Bible Study - 1 Corinthians Chapter 3
Bible Study - 1 Corinthians Chapter 3
| 1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. |
In chapter 3 Paul started to get into the practical application of what he wrote about in Chapter 2. This verse specifically refers back to 2:14-15. Brethren in Greek is in the vocative case ending, and you is in the second person plural. This means Paul was addressing the whole church, not just a problem group. That he could not speak to them as spiritual men does not mean they hadn't received the Holy Spirit. Paul was saying they were behaving as baby-Christians operating out of their flesh rather than mature Christians operating out of the Spirit and truth. While there were some who were spiritual and mature Christians, such as the leaders set up by Paul when he founded this church, as a whole they were staying babies. This is not how things are supposed to be. Baby-Christians should grow up by learning from and emulating the mature Christians, becoming mature themselves. Instead, the babies were trying to be the parents, and the parents were not disciplining the immature. The results were predictably bad. While not all were guilty of doing the bad behavior, all were guilty of tolerating sin in the church. |
| 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, |
One of the criticisms that was leveled at Paul was that he didn't "teach the mysteries" but only taught the basics. Mysteries were an obsession of the Greeks of this time, caring more about secret knowledge than true knowledge. Here Paul was saying the reason for sticking to the basics was because of them, not him. Next he gave evidence that they can't even get that right and still need to master the basics. |
| 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? |
In chapter 1 Paul mentioned their quarreling. Here he added jealousy as in the rivalry kind of quarreling, specifically factionalism. He stated that their behavior is clear evidence they were walking in the flesh, not the spirit. They had the Spirit, but were behaving like people who don't. |
| 4 For when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not mere men? |
Here Paul spelled out that this factionalism was evidence of walking as mere men rather than men who have the Spirit in them. There were a lot more cult of personality factions in the Corinthian church than these two examples. Some have misused this passage as permission to behave carnally, as these people had the Spirit but were still living in sin. Paul was being ironic, not permissive. Clearly Paul was saying that is an indictment against them, not an example to live by. |
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In verses 5-17 Paul corrected a false view of the church and church ministry. Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 1:17-31 that the Cross and God's wisdom is available to all who have the Spirit, and therefore no one should boast in themselves or any human leader. And since they all had the Spirit, they ought to know better. | |
| 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. | Leaders in the church are servants to the church and to Christ. Jesus is the head of the church, and all others serve Him. Leadership and teaching are opportunities to serve, not kingships. |
| 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. | Paul used a farming metaphor to give proper perspective of church leaders. Paul founded the church, (over a period of a couple years,) and Apollo continued after Paul left. God made the church grow. And it is to God we belong, not to His servants. |
| 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. |
The servants are not above each other, but are one and fellow workers under God. And they will be rewarded for their work according to the work they did. We all are God's. Therefore, we should never say we are Paul's, or anyone else's. No cult of personality is allowed. Servant ministry is a common thread in all of Paul's letters, as well as Christ's example. Then Paul shifted analogies. We are God's building. |
| 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. |
This building metaphor is about the people who make up a church, not a structure. The church in the New Testament always refers to the people rather than a physical structure. God is the owner of the building. This building was built by the grace of God. The grace, charis in Greek, given to Paul could also refer to the general grace God gives to all who turn to Him. But in this instance Paul was referring to the specific gift of his apostolic ministry. While this was his duty and charge, he properly viewed it as a gift. Paul was the human who laid the foundation, working as God's servant. Another was building on the foundation he laid. Apollos was the previously mentioned example, but he was not the only one who continued working there, building on Paul's foundation. Then Paul gave a warning that all who build on that foundation must take care in how they work. This is not singular about Apollos, but a warning to the whole church. |
| 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. | The foundation is the gospel. Paul taught theology and doctrine, and everything was based on Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us. The Greeks would seek "wisdom" regardless of whether it was really wisdom, let alone whether it was based on the gospel or not. They would embrace sophistry to the destruction of the church itself. |
| 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. |
