New Testament · Letter

1 Corinthians 3

Spiritual Infants

You're still drinking milk when you should be eating solid food. The Corinthians are divided over leaders, but the church belongs to God alone.

King James Version BSB 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.

Understand This

1 Corinthians 3, explained

What 1 Corinthians 3 is saying

Paul diagnoses the Corinthians as sarkinoi (fleshly), still spiritual infants requiring milk rather than solid food, as evidenced by their jealousy and factionalism. He redefines apostolic ministry through agricultural and architectural metaphors—Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gives the growth. The chapter warns that each builder's work will be tested by fire on the eschatological day.

The background behind it

The planting-watering metaphor draws on familiar agricultural imagery in both Jewish Scripture and Greco-Roman philosophy. The temple imagery reflects both the Jerusalem temple tradition and the Roman architectural context of Corinth's impressive public buildings.

Themes running underneath

Ministerial accountability before God relativizes human leadership claims. The temple metaphor—'you are God's temple'—is corporate, not individual, emphasizing the community's sacred identity. The fire-testing motif introduces eschatological judgment of ministry quality.

Why it still matters

Leaders and communities alike must reckon with the reality that all ministry will face divine evaluation. The question is not who gets credit but whether the work endures.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.