The Letters · New Testament

1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3: milk and meat, planting and watering, and one foundation tested by fire

General context

Paul says he could not speak to them as spiritual "but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ", and fed them "with milk, and not with meat", adding that they are still not able to bear it. The evidence is "envying, and strife, and divisions" and the slogans "I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos". His answer shrinks the teachers: "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed". The work is divided and the result is not theirs: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase", so neither planter nor waterer is anything, they are one, and each receives reward "according to his own labour". The image changes: "ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building". As "a wise masterbuilder" he laid a foundation and another builds on it, but "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ". Materials run from gold to stubble, and "the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire"; work that abides earns reward, work that burns means loss, "but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire". A third image follows: "ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you", and defiling it brings destruction. Anyone who seems wise should "become a fool, that he may be wise", since "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God", supported by two written lines. The chapter ends by turning the slogans over: "all things are yours", Paul, Apollos and Cephas included, "And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s."

Cited passages: 1 Corinthians 3:1, 1 Corinthians 3:2, 1 Corinthians 3:3, 1 Corinthians 3:4, 1 Corinthians 3:5, 1 Corinthians 3:6, 1 Corinthians 3:7, 1 Corinthians 3:8, 1 Corinthians 3:9, 1 Corinthians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 3:11, 1 Corinthians 3:12, 1 Corinthians 3:13, 1 Corinthians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 3:15, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:17, 1 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Corinthians 3:19, 1 Corinthians 3:20, 1 Corinthians 3:21, 1 Corinthians 3:22, 1 Corinthians 3:23

1 Corinthians 3 (KJV)

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.

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Historical context

Three names are attached to the divisions, Paul, Apollos and Cephas, and an order of work is stated for two of them, one planting and one watering, with no dates, no length of either stay and no account of what either taught. Cephas is named in the list of what belongs to the readers without any work being assigned to him here. Two written lines close the wisdom argument: verse 19 follows Job 5:13, "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness", and verse 20 follows Psalm 94:11, which reads "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity" where the letter prints "the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain". The fire and "the day" are asserted without a date. The temple here is the group, addressed as ye, which is a different application from the one at 6:19, where the body of an individual is called the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Cited passages: 1 Corinthians 3:4, 1 Corinthians 3:5, 1 Corinthians 3:6, 1 Corinthians 3:13, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:19, 1 Corinthians 3:20, 1 Corinthians 3:22, Job 5:13, Psalms 94:11, 1 Corinthians 6:19

Literary context

Three images follow one another without transition, a field, a building and a temple, and each makes the same point from a different angle, that the workers are not the thing they work on. Inside the building image the chapter slows down and repeats one phrase three times, "every man’s work", once for its testing, once for its reward and once for its loss. Questions do the work of accusation in the opening verses, "are ye not carnal", asked twice within three verses. The ending inverts the slogans exactly: the readers had been saying they belonged to Paul or Apollos, and the chapter answers that Paul and Apollos and Cephas belong to them, before placing the readers under Christ and Christ under God.

Cited passages: 1 Corinthians 3:3, 1 Corinthians 3:4, 1 Corinthians 3:6, 1 Corinthians 3:9, 1 Corinthians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 3:13, 1 Corinthians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 3:15, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:21, 1 Corinthians 3:22, 1 Corinthians 3:23

Key moments

Milk, not meat (1 Corinthians 3:2). The readers are described as unable to take solid teaching.
Planted and watered (1 Corinthians 3:6). Two workers are named and the increase credited to God.
God's husbandry and building (1 Corinthians 3:9). The readers are called the field and the building.
No other foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11). The foundation is identified and closed to alternatives.
The fire shall try it (1 Corinthians 3:13). Each person's work is said to be tested by fire.
Ye are the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16). The group is called God's temple with his Spirit dwelling in it.
All things are yours (1 Corinthians 3:21). The slogans are reversed so the teachers belong to the readers.

For reflection

The chapter says a person's work can burn while the person is saved. What would it change to take that distinction seriously about something you have built?