12:3; 15:20; 1Cor 4:15; 15:6; 1Pet 4:11; Rev 21:14 11 After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that is Jesus Christ.Isa 28:16; Matt 16:18; 2Cor 11:4; Gal 1:7; Eph 2:20 12 Whether a person builds on this foundation with gold, silver, expensive stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 the workmanship of each person will become evident, for the day ^{▼▼I.e. the day of judgment} will show what it is, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work.Luke 2:35; 1Cor 4:5; 1Pet 1:7; 4:12 14 If what a person has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ^{▼▼Or receive wages}1Cor 4:5 15 If his work is burned up, he will suffer loss. However, he himself will be saved, but it will be like going through fire.Jude 1:23

16 You know that you are God's sanctuary and that God's Spirit lives in you, don't you?1Cor 6:19; 2Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21-22; Heb 3:6; 1Pet 2:5 17 If anyone destroys God's sanctuary, God will destroy him, for God's sanctuary is holy. And you are that sanctuary! 18 True WisdomLet no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in the ways of ^{▼▼The Gk. lacks the ways of} this world, he must become a fool to become really wise.Prov 5:7; Isa 5:21 19 For the wisdom of this world is nonsense in God's sight. For it is written,Job 5:13; 1Cor 1:20; 2:6

“He catches the wise with their own trickery,” ^{▼▼Job 5:13}

20 and again,Ps 94:11

“The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.” ^{▼▼Ps 94:11}

21 So let no one boast about men. For everything belongs to you,1Cor 1:12; 4:4-6; 2Cor 4:5, 15 22 whether Paul, Apollos, Cephas, ^{▼▼ I.e. Peter} the world, life, death, the present, or the future—everything belongs to you, 23 but you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.Rom 14:8; 1Cor 11:3; 2Cor 10:7; Gal 3:29