Paul again reminds the Corinthian holy-people (sanctified-people, Christians, saints, children of the only true God) how he had behaved himself when he was with them previously.
I Corinthians 3:1-4:
3:1And I, brothers, was not caused-to-be-able to utter-forth to you as to spiritual-people but as to fleshy-people, as to infants in Christ, .2I gave you milk to-drink, not food, for you used-to not-yet be-able, but neither are you now able .3for you are yet fleshly, for where (there are) among you jealousy and strife and dissensions aren't you fleshy and walk according to man? - (yes) - .4for whenever someone may say, "I indeed am of Paul" and a different-person "I of Apollos," you are as-men, aren't you? - (yes.)
"Brothers" – Paul again addresses all these Corinthian holy-people as his brothers thus reminding them that they, including Paul himself, are all sons of God their Father. They had received the same holy spirit-life within each one of them.
When I was with you previously, brothers, emphatically I was not caused-to-be-able to utter-forth to you as to spiritual-people (I was not given the ability, the able-power, capability, it was not possible for me to speak to you as I would usually speak to spiritual people)…. The word “spiritual-people” refers people who have received the gift of holy spirit, holy-people having the spirit of Christ within us, and therefore we have the ability to be spiritually-minded – receiving, believing and obeying the information which belongs-to, is determined-by, influenced-by and proceeding-from our holy spirit-life, and so we can walk/behave accordingly (refer to I Corinthians 2:15 and 16).
Paul's previous visit to them is recorded in the Book of Acts chapter 18 when he first taught them about God and the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result many people had believed what God has given to be believed regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9), and therefore they became holy-people/Christians by receiving holy spirit.
And I, brothers, was not caused-to-be-able to utter-forth to you as to spiritual-people, but on the contrary, as to fleshy-people…. Contrary to being able to utter-forth to them at that time as he would usually speak to holy spiritual-people, he had to speak to them as though he were speaking to fleshy-people (people who are made of flesh, consist of flesh, pertain to flesh, which is the essence of the physical body with its soul/breath life - this excludes holy spirit-life). Paul uses the term "fleshy" and not "fleshly" to emphasize the flesh being completely opposite to holy spirit-life in essence.
Paul was only able to utter-forth to these holy-people as to fleshy-people – as to infants in Christ. He spoke to them as though they were minors, under-age or immature, as babies having received holy spirit-life but still without the power of adult/mature speech, and so being childish because of not knowing or understanding and therefore not speaking or doing God's Word which pertains to Christ. They had not yet learned how to walk in the fullness of all that God had given to them by means of their Lord Jesus Christ which was within their new holy spirit-life – the spirit of Christ in them.
Paul continues to explain: I gave you milk to-drink, not food, for you used-to not-yet be-able…. As a result of being only able to speak to them at that time as if they were infants in Christ, Paul gave them milk to drink, not solid-food, for they were not yet able to eat and digest the solid-food of God's Word, only the milk. Paul had to make it very simple and easy to understand for them to be able to eat and digest it, he had to make the information regarding God and the Lord Jesus Christ into very-digestible milk for them – he didn't leave anything out for then they would be missing essential "vitamins and nutrients" needed for healthy growth into maturity.
But contrary to growing and maturing as infants normally do with the passing of time, Paul writes: but neither are you now able (you don't yet have the able-power or capability of digesting solid-food) – why not? – for you are yet fleshly (in truth you are still behaving and viewing things from the fleshly point of view instead of communicating with your holy spirit-life, which God gave you when you first believed the good-message)…. "Fleshly" means belonging-to, proceeding-from, relating-to, characterized-by flesh, the appetites of the flesh. They were not continuing to believe and obey the Word of God which they had been taught so that they would continue to learn and mature in walking and viewing things from the holy spiritual point of view during their everyday living of life.
