Sectarianism Is Carnal

3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to ^(A)babes in Christ. ² I fed you with ^(B)milk and not with solid food; ^(C)for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and ^[a]behaving like mere men? ⁴ For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

Watering, Working, Warning

⁵ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ^(D)ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ^6 (E)I planted, ^(F)Apollos watered, ^(G)but God gave the increase. ⁷ So then ^(H)neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, ^(I)and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁹ For ^(J)we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are ^(K)God’s building. ^10 (L)According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid ^(M)the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than ^(N)that which is laid, ^(O)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, ¹³ each one’s work will become clear; for the Day ^(P)will declare it, because ^(Q)it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. ¹⁴ If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

^16 (R)Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone ^[b]defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

Avoid Worldly Wisdom

^18 (S)Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ^(T)“He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; ²⁰ and again, ^(U)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ Therefore let no one boast in men. For ^(V)all things are yours: ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. ²³ And ^(W)you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

A Pattern of Self-Denial

9 Am ^(A)I not an apostle? Am I not free? ^(B)Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? ^(C)Are you not my work in the Lord? ² If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are ^(D)the ^[a]seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³ My defense to those who examine me is this: ^4 (E)Do we have no ^[b]right to eat and drink? ⁵ Do we have no right to take along ^[c]a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, ^(F)the brothers of the Lord, and ^(G)Cephas? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I ^(H)who have no right to refrain from working? ⁷ Who ever ^(I)goes to war at his own expense? Who ^(J)plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who ^(K)tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

⁸ Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? ⁹ For it is written in the law of Moses, ^(L)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? ¹⁰ Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that ^(M)he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. ^11 (N)If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? ¹² If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?

^(O)Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things ^(P)lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. ^13 (Q)Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the ^(R)temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? ¹⁴ Even so ^(S)the Lord has commanded ^(T)that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

¹⁵ But ^(U)I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for ^(V)it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. ¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for ^(W)necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this willingly, ^(X)I have a reward; but if against my will, ^(Y)I have been entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸ What is my reward then? That ^(Z)when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel ^[d]of Christ without charge, that I ^(AA)may not abuse my authority in the gospel.

Serving All Men

¹⁹ For though I am ^(AB)free from all men, ^(AC)I have made myself a servant to all, ^(AD)that I might win the more; ²⁰ and ^(AE)to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the ^[e]law, that I might win those who are under the law; ^21 (AF)to ^(AG)those who are without law, as without law ^(AH)(not being without ^[f]law toward God, but under ^[g]law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; ^22 (AI)to the weak I became ^[h]as weak, that I might win the weak. ^(AJ)I have become all things to all men, ^(AK)that I might by all means save some. ²³ Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.

Striving for a Crown

²⁴ Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? ^(AL)Run in such a way that you may ^[i]obtain it. ²⁵ And everyone who competes for the prize ^[j]is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for ^(AM)an imperishable crown. ²⁶ Therefore I run thus: ^(AN)not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. ^27 (AO)But I discipline my body and ^(AP)bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become ^(AQ)disqualified.