1 Corinthians 3
v.1
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.
v.2
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
v.3
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
v.4
For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?
v.6-7
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants or he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
v.12-13
If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.
Very easy to build up a church quickly. Very easy to make a great excitement in religion, and become very famous as a soul-winner. Very easy. But time tries everything. If there were no other fire than the mere fire of time, it would suffice to test a man’s work. And when a church crumbles away almost as soon as it is got together, when a church declines from the doctrines which it professed to hold, when the teaching of the eminent teacher is proved, after all, to have been fallacious and to have been erroneous in practical results, then what he has built comes to nothing!
v.16
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
v.17
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
More pointedly, Paul states that anyone who actually destroys or tends to destroy God’s temple will be destroyed by God (cf. Lev 15:31). The reason is clear: God’s temple is “sacred” (GK 41), i.e., set apart to holiness (Isa 28:16; Rev 3:12). In his justice and holiness, God cannot allow any part of his holy work to be be damaged without bringing retribution. Here is a fitting warning to every Christian minister and worker.
v.18
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.
Paul now returns to the subject of “wisdom” (GK 5055) and warns the believers not to be deceived into thinking that the wisdom of this human age is sufficient for obtaining salvation and for building up the church of God. Rather, if any Christians think themselves to be wise by this world’s standards, they must renounce dependance on that wisdom in order to really receive God’s wisdom (v.18).
v.21-22
So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours,
If a man has everything, he has no need to glory in some one little thing. If a man has only one gold ring, you will see him wearing it on his finger every day, and putting his hand in such a position that everybody may see it, but he who has far more, need not be particular about just one ring being seen. Does the Queen care that other people shall know what plate and jewels she has at Windsor? Everybody knows that she is rich, that she has an abundance, and therefore it is not necessary that she should display a portion of it. Whenever you find a person glorying in some little thing, you may be sure he is acting contrary to what he should be.
Do not be boasting then, about one thing when all things are yours. The little child, when it has a present, shows it to every person who comes into the house, but when the child becomes a man, he shows not everything that he has, yet he has more possessions than he had before. Thus the worldling may glory in his riches, and boast of his strength, but Christians, you are too far advanced for this, you are too wise, “for all things are yours,” and surely you will not attach undue importance to one.
A key to humility and dying to areas where Pride puffs up is remembering that there is no need to assert we are better/superior since all things are ours in Christ Jesus.
jj 9/20/23
The conclusion is that no Christian should be “boasting” (GK 3016) or glorying in human wisdom and attainments—not even those of Paul or Apollos. Why not? Because all things—yes, all the blessings of God in the whole universe—belong to the redeemed church. So the ministry of Paul, Apollos, Cephas (Peter), and any other Christian worker belongs to God’s people. Also the world itself, the process of living an dying, the present and the future—all must be viewed in relationship to God’s purposes and plans for his redeemed people. So Paul can say, “All things are yours.” Everything is for the believers’ benefit and belongs to them.
So then draws out the implications for the Corinthians of his discussion up to this point: one should not boast about men. All things belong to them, if Christ has enriched them in every way (cf. 1:4-7). The Christian community does not belong to individual teachers, but the teachers belong to the community. They were each saying, ‘I belong to…’, but Paul says, ‘Paul and Apollos and Peter all belong to you.’ Everything in life belongs to them, including the present and future.