Paul explains that their continuing to walk and treat one-another in a fleshy manner is clearly manifested: for where there are among you…
Again, Paul uses the word "fleshy" instead of "fleshly" emphasizing the very degraded state of their behavior and that they had not raised themselves up to the standard of the words of God which they had been taught. The unwritten answer to this question must be "yes" from the Greek construction.
In truth, whenever somebody would say that he belonged to the teachings which Paul taught, and somebody else within the church in Corinth would say at the same time that he preferred and therefore followed the teachings of Apollos because he liked the way he spoke – then you are presently and actively just-as men (collectively, for all men have soul-life and a physical fleshy body), as mankind without holy spirit-life, aren't you? And again, the answer to this question must be "yes" from the Greek construction. Some of the Corinthian holy-people were dividing themselves up into cliques, little sects to distinguish themselves from other holy-people.
[Reference: Acts 18:1-19:1; I Corinthians 1:11, 12, and 2:14; Ephesians 4:14-16; Colossians 1:27, and 3:4; Hebrews 5:12-14; I Peter 2:2.]
Verses 5-7:
.5Therefore who is Apollos? And who is Paul? Ministers, by means of whom you believed, even to each-person as the Lord gave: .6I planted, Apollos gave-to-drink, but God used-to cause-increase, .7so-that neither the (person) planting is something nor the (person) giving-to-drink, but the (One) causing-increase – God,
Following-on logically, who/what is Apollos from God's point of view? And who/what is Paul from God's point of view? [Many Greek texts have the word "what" instead of "who" twice in verse 5.] We are both ministers (people who serve to benefit others, not 'being-subject' to them but doing work to bring them profit) by means of whom (through whom, both of us together) you Corinthian holy-people previously believed what God has given to be believed which is what God says regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ – the good-message.
Paul carried-out his-own assigned individual ministry, so did Apollos, just as the Lord Jesus Christ had given each-one his-own individual duty-of-service which was that:
Neither Paul nor Apollos could give them God's gift of holy spirit and work within each one of the Corinthians who received the seed of the good-message and drank the water of the good-message by the freedom of their own wills. God's gift of holy spirit and His in-working within each-person is the increase, the growth which the people required in order to gain the full benefit or profit from all that Paul and Apollos said and did while they were with them. Apollos and Paul did not have exactly the same way of ministering, but it was together, by means of both of them, that these Corinthians initially believed what God has said and thereby they became holy-people/Christians by the grace of God giving them holy spirit. Once they had received holy spirit then God and the Lord Jesus Christ could reveal information via that holy spirit-life within them, and these new holy-people could, by the freedom of their own wills, continue to learn regarding God's Word and put it on in their physical minds manifesting and walking in accordance with their holy spirit (refer to I Corinthians 12, Philippians 2:13, Colossians 1:27).
Paul continues: “so-that neither the (person) planting is something nor the (person) giving-to-drink, but the (One) causing-increase – God.” The result and consequence is that:
[Reference: Acts 18:1-19:1; Romans 9:16, and 12:3-7; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 2:13.]
Verses 8-11:
.8and the (person) planting and the (person) giving-to-drink are one, but each-person will receive (his) own compensation according to (his) own labor, .9for we are God's workers-together, you are God's tilled-field, God's building, .10according to the grace, the (grace) having been given to me, as a wise chief-craftsman I put (the) foundation, and another-person builds-on (it), but each-person must observe how he builds-on (it), .11for another foundation not-one (person or spirit) is able to put against the (foundation) being laid - who is Jesus Christ.
Even though Paul (who was planting) and Apollos (who was giving-to-drink) served others in different ways according to their individual ministerial assignment, both of them were one - they were not the same person but they were both in harmony with each other because they had the same purpose, the same goal. But, Paul clarifies, each-person (here referring to Paul and Apollos individually) will receive, take to himself, his own compensation (hire, wages) in accordance with the effort that he wearisomely exerted towards that same purpose/goal. It is similar in most jobs/work/employment today whereby a person is usually paid the corresponding amount of money for the job (work or employment position) which he/she is in and the number of hours worked.
