[English Bible study] chapter 3

1Co. 3:1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly

— mere infants in Christ.

1Co. 3:2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready

for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

1Co. 3:3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and

quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not

acting like mere men?

1Co. 3:4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow

Apollos,” are you not mere men?

1Co. 3:5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants,

through whom you came to believe — as the Lord has

assigned to each his task.

1Co. 3:6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

1Co. 3:7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but

only God, who makes things grow.

1Co. 3:8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one

purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own

labour.

1Co. 3:9 For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s

building.

1Co. 3:10 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 should be careful how he builds.

1Co. 3:11 For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already

laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1Co. 3:12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly

stones, wood, hay or straw,

1Co. 3:13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will

bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will

test the quality of each man’s work.

426

1Co. 3:14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.

1Co. 3:15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved,

but only as one escaping through the flames.

1Co. 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and

that God’s Spirit lives in you?

1Co. 3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for

God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

1Co. 3:18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise

by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so

that he may become wise.

1Co. 3:19 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]

1Co. 3:20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are

futile.” [Psalm 94:11]

1Co. 3:21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours,

1Co. 3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas [That is, Peter] or the

world or life or death or the present or the future — all are

yours,

1Co. 3:23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.