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1 Corinthians 3

KJV · Chapter 3/16

1And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

4For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

5Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

6I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

8Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

9For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

10According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

14If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

18Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

20And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

21Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

22Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

23And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul rebukes the Corinthians for still being 'carnal,' living in envy and disputes over leaders. He compares them to a field that he planted and Apollos watered, but it is God who gives the growth, and warns that each person must build on the one foundation, which is Christ.

Explanation

The agricultural image (planting and watering) and the building image (foundation and structure) are two complementary metaphors explaining the same problem: the Corinthians were giving excessive importance to human messengers and forgetting that spiritual growth comes only from God. Paul also introduces the idea of a future judgment of each believer's works, tested as if by fire — not a condemnation, but an evaluation of the quality of what was built on faith in Christ. Today's application is clear: placing too much value on a particular preacher, ministry, or denomination is losing sight of the fact that the church belongs to God, and what endures is what is built with integrity on Christ.

Fun facts

  • The expression 'you are God's temple' (v.16) uses a Greek word (naos) referring to the inner sanctuary of the temple, the most sacred place — a powerful way of saying that God dwells intimately within the community of believers.
  • The idea of works being tested 'by fire' influenced centuries of theological debate about heavenly rewards, though the text itself speaks of the evaluation of works, not the purification of sins.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Corinthians 3:1Paul picks up where chapter 2 left off: he could not treat the Corinthians as spiritually mature, but as “babes in Christ,” still at the beginning of the faith, because of their behavior.
  2. 1 Corinthians 3:2“Milk” and “meat” (solid food) are metaphors for basic and advanced teaching. Paul says he still treats the Corinthians like children in the faith because their behavior — envy, quarreling — shows they are not yet ready for deeper things.
  3. 1 Corinthians 3:3The proof that they are still “carnal” — living by ordinary human logic, not guided by the Spirit — is the envy and quarreling inside the church, the same problem behind the factions of chapter 1.
  4. 1 Corinthians 3:4He repeats the concrete example: saying “I am of Paul” or “I am of Apollos” is a sign of spiritual immaturity, not of devotion — the opposite of what the Corinthians themselves probably thought.
  5. 1 Corinthians 3:5Paul corrects their inflated view of their leaders: he and Apollos are only “ministers,” servants who helped the church come to believe, each doing the part the Lord gave — not owners of factions.
  6. 1 Corinthians 3:6He uses a farming image: he planted (founded the church), Apollos watered (taught afterward), but it was God who truly made the church grow — neither of them deserves credit for the division.
  7. 1 Corinthians 3:7He reinforces the comparison: planting and watering are worth nothing on their own; it is God who gives the growth — a direct argument against idolizing any human leader of the church.
  8. 1 Corinthians 3:8The one who plants and the one who waters work toward the same goal, so they are “one” in purpose; each will be rewarded according to his own labor, not the fame he gained among the Corinthians.
  9. 1 Corinthians 3:9He sums it up with two images — “God’s husbandry” and “God’s building” — making clear that the church belongs to God, not to the leaders who passed through it.
  10. 1 Corinthians 3:10He shifts the metaphor to construction: Paul, as a “wise masterbuilder,” laid the foundation of the church; now others (like Apollos) build on top of it, and each one must take heed how he builds.
  11. 1 Corinthians 3:11The foundation can be none other than Jesus Christ — neither Paul nor Apollos can replace that, no matter how important they may seem in the church’s factional disputes.
  12. 1 Corinthians 3:12He lists building materials, from the valuable (gold, silver, precious stones) to the flimsy (wood, hay, stubble) — an image preparing the next verse, about the test that reveals the quality of each one’s work.
  13. 1 Corinthians 3:13Paul compares each person’s work in the church to building on a foundation — gold, silver, and stone withstand fire, while wood and stubble burn. “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” speaks of the quality of what each leader builds, not the person’s salvation, which remains secure even if the work is lost.
  14. 1 Corinthians 3:14If what someone built on the foundation of Christ survives the test (the “fire” of the context), that person receives a reward — this speaks of the quality of each leader’s work, not of their salvation.
  15. 1 Corinthians 3:15Even if someone’s work “shall be burned” and does not survive the test, the person is still saved, only losing the reward — like someone who escapes a fire alive but with nothing in hand.
  16. 1 Corinthians 3:16Here “the temple of God” refers to the whole gathered church — unlike chapter 6, where the same expression applies to the body of each individual believer. The idea is that the Spirit of God dwells in the midst of the community, so dividing that community is treated as defiling a temple.
  17. 1 Corinthians 3:17A serious warning: whoever tries to divide or destroy the church (the “temple of God” from the previous verse) will face God’s response, because that gathered community is considered holy.
  18. 1 Corinthians 3:18Paul repeats the warning from chapter 1: whoever thinks himself “wise” by the world’s standards needs to become a “fool” in that sense, that is, to abandon that human wisdom in order to reach God’s real wisdom.
  19. 1 Corinthians 3:19Paul repeats the idea from chapter 1 by quoting Job: God “taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” It is a way of saying that human cleverness, once it turns into pride, ends up turning against the very person who has it.
  20. 1 Corinthians 3:20He quotes Psalm 94 to reinforce the argument: even the thoughts of the wise are empty in God’s eyes — a direct answer to those in Corinth who took pride in eloquence and argument.
  21. 1 Corinthians 3:21The chapter’s conclusion: since human wisdom and the leaders themselves are no reason for pride, no one should boast of following “so-and-so” — on the contrary, everything belongs to the church.
  22. 1 Corinthians 3:22He lists what “belongs” to the Corinthians instead of the other way around: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future — none of it should become a reason for factional disputes.
  23. 1 Corinthians 3:23He closes the chain of belonging: the church belongs to Christ, and Christ belongs to God — the final answer to the “I am of Paul, I of Apollos” that opened the discussion in chapter 1.

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