1 Corinthians 3

Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you as people led by the Spirit. I had to talk to you as people still living by ordinary human ways, like babies in the Christian life.

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

Note"Carnal" renders a Greek word meaning "made of flesh." In 1611 it meant belonging to the body or to ordinary human nature generally; it had not yet narrowed to the modern sense of sexual. The contrast is between people shaped by God's Spirit and people still running on ordinary human instinct. "Babes" is the word for infants still nursing, which sets up the milk and solid food of the next verse.

2I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for solid food yet. In fact, you are still not ready,

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.

Note"Meat" in the King James means food of any kind, not flesh specifically; the contrast is milk against solid food. Milk versus solid food was a stock image among ancient teachers for beginners' instruction versus advanced instruction.

3because you are still living by ordinary human ways. When there is jealousy and fighting among you, doesn't that show you are living by ordinary human ways, acting just like anyone else?

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

NoteThe King James lists three faults, "envying, and strife, and divisions." Many of the earliest Greek manuscripts have only the first two, which is why modern versions print two. "Walk" is a Hebrew and Greek idiom for the whole course of a person's conduct, not literal walking.

4When one of you says, "I follow Paul," and another says, "I follow Apollos," aren't you acting like ordinary people?

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

NoteApollos was a Jewish teacher from Alexandria in Egypt, known as a powerful speaker, who worked in Corinth after Paul had left (Acts 18:24 to 19:1). Nothing suggests the two men were rivals; the factions were made by the Corinthians, not by the teachers. The King James ends the verse "are ye not carnal"; the oldest manuscripts read "are you not merely human," which is the reading behind modern versions.

5So who is Paul, and who is Apollos? We are only servants who helped you come to believe, each doing the job the Lord gave him.

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

Note"Ministers" here carries its older English sense of servants or attendants, someone who waits on others. It is not a title for clergy. The Greek word is diakonos, the ordinary term for a household servant.

6I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God is the one who made it grow.

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

7So the one who plants is nothing and the one who waters is nothing. God, who makes it grow, is what matters.

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

8The one who plants and the one who waters are working toward the same goal, and each one will be paid according to his own work.

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

Note"Are one" does not mean the two men are interchangeable or that their work is identical. It means they belong to a single operation, one job with two assignments, which is why the next clause can still speak of separate pay for separate labor.

9We work together in God's service. You are God's field. You are God's building.

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

Note"Husbandry" is old English for cultivated farmland; a "husbandman" was a farmer. The Greek phrase behind "labourers together with God" is genuinely ambiguous: it can mean workers who belong to God and share the job with each other, or workers laboring alongside God. Translators divide on it, and the grammar permits both.

10Using the kindness God gave me, I laid the foundation like a skilled master builder, and someone else is building on it. But each builder must be careful how he builds on it.

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.

Note"Grace" here translates charis, a gift or favor freely given, and refers to the particular commission Paul says he was handed. "Masterbuilder" is architekton, the head craftsman or contractor who designed a structure and set out its foundation lines while others did the building on top.

11No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

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

12Someone may build on this foundation with gold, silver, and costly stones, or with wood, hay, and straw.

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

NoteGold, silver and costly stones were the materials of temple construction; wood, hay and stubble were what an ordinary house or shed was finished and roofed with. "Stubble" means the dry stalks left standing after a harvest, used for thatch and for kindling. The two lists are sorted by what fire does to them: one set burns away, the other survives and is purified.

13Each person's work will be shown for what it is, because the day will make it clear. It will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work.

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.

Note"The day" with nothing added was standing shorthand for the day of God's judgment, drawn from the Old Testament phrase "the day of the LORD." "Try" in the King James means test or assay, as fire was used to test the purity of metal; it does not mean attempt.

14If what a person has built on the foundation lasts through the fire, that person will receive a reward.

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

15If a person's work is burned up, he will lose it. He himself will still be saved, but only like someone who escapes through the flames.

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

Note"Suffer loss" is commercial language: he forfeits the value of the work, the way a merchant loses cargo. "Saved; yet so as by fire" renders a phrase meaning "as through fire," the picture of a person who gets out of a burning building alive with nothing but himself.

16Don't you know that you are God's temple, and that God's Spirit lives in you?

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

Note"Ye" is plural in this verse. Paul is telling the congregation that together they are one temple, not telling each member that he is a temple individually; he makes that separate point about the individual body in 6:19. The word behind "temple" is naos, the inner sanctuary where a god was held to live, not the outer courts and precincts of a temple complex.

17If anyone ruins God's temple, God will destroy him, because God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

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

NoteThe King James uses two different English verbs, "defile" and "destroy," where the Greek uses one verb twice: whoever ruins God's temple, God will ruin him. The repetition is the point, a penalty shaped to match the offense.

18Don't fool yourselves. If any of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this world, he should become a fool, so that he may really become wise.

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.

Note"This world" translates a word meaning "this age," the present order of things as against the age to come, rather than the planet. The word for "fool" is moros, the root of the English "moron," and it was blunt, insulting language, not a mild word.

19The wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, "He catches the wise in their own tricks."

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

NoteThe quotation is from Job 5:13, following the Hebrew wording rather than the Greek Old Testament that most of Paul's quotations use. "Craftiness" in 1611 meant cunning or trickery; it has nothing to do with skill at a craft.

20And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless."

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

NoteThe quotation is from Psalm 94:11. The psalm reads "the thoughts of man"; Paul has "the wise," narrowing the line to the case he is arguing. "Vain" in the King James means empty, futile, coming to nothing, not conceited about one's appearance.

21So let no one brag about people. Everything belongs to you:

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

Note"Glory in" means to boast in or take pride in. In Corinth, students commonly attached themselves to a famous teacher and took pride in his name, which is what the slogans of verse 4 are; Paul is reversing the direction of that boast.

22Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, and the future. All of it belongs to you,

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

Note"Cephas" is the Aramaic name of the apostle Peter. Both words mean "rock," Cephas in Aramaic and Petros in Greek, and Paul usually uses the Aramaic form. Cephas is the third name attached to a party at Corinth in 1:12.

23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

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