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3 My fellow believers, when I visited you, I was unable to teach you in the way I would teach people who have God’s Spirit. Rather, I had to teach you in the way I would teach people who think only in human ways. I had to do this because you believed in the Messiah in an immature way. 2 I taught you about things that are simple. I did not teach about things that are complex. I did this because you were not ready for complex teachings. In fact, you are still not ready for complex teachings. 3 I know that you are not ready for complex teachings, because you are still people who think only in human ways. Some of you are jealous of each other, and some of you are fighting with each other. When you do these things, it proves that you are people who think only in human ways and who act only in human ways. 4 Further, some of you are claiming that you belong to Paul’s group, for example, or that you belong to Apollos’s group. When you make claims like these, it proves that you are thinking and acting only in human ways.
5 You need to realize that Apollos and I, Paul, are just people who serve the Messiah. Each of us does what the Lord has assigned us to do. When we told you about the Messiah, you trusted in him, not in us. 6 God assigned me to proclaim the good news to you first. I was like someone who plants seeds. God assigned Apollos to proclaim even more about the good news to you. He was like someone who waters the seeds so that they grow. However, God himself enabled you to believe in and understand the good news. In the same way, he is the one who makes the plants grow. 7 You can see that the person who first proclaims the good news to people is not important. The person who proclaims even more about the good news to people is not important. These people are like those who plant the seeds and those who water the plants, since they too are not important. Instead, it is God who is important, because he enables people to believe in and understand the good news. In the same way, he is important because he causes the plants to grow. 8 In fact, the person who first proclaims the good news to people and the person who proclaims more about the good news to people have the same goal. They are like the person who plants the seeds and the person who waters the plants, who also have the same goal. God will reward people who do either task. He will reward them in a way that is appropriate for what they did. 9 We who proclaim the good news all work for God, but you belong to God. It is as if you were farmland that God owns, in which we planted and watered seeds. Indeed, it is as if you were a house that God owns.
10 God gave me the skills to wisely proclaim the good news to you first. I am like the construction boss who puts a foundation in the ground before building a house. Others, such as Apollos, proclaim more about the good news to you. They are like other builders who construct a house on top of that foundation. In the end, all the people who proclaim more about the good news should make sure that they proclaim it correctly. They should be like builders who construct a house the right way on top of a foundation. 11 No one can put a foundation in the ground if another person has already put it in the ground. So also, no one else can first proclaim the good news to you, because I already did that. What I proclaimed to you is what Jesus the Messiah accomplished. This message about Jesus is like the foundation of a house. 12 Builders can use many different building materials when they construct a house on its foundation. They can use more durable materials like gold, silver, and jewels, and less durable materials like lumber, grass, and straw. In the same way, some of those who proclaim more about the good news teach things that are more pleasing to God. Others teach things that are less pleasing to God. 13 On the day when the Messiah returns to judge everyone, he will reveal what kind of work each person has done. The quality of the materials that builders use to construct a building becomes clear when the building catches on fire. In a similar way, a judgment like fire will occur on the day when the Messiah returns. This judgment will show the quality of what those who proclaim more about the gospel have taught. 14 Any builders who constructed a building that survives a fire gain honor and money. In the same way, God will honor and reward all those who teach more about the good news in a way that God accepts when he judges everyone. 15 Any builders who constructed a building that fire consumes lose respect and money. However, the builders do not die in the fire, but they escape from the flames. In the same way, when he judges everyone, God will not honor or reward all those who teach more about the good news in a way that God does not accept. However, God will still accept these teachers despite the wrong things that they have taught.
16 You need to remember that you are like God’s temple in Jerusalem because God is present among you like he was present in the temple. You need to remember that you are like a house in which God’s Spirit lives because he is always present with you. 17 God will act against any person who acts against his temple. This is because God’s temple belongs to him alone. Since you are like God’s temple, God will act against any person who acts against you.
18 Do not believe what is not true about yourselves. You who consider yourselves to be wise according to human standards should become foolish according to human standards. In this way, you will really become wise people. 19 I speak these words because the things that humans consider to be wise are things that God considers to be foolish. You know that this is true because the author of the book of Job wrote,
“God is the one who disrupts the clever schemes that wise people plan.”
20 Further, the author of a psalm wrote,
“The Lord is aware of everything that wise people plan, and he knows that these plans will not succeed.”
21 Therefore, none of you should boast about how you follow other humans. I say this because you have everything, so boasting about following other humans is foolish. 22 You have leaders such as Paul, Apollos, and Peter. You have everything that God made, you do not fear when you live, and you can find comfort when you die. You have everything that exists now and everything that will exist in the future. Indeed, you have everything. 23 Further, the Messiah has you, and God has the Messiah.