# 1 Corinthians 03 đź“–: God Gives the Growth
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> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#🧠Chapter Summary]]
> [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]]
> [[#đź’¬ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#đź”— Related Passages]]
> [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#đź“‚ Internal Notes]]
## đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
### Immaturity and Self-deception
**Principle**: Be careful not to bring broken expectations into the church.
[[#Verse 01.]] So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.Â
[[#Verse 02.]] I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,
[[#Verse 03.]] for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people?Â
[[#Verse 04.]] For whenever someone says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” are you not merely human?
## The Role of God's Servants
**Principle**: Ministries serve and do their part in God's Kingdom. All are important.
[[#Verse 05.]]Â What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us.Â
[[#Verse 06.]] I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.Â
[[#Verse 07.]] So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth.Â
[[#Verse 08.]] The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work.Â
[[#Verse 09.]] We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building.Â
[[#Verse 10.]]Â According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.Â
[[#Verse 11.]]Â For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.Â
[[#Verse 12.]]Â If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,Â
[[#Verse 13.]] each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done.Â
[[#Verse 14.]]Â If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward.Â
[[#Verse 15.]] If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
[[#Verse 16.]] Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?Â
[[#Verse 17.]] If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.
## The Follow of Human Wisdom
**Principle**: Be a fool for Christ.
[[#Verse 18.]] Guard against self-deception, each of you. If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise.Â
[[#Verse 19.]] For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “**_He catches the wise in their craftiness_**.” [[Job 05]]
[[#Verse 20.]] And again, “**_The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile_**.” [[Psalm 94]] Â
[[#Verse 21.]] So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you,Â
[[#Verse 22.]] whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you,Â
[[#Verse 23.]]Â and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
## đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary
###### Overall.
###### Verse 01.
###### Verse 02.
###### Verse 03.
###### Verse 04.
###### Verse 05.
###### Verse 06.
###### Verse 07.
###### Verse 08.
###### Verse 09.
###### Verse 10.
###### Verse 11.
###### Verse 12.
###### Verse 13.
###### Verse 14.
###### Verse 15.
###### Verse 16.
###### Verse 17.
###### Verse 18.
###### Verse 19.
###### Verse 20.
###### Verse 21.
###### Verse 22.
###### Verse 23.
## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. "Milk" and "solid food" (3:2) was a common image in ancient teaching. Hebrews 5:12-14 uses it too.
2. "Coworkers" in 3:9 is *synergoi*, from which we get the English word "synergy."
3. Paul calls himself a "skilled master builder" (3:10), translating *architektĹŤn*, the source of the English word "architect."
4. The building materials in 3:12 move from lasting (gold, silver, precious stones) to burnable (wood, hay, straw).
5. "The Day" (3:13) refers to the day of the Lord's judgment, when each person's work will be tested by fire.
6. The "you" in 3:16 is plural. The church together is God's temple.
7. Corinth had many temples, including the temple of Apollo, whose columns still stand today.
8. In 3:19 Paul quotes Job 5:13, one of the very few New Testament quotations from Job.
9. In 3:20 Paul quotes Psalm 94:11.
10. Cephas (3:22) is the Aramaic name for Peter, meaning "rock" (John 1:42).
## 🧠Chapter Summary
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the one foundation on which the church is built (3:11). Every servant plants and waters, but God gives the growth, and we belong to Christ as Christ belongs to God (3:23; Ephesians 2:20).
## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đź’¬ Discussion Questions
1. Paul calls the Corinthians infants because of their jealousy and quarreling (3:1-3). What are signs of spiritual immaturity in a church?
2. One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth (3:6-7). How does that free you from both pressure and pride?
3. We are God's temple, and His Spirit lives among us (3:16-17). How should that shape the way we treat the church?
## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember
- đź“– verses 6-7: Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
- đź“– verse 11: No one can lay any foundation other than Jesus Christ.
- đź“– verse 16: You are God's temple, and God's Spirit lives in you.
- đź“– verse 19: The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
## đź”— Related Passages
- đź”— [[Hebrews 05#Verse 12.|Hebrews 5:12-14]] - Milk for infants, solid food for the mature (3:1-2).
- đź”— [[Galatians 05#Verse 19.|Galatians 5:19-21]] - Jealousy and strife as works of the flesh (3:3).
- đź”— [[Isaiah 61#Verse 03.|Isaiah 61:3]] - God's planting; God's building (3:9).
- đź”— [[Ephesians 02#Verse 20.|Ephesians 2:20-22]] - God's planting; God's building (3:9).
- đź”— [[Isaiah 28#Verse 16.|Isaiah 28:16]] - Christ the cornerstone (3:11).
- đź”— [[Ephesians 02#Verse 20.|Ephesians 2:20]] - Christ the cornerstone (3:11).
- đź”— [[2 Corinthians 05#Verse 10.|2 Corinthians 5:10]] - Each will receive what is due (3:13).
- đź”— [[1 Corinthians 06#Verse 19.|1 Corinthians 6:19]] - The temple of the living God (3:16).
- đź”— [[2 Corinthians 06#Verse 16.|2 Corinthians 6:16]] - The temple of the living God (3:16).
- đź”— [[Job 05#Verse 13.|Job 5:13]] - He catches the wise in their craftiness (3:19).
- đź”— [[Psalm 94#Verse 11.|Psalm 94:11]] - The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise are futile (3:20).
- đź”— [[Romans 14#Verse 08.|Romans 14:8]] - Whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord (3:23).
## 🙏 Devotional Reflection
đź“ť SOAP: [[1 Corinthians 03 - SOAP|Part of the Team]]
## đź“‚ Internal Notes