MSB 1 COR Chapter 3

God’s Fellow Workers

(Hebrews 5:11–14)

Brothers, I vvv could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly — as infants in Christ. 2 vvv I gave you milk, not solid food, for vvv you were not yet ready [for solid food]. In fact, vvv vvv vvv you are still not ready, 3 for you are still worldly. For since [there is] jealousy and dissension and division[fn] among you, are you not worldly? [ Are you not ] walking in the way of man? 4 For when one [of you] says,“I [follow] Paul,” and another,“I [follow] Apollos,” are you not of the flesh?[fn]

Who then is Paul? And who [is] Apollos?[fn] [They are] servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each [ his role ]. 6 I planted [the seed] [and] Apollos watered [it], but God made [ it ] grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but [only] God, who makes [things] grow. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one [ in purpose ],[fn] and each will be rewarded according to [his] own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Christ Our Foundation

(Isaiah 28:14–22, Ephesians 2:19–22, 1 Peter 2:1–8)

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 must be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than the [one] already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If anyone builds on this foundation [using] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, [or] straw, 13 his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each [man’s] work. 14 If vvv vvv vvv what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If vvv vvv [it] is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through [the] flames.

God’s Temple and God’s Wisdom

(Romans 12:1–8, 1 Corinthians 6:18–20)

vvv Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in[fn] you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, [and] you are [that temple].

{Let} no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight [As] it is written:“He catches the wise in their craftiness.”[fn] 20 And again,“[The] Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”[fn]

Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[fn] or [the] world or life or death or the present or the future. All [of them] belong to you, 23 and you [belong to] Christ, and Christ [belongs to] God.