1 Corinthians 3-4

Common English Bible

Wisdom applied to divisions in the church

3 Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you like spiritual people but like unspiritual people, like babies in Christ. ² I gave you milk to drink instead of solid food, because you weren’t up to it yet. ³ Now you are still not up to it because you are still unspiritual. When jealousy and fighting exist between you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards? ⁴ When someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and someone else says, “I belong to Apollos,” aren’t you acting like people without the Spirit? ⁵ After all, what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants who helped you to believe. Each one had a role given to them by the Lord: ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. ⁷ Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters work together, but each one will receive their own reward for their own labor. ⁹ We are God’s coworkers, and you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰ I laid a foundation like a wise master builder according to God’s grace that was given to me, but someone else is building on top of it. Each person needs to pay attention to the way they build on it. ¹¹ No one can lay any other foundation besides the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² So, whether someone builds on top of the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, or hay, ¹³ each one’s work will be clearly shown. The day will make it clear, because it will be revealed with fire—the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. ¹⁴ If anyone’s work survives, they’ll get a reward. ¹⁵ But if anyone’s work goes up in flames, they’ll lose it. However, they themselves will be saved as if they had gone through a fire. ¹⁶ Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷ If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person, because God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.

¹⁸ Don’t fool yourself. If some of you think they are worldly-wise, then they should become foolish so that they can become wise. ¹⁹ This world’s wisdom is foolishness to God. As it’s written, He catches the wise in their cleverness.^{[a] 20} And also, The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are silly.^{[b] 21} So then, no one should brag about human beings. Everything belongs to you— ²² Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, things in the present, things in the future—everything belongs to you, ²³ but you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Paul’s role as an apostle

4 So a person should think about us this way—as servants of Christ and managers of God’s secrets. ² In this kind of situation, what is expected of a manager is that they prove to be faithful. ³ I couldn’t care less if I’m judged by you or by any human court; I don’t even judge myself. ⁴ I’m not aware of anything against me, but that doesn’t make me innocent, because the Lord is the one who judges me. ⁵ So don’t judge anything before the right time—wait until the Lord comes. He will bring things that are hidden in the dark to light, and he will make people’s motivations public. Then there will be recognition for each person from God.

⁶ Brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit. I’ve done this so that you can learn what it means not to go beyond what has been written and so none of you will become arrogant by supporting one of us against the other. ⁷ Who says that you are better than anyone else? What do you have that you didn’t receive? And if you received it, then why are you bragging as if you didn’t receive it? ⁸ You’ve been filled already! You’ve become rich already! You rule like kings without us! I wish you did rule so that we could be kings with you! ⁹ I suppose that God has shown that we apostles are at the end of the line. We are like prisoners sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle in the world, both to angels and to humans. ¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you are wise through Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, but we are dishonored! ¹¹ Up to this very moment we are hungry, thirsty, wearing rags, abused, and homeless. ¹² We work hard with our own hands. When we are insulted, we respond with a blessing; when we are harassed, we put up with it; ¹³ when our reputation is attacked, we are encouraging. We have become the scum of the earth, the waste that runs off everything, up to the present time.

¹⁴ I’m not writing these things to make you ashamed but to warn you, since you are my loved children. ¹⁵ You may have ten thousand mentors in Christ, but you don’t have many fathers. I gave birth to you in Christ Jesus through the gospel, ¹⁶ so I encourage you to follow my example. ¹⁷ This is why I’ve sent Timothy to you; he’s my loved and trusted child in the Lord; he’ll remind you about my way of life in Christ Jesus. He’ll teach the same way as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ Some have become arrogant as if I’m not coming to see you. ¹⁹ But, if the Lord is willing, I’ll come to you soon. Then I won’t focus on what these arrogant people say, but I’ll find out what power they possess. ²⁰ God’s kingdom isn’t about words but about power. ²¹ Which do you want? Should I come to you with a big stick to punish you, or with love and a gentle spirit?