Bible Study 1 Corinthians 3
‹ 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3 · WEB

God's Field, God's Building

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

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Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ.
2I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren't yet ready. Indeed, you aren't ready even now,
3for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren't you fleshly, and don't you walk in the ways of men?
4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," aren't you fleshly?
5Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
6I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.
7So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
8Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's farming, God's building.
10According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.
11For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble;
13each man's work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man's work is.
14If any man's work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.
15If any man's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
16Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you?
17If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, which you are.
18Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He has taken the wise in their craftiness."
20And again, "The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless."
21Therefore let no one boast 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 you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
✶

Summary

Paul has to address the Corinthians as spiritual infants, still fleshly because of their jealousy and party spirit. Paul and Apollos are nothing but servants — Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the growth. The church is God's field and God's building, and Paul as wise master builder has laid the only possible foundation: Jesus Christ. Each builder's work will be tested by fire on the Day; quality work survives and is rewarded, shoddy work is burned up (though the builder is still saved, as through fire). The Corinthian church itself is God's temple, the dwelling of his Spirit — and anyone who destroys it will face God's judgment. The world's wisdom is folly to God; rather than boasting in men, the Corinthians must realize that everything (teachers, the world, life, death, future) is theirs because they are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

Themes

  • Spiritual maturity versus fleshly infancy
  • Servants of God whose labor God blesses
  • Christ as the only foundation
  • The Day of testing every ministry
  • The church as God's temple

Key verses

  • 1 Corinthians 3:11 — “No one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
  • 1 Corinthians 3:16 — “Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you?”
  • 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 — “All things are yours... and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.”
  • 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 — “I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”

Context & background

Written c. AD 54-55 from Ephesus. Paul's milk-versus-meat metaphor (vv. 1-2) addresses the Corinthians' immaturity not by giving them more advanced content but by exposing the immaturity itself. The agriculture/building shift (vv. 6-15) mirrors the OT use of both metaphors for Israel (e.g., Isaiah 5 vineyard, 1 Kings temple) — now applied to the church. The "Day" (v. 13) is the day of Christ's return and judgment. The fire image is a refining test, not annihilation: the builder remains, but inferior building materials don't survive. Verses 16-17 take the metaphor a step further: collectively the church is God's temple, and divisive teaching is temple destruction — God himself will judge those who attack it. The quotation in v. 19 is Job 5:13; v. 20 is Psalm 94:11. The triumphant cascade "all are yours" (vv. 21-23) inverts pagan-philosophical claims to possess truth — the Christian doesn't follow Paul, Paul belongs to the Christian; even death and the world belong to them, because they belong to Christ.

Cross-references

  • 1 Peter 2:4-5 — Believers as living stones built into a spiritual house.
  • Ephesians 2:19-22 — The church as God's temple, Christ as cornerstone.
  • Hebrews 5:11-14 — Milk versus solid food and the immaturity of those still on milk.
  • Job 5:13 — "He takes the wise in their craftiness" — quoted in v. 19.
  • Psalm 94:11 — "The LORD knows the thoughts of man" — quoted in v. 20.

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What food analogy does Paul use in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 to describe the Corinthians' spiritual condition, and what evidence does he give that they are still in that condition?

  2. Observe

    What building materials does Paul list as possible ways to build on the foundation of Christ (v. 12), and what will test them?

  3. Interpret

    Paul says, "Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (v. 7). What does this mean for how a church should regard its pastors, evangelists, and teachers?

  4. Interpret

    In verse 16 Paul says the Corinthian community is "a temple of God" and that God's Spirit lives in them. How does this collective image differ from the individual body-as-temple in chapter 6?

  5. Apply

    Paul promises that a builder whose work is burned up will "be saved, but as through fire" (v. 15). How should this prospect of tested, potentially-lost ministry work change the way a Christian approaches what they invest their time in?

  6. Apply

    Paul writes, "All things are yours — whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (vv. 21-23). How does this vision of belonging challenge a Christian tempted by envy, comparison, or party loyalty?

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