1 Corinthianschapter 3
23 verses · BSB1 Corinthians book hub →
Speaks with:1 Corinthians 3×52 Corinthians 6×4Hebrews 5×21 Peter 2×22 Timothy 2×21 Corinthians 6×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Ye are yet carnal. Divisions prove it. Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase. The foundation is Jesus Christ; every man's work shall be tried by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit dwelleth in you? Let no man glory in men. All things are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's. JFB observes the reframing. Instead of Christians belonging to teachers, teachers and all things belong to Christians in Christ.
Context
Epistle · Paul — 1 Corinthians overview
- A. 1–4 Still on Milk: Babies Squabbling Over Teachers
- B. 5–9 One Plants, One Waters, God Gives the Growth
- C. 10–17 Gold or Straw: What the Fire Will Do to Your Work
- D. 18–23 Stop Boasting in Men — Everything Already Belongs to You
The outline
A.Still on Milk: Babies Squabbling Over Teachersvv. 1 to 4
Read vv. 1 to 4 →B.One Plants, One Waters, God Gives the Growthvv. 5 to 9
Read vv. 5 to 9 →C.Gold or Straw: What the Fire Will Do to Your Workvv. 10 to 17
Read vv. 10 to 17 →D.Stop Boasting in Men — Everything Already Belongs to Youvv. 18 to 23
Read vv. 18 to 23 →
The world behind this chapter
1 Corinthians 3The history
Corinth was a construction city. It had been rebuilt from ruins within living memory, and its public works, temples, and shops were the visible proof of Roman investment. Everyone there knew the difference between laying a foundation and putting up a shoddy building on top of it.
Building materials made the metaphor obvious. Gold, silver, and costly stone were for public monuments meant to last; wood, hay, and straw were what poorer construction used, and fire went through them. City fires were a constant hazard, and the test Paul describes is the one every builder feared.
The word for the reward of a workman is the ordinary term for a day labourer's pay. Paul and Apollos are fellow workers on the same site, hired by the same owner, and neither of them owns it.
When he says "you are God's temple," the plural matters — he means the congregation as a whole, in a city full of actual temples. Destroying a temple was sacrilege in anyone's religion, which gives the warning its edge.
What it meant to them
The Corinthians heard their factions reclassified. Saying "I am of Paul" or "I am of Apollos" was not sophistication but immaturity — milk, not solid food — and a sign they were behaving like everyone else in town.
The remedy was ownership. All things are yours, Paul says, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. The leaders belonged to the church, not the church to the leaders.
Sources cited
- Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth
- F. F. Bruce, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 1 Corinthians 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.