Bible Glide

1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

1 Corinthians 3 addresses immaturity, rivalry, and pride in the church. Paul redirects attention from human leaders to God, who gives growth. He also warns believers to build carefully on Jesus Christ and to remember that God dwells among his people.

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What happens in 1 Corinthians 3?

Paul begins by confronting the Corinthians for acting like spiritual infants, marked by jealousy and division over favorite leaders. He explains that both he and Apollos are only servants, with God alone giving growth. He then compares the church to a building, with Jesus Christ as the only true foundation. What each person builds will one day be tested for quality. Paul closes by reminding the church that they are God's temple, that worldly wisdom is empty before God, and that all things belong to those who belong to Christ.

This chapter continues Paul's correction of the Corinthians after his teaching on God's wisdom in chapter 2. He moves from the message itself to the way the church has handled its leaders and its maturity. The chapter prepares for later sections where Paul addresses ministry, unity, and life together in the church.

Themes to notice

  • Church unityBelievers should not divide over human leaders, because servants have different roles but one Lord.
  • Christ the foundationEverything in the church must be built on Jesus Christ, since no other foundation can stand.
  • God's templeThe church belongs to God, carries his Spirit, and must be treated as holy.

Questions for 1 Corinthians 3

  • What signs of immaturity does Paul connect with jealousy and division in the church?
  • How does the picture of building on Christ shape the way believers think about their work?
  • What does it mean for the church to be God's temple and to belong to Christ?

Read the full text of 1 Corinthians 3 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

1 Corinthians 3

God’s Fellow Workers

1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ.2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready,3for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?4For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?

5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.6I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.8He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Christ Our Foundation

10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds.11For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,13his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.14If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward.15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.

God’s Temple and God’s Wisdom

16Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”20And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”21Therefore, stop boasting in 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 of them belong to you,23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

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