1 Corinthians 3

The Explanation

Paul is writing a letter to a church in the city of Corinth, a busy port town full of ships, traders and noise. He had started that church himself. And now he hears that things are going wrong there. Not with money or with the building. With the people.

They are arguing. Some Christians say: "I follow Paul." Others say: "I follow Apollos." Apollos was another teacher, someone who could speak really well. So the church split into camps, like teams on a schoolyard, each one sure their side was the best.

Paul begins his letter almost sharply. He says he cannot speak to them as grown-ups in faith, but as "babies in Christ." He fed them milk, he says, not solid food, because they were not ready for it. And what stings: they still are not ready. How can he tell? By the jealousy and the quarrelling. People who fight over who has the best teacher are still thinking like everyone else in the world thinks.

Then Paul asks a question that turns everything around. "Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul?" His answer: servants. That is all. He uses a picture from farming. Paul planted the seed. Apollos gave it water. But neither of them can make one single thing grow. "God gave the increase." A farmer can work all day, but he cannot pull a plant out of the ground with his hands. Growth is God's work.

Then Paul switches to a second picture: a building. He laid the foundation, and that foundation is Jesus Christ. Nobody can lay another one. Other people build further on it, and they must be careful what they use. Some build with gold and silver and precious stones. Others with wood, hay and dry straw. One day, Paul says, fire will test what everyone has built. Straw burns away in seconds. Gold does not.

And then comes the sentence that must have made the Corinthians go quiet: "Don't you know that you are a temple of God, and that God's Spirit lives in you?" The temple was the holiest building people knew. Paul says: that is what you are. Together. And when you tear each other apart with your quarrelling, you are damaging something holy.

He finishes with a strange twist. Whoever thinks he is wise should become a fool, in order to become truly wise. Because the cleverness this world is so proud of means nothing to God. So stop boasting about people. Everything already belongs to you: Paul, Apollos, life, death, the future. All of it. "And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's."

What Does This Mean?

Paul is not against having favourites. It is fine to think one teacher explains things better than another. What is not fine is using that to build walls between people who belong to the same Lord.

Here is the hard part of this chapter: Paul measures how grown-up they are in faith not by how much they know, but by how they treat each other. You could know the whole Bible and still be a baby, if you cannot stop quarrelling. That is uncomfortable, because knowing things is much easier than getting along.

And there is something honest in verse 15 that is easy to miss. Someone whose work burns up is still saved. He loses something, but he is not lost. God is strict about what we build, and at the same time He does not let go of the builder. Those two things stand right next to each other in the text, and Paul does not explain how they fit. I find that a mystery too.

The Common Thread

Everything in this chapter rests on one line: "no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ."

A foundation is the part of a house nobody sees. It is under the ground. But if it is wrong, nothing above it stands. God has already laid that foundation. Jesus came, died and rose, and on that everything else is built. Paul cannot lay it, Apollos cannot lay it, you cannot lay it. It is a gift, already there before you started.

That also means the church is not Paul's project or anyone's club. It is God's farm, God's building. Which is why the last words are: you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

For You

You have probably seen it: a group that splits in two, and suddenly you must choose a side. Sometimes it happens over something small, who is best at football, whose group chat you are in.

Paul would ask you one question about that. Not "who is right?" but "what are you building?" Words that make someone feel small burn like straw. Choosing to sit next to the one left out is gold.

And when you learn something about God, or you are good at something in church, remember the farmer. You can plant, you can water. The growing is God's.

Talk About It

Paul says the Corinthians were still "babies in Christ" because they kept quarrelling. What do you think shows that someone is growing up in faith?

If your friend group is God's building, what would you be building with this week: gold, or straw? Can you name something concrete?

Praying Together

Lord Jesus, thank You that You are the foundation and that I did not have to lay it myself. Help me not to tear down with my words but to build. Make me wise in Your way, even when that looks foolish to others. Amen.