1 Corinthians 3

Christians should work together as God's servants

1 My Christian friends, I could not teach you as I would teach people who have God's Spirit with them. Instead, I had to teach you as people who belong to this world. You were like little children who could not understand the message about Christ very well. 2 I had to teach you things that were easy to understand, like milk that a mother feeds to her baby. You were not yet ready to receive proper food. And you are still not ready to receive God's complete message! 3 You still do what your human nature wants to do. You are jealous of each other, and you argue with each other. Yes! This shows that you do what your human nature wants to do. You live like people who do not know God. 4 Some of you say, ‘Paul is my leader.’ And other people say, ‘Apollos is my leader.’ When you speak like that, you are talking like people who belong to this world.

5 Is Apollos important? Is Paul important? No! We are God's servants. We told you God's good news and you believed it. Each of us is doing the job which the Lord has given to us. 6 When I told you God's good news, I was like someone who planted seeds. Then Apollos was like someone who gave water to the young plants. But it was God who caused everything to grow. 7 The person who plants the seeds is not important. The person who gives water to the plants is not important. The important person is God, because he causes everything to grow. 8 The person who plants and the person who gives water both have the same purpose. God will pay each person what is right for their work. 9 Apollos and I work together as God's servants. You are like God's field that we work in. You are also like a building that belongs to God.

Jesus Christ is the only foundation for true teaching

10 I am like a wise builder. God has given me that job. He has helped me to do it well. I was the person who built the foundation. Now other people are building on that foundation. But each person must be careful how he builds. 11 God has already put Jesus Christ as the only foundation of this building. So nobody can put any other foundation there.

12 People may build on this foundation with gold, silver or valuable stones. Or they may build on it with wood, dry grass or straw. 13 One day, God will show clearly how good each builder's work is. God will put each person's work into a fire on that great day. The fire will show whether their work is good or bad. 14 If the fire does not destroy the work, then that builder will receive good things from God. 15 But if the fire destroys a builder's work, that person will lose everything. The person himself will be safe. But he will be like someone who has run through the fire to a safe place.

16 You surely know that you are like God's own house, the temple. As God's people, God's Spirit lives in you. 17 If anyone destroys God's house, then God will destroy that person. God's temple is a holy house, and you are like that house.

18 Be careful! Do not think that you are better than you really are. Maybe you think that you are wise, like people today want to be wise. But if you want to become truly wise, be ready for other people to think that you are a fool. 19 People in this world think that some people are wise. But God thinks that those wise people are fools. It says in the Bible:

‘God causes the clever thoughts of wise people to confuse them.’

20 In another place, the Bible says:

‘The Lord God knows that the thoughts of wise people are useless.’

21 Because of that, you should not boast about any human leader. All leaders are there to serve you, as God's people. 22 Do not be proud of Paul, Apollos or Peter. We all belong to you. All of this world, as well as life and death belong to you. The things of today and the things of the future belong to you. Everything belongs to you! 23 You belong to Christ! Christ belongs to God!