This analogy is not about the cost of the items, but their compatibility with the Gospel. (These were also the materials in the Old Testament for building the temple.) In this analogy the work people do in the church will be put to the test by fire. Work that is frivolous and not built on the Gospel foundation will be consumed by the fire. Fire is a common analogy for judgement or testing. This same analogy is used in 1 Peter 1:7 for the testing of faith. Fire is also used as an analogy for purifying, but that is not the meaning here. At the end of the verse the Greek word hopoion is translated as "the quality". This translation is accurate if we are sticking to the materials metaphor. It is not referring to the quality of our work as in how hard or long we worked, but of the type of work done. It means what sort of work was being done is what is important. One working based in scripture is doing lasting work, regardless of how well he did. One who is doing work on man's reasoning is doing a work of fluff and nonsense, regardless of how well he worked on it. A sculpture of gold and jewels will last. While a sculpture of cards will collapse at the first breeze. And it doesn't matter if the person building with cards worked harder, longer, or with greater skill. It will still be blown away. When I was a child, I was enrolled in a Christian school from its beginning and through it's first four years. There were three rules. Do what is helpful, necessary, or kind. All actions were evaluated individually against that standard. It was built firmly on a gospel foundation. Ten years after that they had degenerated into pharisaic rules replacing the teaching of scripture, and added to that the legalism of pagan religions with rules about hair length, clothing, dancing, and all sorts of silly nitpicking details. They ignored what scripture says and forgot about the gospel foundation. It appeared that they were trying to please people rather than God. Clearly we still face the problems that were derailing the Corinthians and Galatians. |
| 14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. |
Everyone's work will be revealed as either gospel truth or man's wisdom. Those that built their work on the gospel foundation will be rewarded. Those that went down fruitless rabbit holes will still be saved, but it will be like a man who barely escaped his home being burned to the ground. Again, the work is what is burned. The person is not purified in this personally. It is their work that is judged. And these warnings are not about individual Christians in their personal walk, although Paul does a lot of that in his letters. These warnings are more about what we do to build the kingdom and the church. This goes especially for pastors, teachers, small group leaders, and those teaching a Bible study. But it also goes for all Christians. Simply put, our work needs to be built on the gospel message. People who base it on people's feelings, philosophy, pop psychology, management fads, or whatever by putting those things ahead of the gospel are putting their faith in human frailty. This test is not necessarily the judgement of the end times. When trouble comes, man's work crumbles. The gospel will withstand it. The point of this has been to correct the focus of the Corinthians away from church leaders and to Christ. |
| 16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? |
In using the rhetorical, "Do you not know" Paul was harshly telling them that this was something they should have already known, and that they didn't was to their shame. He used this ten times in this letter. Clearly Paul was upset that they weren't acting like they knew these basic truths. Romans 6:16 was the only other time he used this. This was referring to the whole church, not individual believers. The you of "in you" is in the plural dative case. (In Greek classes we would translate a plural you as y'all to humorously show proper translation.) Paul used a temple as imagery they would understand. The Corinthians were surrounded by pagan temples. Many of them used to go to these temples before they were saved. Prior to Jesus, God's presence for the people was primarily in the temple of God. Now the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and we are the temple of God. The presence of the Spirit is what sets Christians apart from pagans and fakers. That is why fakers pretend to have the Spirit. But we can test them against scripture and know they are frauds. |
| 17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. |
This warning is not hyperbole. It is a real warning. The church is made up of the people, not a physical structure. So we as individuals are the temple of God, and we corporately are the church which is also the temple of God. Wherever we gather in His name, He is present. And this is what Paul is warning about destroying. The destruction and deception of individuals is the destruction of the church. Holy is not the ritual holiness of the law, but holy in an ethical sense of the gospel. By basing their lives and teaching on the gospel, they build the church and live holy. But their factionalism was a symptom of basing their lives on the words of man rather than the gospel. This un-holy behavior destroys the church, literally pulling it apart. God will not allow this. To be clear, it is more often than not the people in leadership, even the head of a local church, that perpetrates such factionalism. The method is the same, putting one's own thoughts ahead of scripture and Christ. In doing so they set themselves against God Himself. Those who water down the gospel, taking out things to make it more palatable to non-Christians will face a harsh judgment. Instead of making disciples of Jesus they are lying to people that they are okay the way they are, which is to leave them on the road to destruction. In essence, they are working against the gospel by replacing it with a fake gospel of the "Easy Button". Prosperity preachers are a prime example of this. Those who add all sorts of nonsense to the gospel, especially pagan things God has said are despicable to Him, will face the same harsh judgement. They are also replacing the gospel with a fake that is based on emotional trips and actually teaches their followers to lie and fake that things happen when they do not. Hyper-charismatics are a prime example of this. |