In truth, Paul and Apollos were workers-together, co-workers or joint-workers, with God! Their purpose/goal was the same as God's purpose/goal and they expended energy in conjunction with Him. They were in constant communication with God in order to be able to effectively work together. God Who is Holy Spirit continued to work-within both Paul and Apollos via their holy spirit-life, and then they both walked in accordance with their holy spirit, saying and doing what they were instructed to say and do, both of them within the parameters of their own ministry!
What was the result of Paul and Apollos' laboring as they expended energy in conjunction with God in Corinth even though they were there at different times? Paul uses two figures of speech to help understand spiritual matters – you Corinthian holy-people are:
[Interestingly, there is a Greek word, oikos, from which many other Greek words come. These words, which all come from the same root-word, may be translated into English as: house, to build a house, household, householders, to build, building, to dwell, dwelling, to inhabit, habitation, to edify, edification, plus many other words in the English language, but we ought to understand that when reading any one of these words they all relate to each other even though in English it is difficult to consistently use the same basic word in every rendering of it to communicate the meaning. Also, it is used figuratively referring to the action or process of building upwards and establishing.]
Again, verses 10 and 11:
.10according to the grace, the (grace) having been given to me, as a wise chief-craftsman I put (the) foundation, and another-person builds-on (it), but each-person must observe how he builds-on (it), .11for another foundation not-one (person or spirit) is able to put against the (foundation) being laid - who is Jesus Christ.
Paul continues: it is in accordance with the grace (the bestowed unmerited favor) which has been given to me, that as a wise first-placed skilled-worker (a person who is skillful or expert in the application of personal-knowledge regarding his craftsmanship or trade, a master-artificer or architect) I put the foundation of/to/for this building. A foundation is that-which is put (placed, laid, set) being fundamental, like the foundation of a building whereby the rest of the building stands on top of it and is supported by it. Paul did not make the foundation himself, nor was he the foundation itself - he only put it in place among the Corinthians when he had previously been among them. It was the grace of God which enabled Paul to carry-out the ministry that God and the Lord Jesus Christ asked him to carry-out as a wise chief-craftsman; it was not by Paul’s own intellectual ability or by his physical strength or anything else from the realm of flesh.
Following upon Paul's putting the foundation among the Corinthians and those who believed the good-message thereby becoming God's building, it was and is-today available for another holy-person to build/edify on top of this foundation - but each person must observe how he builds upon it. Every holy-person who presently and actively builds upon this foundation must mentally contemplate how he is building on it (look-at what he is doing even though nothing may be physically seen with his fleshy-eyes). Why? In truth, not one person or spirit, nothing, has the able-power or capability to put/place another foundation against, beside or beyond the foundation which is presently being laid (lying, set in position) – this foundation is Jesus Christ!
Another foundation is not capable of being placed alongside the foundation Paul is laying because he is working together with God, and that foundation is God's son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the foundation needed in order for God to give the increase spiritually! There is no other foundation no matter how much a holy-person might want to pour cement or rock-stones next to this foundation in order to make a "larger" building, or to "fix" something or to "make it better" which would be a thorough disrespect and lack of listening to and believing what God or the Lord Jesus Christ say. Plus, a person cannot re-do this foundation by trying to tear it up and re-pour a different kind and perhaps in a different position or at another angle! If the foundation being built upon is not Jesus Christ then that which is being built is not God's building!
The foundation of God's building is Jesus Christ.
[Reference: Acts 4:10-12, and 17:29-31; Romans 15: 15-21; II Corinthians 5:10, and 6:1; Galatians 5:22 and 23; Ephesians 2:18-22.]
.12But since someone builds on the foundation gold and silver, honorable stones, wood, grass, straw - .13the work of each-person will become manifest for the day will make (it) clear because it is revealed in fire and the fire will prove what-kind the work of each-person is: .14if the work of someone will remain which he built-on (the foundation) he will receive a compensation, .15if the work of someone will be burned-down he will be caused-to-receive-loss but he will be saved, and thus as by means of fire.
Even though every one of the holy-people/Christians in Corinth at that time were spiritually God's building which is being built upon the foundation who is Jesus Christ, there definitely were some among them who, during the everyday living of their lives, were figuratively using different kinds of perishable things ranging from the most expensive, rare and sought-after in the flesh category to that-which costs nothing, common and unwanted, as tools and materials to build on top of the foundation of Jesus Christ. Paul writes that since someone (not naming anyone in particular) builds this way…but this thought abruptly ends! Paul could have written quite a lot here, but instead he continues with what was being revealed to him by God and/or the Lord Jesus Christ via his holy spirit-life while he was writing this letter to them. By finishing abruptly, the readers are helped to be disgusted at the thought of building with perishable items.
The work of each-person will become manifest (evident, shown-forth, brought to light), for the day (referring to the day of the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes to put all-things in proper arrangement for God) will make this work clear, plain to see, because the work is at that time revealed (uncovered, as though removing a veil away from it and so exposing what was before hidden) within fire, and that fire of purification will prove the work by testing or examination as to what sort of work it is, either approving it or disapproving it in the following manner:
[Reference: Genesis 4:3-5; Exodus 3:2-6; Leviticus 9:23, 24, and 10:1-3; Luke 12:36-59; Acts 2:1-4; II Corinthians 5:10 and 11; Hebrews 12:28 and 29; I Peter 1:7, 17-19, and 23-25; II Peter 3:7-13; II John 8; and for further information regarding "the day" you may read my studies on I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, chapter 15 of this study on I Corinthians, and the Book of Revelation.]
Verses 16 and 17:
.16You knew2 that you are (the) interior-temple of God, even the spirit of God dwells in you, don't you? – (yes) - .17if someone corrupts the interior-temple of God, God will corrupt this (person or spirit), for the interior-temple of God is holy, the-people-whom you are.
Paul and Apollos had previously taught the Corinthian people God's Word and in this letter Paul has already written that they are God's tillage, His house being built, and that the foundation is Jesus Christ. Now Paul asks them: don't you know that in God's holy and spiritual viewpoint which is the only true and correct one, you, all of you collectively, are spiritually the interior-temple of God (the innermost-part of God's temple, as the most sacred area within the temple in Jerusalem, where the only true God's presence was manifested-forth, called the "Holy of Holies"), and I emphasize that the spirit of, belonging-to and proceeding-from God dwells within you? Yes, you already know this. Every holy-person has received God's gift of holy spirit by means of the Lord Jesus Christ within him/her; it is the essence of God Himself Who is Holy Spirit Life, and this gift which all of God's children have has all the ability, authority, etc., of the resurrected Christ - this holy spirit presently and actively dwells (inhabits, is housed) within all holy-people. Nothing or nobody can change this holy and spiritual truth.
However, as regards the walk, behavior, fellowship or state category which can fluctuate, if some person or spirit presently and actively corrupts (causes to decay, brings into a worse state, mars) the interior-temple of God, there is no doubt about it but that God will actively in the future corrupt this person or spirit! How? In fire. Why? In truth, God's interior-temple is holy (sanctified, set-apart from that-which is common or defiled).
And again Paul teaches with emphasis: the interior-temple of God consists of you yourselves who are God's people - all of the church, all Christians, no matter what location you may live in. God's interior-temple is not a stone or brick building or any other materials which can be burned-down. God's interior-temple is made up of His people who have received the gift of holy spirit, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the foundation. God's people cannot be burned-down by that fire which God by means of the Lord Jesus Christ will initiate to purify and "clean up" the world and all in it at a future time.
[Reference: John 2:13-22; Romans 8:9-14; II Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 2:18-22.]
Verses 18-23:
.18Not-one-person must wholly-deceive himself, if someone considers to be wise among you in this age he must become dull in order that he may become wise .19for the wisdom of this world is dullness with God, for it was written2, "The (One) grasping the wise-people in their every-working," .20and again, "(The) Lord knows the through-calculations of the wise-people that they are futile," .21so-that not-one-person must boast in men, for all-things are yours - .22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or (the) world or life or death or (things) having stood-in2 or (things) being about to (stand-in) - all-things (are) yours, .23and you (are) Christ's, and Christ (is) God's.
God by way of Paul in this letter gives a command: not one individual among you must presently and actively thoroughly-beguile or fully-delude himself. It is a free-will decision on the part of every holy-person to obey what God says – it is not automatic, nor is this something that God is not concerned about!
How could a holy-person wholly-deceive himself? By not doing what God tells him to do. Here is what God tells every holy-person to do so that he will not cause himself to be thoroughly deluded: if somebody from among you supposes that he himself is wise during the present duration of life, then for the purpose and result that this holy-person would be truly wise from God's point of view he must become dull (foolish, absurd and not-acute) in this age's point of view. Why? In truth, the wisdom (the skillful and expert application of personal-knowledge) of, pertaining-to and proceeding-from this world is dullness (foolishness, absurdity and not-acute) when it is in proximity to the only true God. There is nothing wrong with being wise – if it is being wise with God's wisdom; but there is everything wrong with being wise with the wisdom of the world to the exclusion of God and His wisdom.
It has been recorded in God's already-revealed and written Word that there is One Who is presently grasping (seizing or catching in His hand) the wise-people within their every-working (those who are wise in the things of the world, in the bad sense of being prepared and ready to do anything considered to be needed towards and for the purpose of attaining their own personal goals and ambitions, unscrupulous in all their workings, in craftiness which is contrary to God's will). This is a reference to the Book of Job chapter 5.
Job 5:12-14:
He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
And again it is written that the Lord God personally-knows the through-calculations (reckonings through-and-through, thorough reasonings, disputes, logical computations) of the wise-people, that they are empty as to any results, meaningless and useless. This is a reference to Psalm 94.
Psalm 94:7-11:
Yet they [wicked people] say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
Paul continues that the consequence and result of what God has said is that not one person must boast, speak-loudly within/among men because it would not be justifiable. No-one must boast within the sphere of action of the wisdom of all of mankind together. Why not? Because that is what God says, and here is the explanation: in truth, all-things are yours - all the things that God has promised His children, which includes those things which He has already made available, and continues to make available, and will make available to all of His children, are yours! All of the things that will survive the fire will be yours.
No matter what goes on as you await Christ's coming to gather all holy-people together with him - whether information comes via Paul or Apollos or Cephas (which is another name for Simon Peter), or things pertaining to the world, or life, or death, or things which are presently in force, or things which are on the point of coming into force – all things are yours, they belong to you – and you are Christ's, you belong to Christ – and Christ is God's, Christ belongs to God.
All holy-people have and will-have all the things God has said, all of His promises, no matter who else says what, or if the world's wisdom should say something different, or even if a holy-person lives or dies, or the things which are presently standing suggest something different, or if the things which will come and stand may tell us something different to what God has told us. All things are ours and we will not be made to be put under the authority of anything so as to change what God has said regarding all holy-people. God's promises to us cannot change.
"…All-things (are) yours, and you (are) Christ's, and Christ (is) God's." All-things are of you, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God. God is in the first place and Christ receives all things that God says He gives him. Christ is in second place to God and all holy-people receive all things that God says He gives us by means of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can rely on what God has promised us and we can rely on our Lord Jesus Christ to say and do and accomplish everything that God asks him to say and do and accomplish.
[Reference: Isaiah 5:21; Romans 8:28-39, 14:8; Galatians 3:26-29; Ephesians 1:3-23; Colossians 1:27. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (2) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]