The Problem of Immaturity

For my part, brothers and sisters, I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh, as babies in Christ.(A) I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, since you were not yet ready for it. In fact, you are still not ready, because you are still worldly. For since there is envy(B) and strife[a](C) among you, are you not worldly and behaving like mere humans? For whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,”(D) are you not acting like mere humans?

The Role of God’s Servants

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted,(E) Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one,[b] and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s coworkers.[c] You are God’s field, God’s building.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 3:3 Other mss add and divisions
  2. 3:8 Or of equal status, or united in purpose
  3. 3:9 Or are coworkers belonging to God

The Church and Its Leaders

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit(A) but as people who are still worldly(B)—mere infants(C) in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food,(D) for you were not yet ready for it.(E) Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling(F) among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,”(G) are you not mere human beings?

What, after all, is Apollos?(H) And what is Paul? Only servants,(I) through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed,(J) Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.(K) For we are co-workers in God’s service;(L) you are God’s field,(M) God’s building.(N)

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11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

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11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood(A) behind me.

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