Notes on 1 Corinthians 3

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

Some people come into life mentally challenged. Their bodies grow older, but their minds reach a certain stage of development and stop. They have no choice in the matter; they have to live with what they were born with. With Christians, getting stuck at an early stage of spiritual development is not a requirement, but a choice. Those of us who remain spiritual babes choose to give our time and priority to other things, rather than our relationship with the Lord. Being carnal means that we give the greatest importance to the things of the flesh, just as we did before we became Christians. Our relationships are still controlled by the requirements of the flesh; we judge and treat others based on how they treat us and meet, or don't meet, our needs. When the world looks at a professing Christian who acts like they do, they are either looking at a carnal Christian, or someone who never really became a Christian at all. Only God really knows the difference. As discussed in the previous chapter, spiritual babes cannot handle the deeper spiritual truths; they remain stuck on the basics of the Gospel. Divisions, again, come out of carnality and spiritual immaturity, because personalities are more important than the person of Christ.

Some pastors and evangelists, unfortunately, make a point of telling how many people have been saved during their ministry. That's not wrong unless they fail to give the credit to God, as some do not do. By the same token, some Christians will say, "I was saved by Preacher So-and-so," while that preacher cannot save anyone. It is certainly a glorious thing when many people are saved under a certain ministry, but the glory belongs to God alone. Associating ourselves with a particular preacher or pastor because we were saved under his ministry is the height of carnality.

Evangelists and pastors each have their role in the lives of Christians. Though these may often be the same man, sometimes we are saved under the ministry of an evangelist, who then moves on. The job of helping us to grow spiritually, which Paul refers to as watering, falls to our local pastor. Both are laborers in the field; the fruit that results in our lives, if any, comes about only as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. Just as the fruit we bear as Christians is God's work within us, so, Paul says, what is built in the foundation if Christ is also God's work. The analogy of the Christian as a building leads into the next section.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

If we are Christians, our lives rest on Jesus Christ alone, on the salvation only we affords. What we do with our lives as Christians, though, is the result of the choices we make, and the things we do, from that point on. If we do only those things that have no eternal value, just moving from the point A of salvation to the point B of physical death, nothing of what we do will last into eternity. Going to church just for the sake of going is hay and stubble; offering pious words of concern without lifting a finger to help is hay and stubble. Worshipping God in spirit and truth is gold and silver; leading someone to Christ is a treasure of gold and silver. By the handwriting on the wall, the king of Babylon was weighed in the balance and found wanting. If we belong to Christ, we have all it takes to enter into eternity. What a sad commentary, though, to face our Lord empty-handed at the end of a wasted life. By contrast, what a pleasure and a glory to face him, while his hands are outstretched to give us the rewards we've earned.

16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

This is the third illustration Paul uses in this chapter to refer to Christians; we are plants, and buildings, and, now, temples. He returns to this idea later in the letter. The point here is to emphasize that we belong to God, and we should identify with him, not with some Christian leader. The analogy goes a step further, though; just as what we built on the foundation of Christ has eternal value; what we do with our bodies affects our very physical existence. It takes little more than common sense observation to realize how true this is; if we abuse our bodies through sex sins, alcohol, drugs, or even gluttony, we shorten our lives. While that is true of non-Christians as well, the implication, based on the preceding verses, is the we will face some loss at the judgment as well. After all, by shortening our lives by abusing our bodies, we may be forestalling God's plans for us in the years we threw away.

The final verses in the chapter return to the theme of godly wisdom versus that of the world. How we live our lives as Christians, the choices we make, what we do in and with our bodies, are all reflections of the degree of wisdom we exercise, and its source. Giving credit to men rather than God is foolishness in God's eyes, just as all other results of human wisdom. What is important is not what we are in our own eyes, or the eyes of others, but in God's, and what we are in his eyes depends on Christ, not on us. As the Father has given all things to Christ, and put them under his feet, so we, as his fellow heirs, have all things as well. Giving credit and praise to other men implies we expect something from them in return; the only reward we have, the only one we need, comes from God. No human being can fill that role.

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