| 18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. |
Paul said not to deceive ourselves because we deceive ourselves. And he used the language of problem children against the Corinthians. Everyone thinks they are wise. We all do. That is the problem here. The "wisdom" of the age is not real wisdom, but foolishness. This is why the gospel message is foolish to those who are "wise" in the world's knowledge. Being accomplished in man's knowledge makes a person arrogant and unable to comprehend, let alone accept the truth of God. Thus Paul says we must become foolish so that we may become wise. When we realize the reality that we know very, very little compared to God, we can really accept what God has shared with us. We have to set aside our pride in our worldly wisdom to accept God's wisdom which endures and is never refuted. This is not to say that there isn't secular wisdom out there. It's just that it is nothing to be proud of as it is nothing compared to the wisdom of God. Worse, lies and foolishness are celebrated as wisdom. We are seeing this today as people argue foolishness even more than the sophists of the first century. Reality itself is attacked and ridiculed. And even though people can plainly see the truth with their own eyes, they accept the ridiculous arguments against reality because they sound good or they match their political or philosophical point of view. This is people who hold their own opinions in higher regard than what they can see with their own senses. So it is no wonder they reject God who is unseen. On a side note, one of the main weapons of cults is to redefine terms to fool people, especially Christians who aren't in scripture on a regular basis. "Oh yeah, we believe in [fill in the blank] too." But they mean something completely different by that term. They have redefined it to fit into their false beliefs. Thus, they can get people to swallow their man's "wisdom" as if it was God's. This is also used by those who seek to destroy the Christian church from within. Ask them to define their terms and they must either lie or expose themselves as the anti-Christians they are. This is illustrated by asking an activist to define a women. The word-salad of nonsense and circular arguments exposes the inane absurdity of their stance. |
| 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, "He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness"; 20 and again, "The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless." |
Paul is flipping the point of view from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. There he took the perspective of the world where the Gospel is foolishness to them. Now he is flipping the perspective to God's view. In verse 19 Paul quotes from Job 5:13. And in verse 20 he quotes from Psalm 94:11. We do not know everything. In fact, we know next to nothing. God does know everything. All the brightest minds in the world were convinced the atom was the smallest thing there was. Then they found out atoms were made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Then they found even smaller sub-atomic particles. And they keep finding new ones. The math of gravitational relationships in the universe shows there must more matter than we can observe. But we don't know what it is, and can't even prove that it exists directly. Not to mention there are other explanations for the math. We should not think so highly of humanity's knowledge. |
| 21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, |
In conclusion, Paul begins with a charge, do not boast in men. Don't put your faith in men who are imperfect. Don't say "I belong to Paul", "I belong to Apollos", or "I belong to my church or pastor". Men are fallible and flawed. We belong to Christ, who is perfect. He is the one Christians boast in. Next Paul directly counters the divisive identity statements of the Corinthians. All things belong to us as Christians. This list includes Apollos, Cephas, Paul and anyone. As Paul later writes in Ephesians 1:10, all things in heaven and earth are under Christ. All things belong to us as because we belong to Christ. Therefore, since all things belong to us, we do not belong to any person other than Christ. The tyranny of life in our present time, as well as death, are turned into our blessing and birthright. We are subordinate to nothing and no one other than Christ. |
| 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. | And as Christ belongs to God the Father, so do we belong to the Father. (This is not ontological subordination. Jesus the Christ is God. This is a functional subordination. Christ is our way back to the Father.) With Christ's death and resurrection, we can be sure that all things, even life and death, are under Christ and therefore we are not under them, but they belong to us. |
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation.