1 Corinthians 3 explained: Servants, Builders, and God's Temple

Still babies, still quarreling (vv. 1-4)

Paul says he could only teach them the basics, like milk for a baby, and they are still not ready for more. Their jealous rivalry over favorite teachers, Paul or Apollos, shows they are acting like anyone else, not like people shaped by God's Spirit.

Planting and watering (vv. 5-9)

Paul started the church in Corinth, and Apollos, a teacher who came later, helped it grow, but only God made it come alive. The two men are fellow workers with one aim, and the church is God's field and God's building, not theirs.

Building on the foundation (vv. 10-15)

Paul laid the only foundation there is, Jesus himself, and warns those who build after him to use lasting materials, which many take to mean sound teaching. On the final Day of judgment, pictured as fire, solid work earns a reward, while flimsy work burns up and the builder is still saved, but only as someone escaping through flames.

You are God's temple (vv. 16-17)

The "you" here is plural: the church together is God's temple, the place where God lives, in a city full of temples to other gods. Paul warns bluntly that God will destroy anyone who destroys it, most likely aiming at those tearing the church apart.

Stop boasting about leaders (vv. 18-23)

Quoting Job and the Psalms, Paul says clever human wisdom looks foolish to God, so they should stop bragging about human leaders. They do not belong to Paul, Apollos or Cephas (Peter); everything belongs to them, because they belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Key verse: 1 Corinthians 3:6

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on the fire of verses 13 to 15: many Protestants see it as a testing of each person's work at the final judgment, while Catholic tradition has drawn on this passage in teaching about purgatory, a cleansing after death.

Something to think about

When people line up behind a favorite leader or voice, what do you think they gain, and what might they lose?