1 Corinthians 3–16

Chapter 3

Foundations for Living

¹And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to ^aspiritual men, but as to ^bmen of flesh, as to ^cinfants in Christ.

²I gave you ^amilk to drink, not solid food; for you ^bwere not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,

³for you are still fleshly. For since there is ^ajealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking ^1blike mere men?

⁴For when ^aone says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere ^bmen?

⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? ^aServants through whom you believed, even ^bas the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

^6aI planted, ^bApollos watered, but ^cGod was causing the growth.

⁷So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

⁸Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will ^areceive his own ¹reward according to his own labor.

⁹For we are God’s ^afellow workers; you are God’s ^1bfield, God’s ^cbuilding.

¹⁰According to ^athe grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder ^bI laid a foundation, and ^canother is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.

¹¹For no man can lay a ^afoundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹²Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, ¹precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

^13aeach man’s work will become evident; for ^bthe day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test ¹the quality of each man’s work.

¹⁴If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will ^areceive a reward.

¹⁵If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet ^aso as through fire.

^16aDo you not know that ^byou are a ¹temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

¹⁷If any man destroys the ¹temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and ²that is what you are.

^18aLet no man deceive himself. ^bIf any man among you thinks that he is wise in ^cthis age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.

¹⁹For ^athe wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is ^bthe one who catches the wise in their craftiness”;

²⁰and again, “^aThe Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”

²¹So then ^alet no one boast in men. For ^ball things belong to you,

^22awhether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or ^blife or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you,

²³and ^ayou belong to Christ; and ^bChrist belongs to God.

Chapter 4

Servants of Christ

¹Let a man regard us in this manner, as ^aservants of Christ and ^bstewards of ^cthe mysteries of God.

²In this case, moreover, it is required ¹of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

³But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human ¹court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.

⁴For I ^aam conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this ^bacquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.

⁵Therefore ^ado not go on ¹passing judgment before ²the time, but wait ^buntil the Lord comes who will both ^cbring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s ^dpraise will come to him from God.

⁶Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed ^awhat is written, so that no one of you will ^bbecome ¹arrogant ^cin behalf of one against the other.

⁷For who regards you as superior? ^aWhat do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸You are ^aalready filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you.

⁹For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men ^acondemned to death; because we ^bhave become a spectacle to the world, ¹both to angels and to men.

¹⁰We are ^afools for Christ’s sake, but ^byou are prudent in Christ; ^cwe are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.

¹¹To this present hour we are both ^ahungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless;

¹²and we toil, ^aworking with our own hands; when we are ^breviled, we bless; when we are ^cpersecuted, we endure;

¹³when we are slandered, we try to ¹conciliate; we have ^abecome as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

¹⁴I do not write these things to ^ashame you, but to admonish you as my beloved ^bchildren.

¹⁵For if you were to have countless ^atutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in ^bChrist Jesus I ^cbecame your father through the ^dgospel.

¹⁶Therefore I exhort you, be ^aimitators of me.

¹⁷For this reason I ^ahave sent to you ^bTimothy, who is my ^cbeloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, ^djust as I teach everywhere in every church.

¹⁸Now some have become ^1aarrogant, as though I were not ^bcoming to you.

¹⁹But I ^awill come to you soon, ^bif the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the ¹words of those who are ^carrogant but their power.

²⁰For the kingdom of God does ^anot consist in ¹words but in power.

²¹What do you desire? ^aShall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

Chapter 5

Immorality Rebuked

¹It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has ^ahis father’s wife.

²¹You ^ahave become ²arrogant and have not ^bmourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^cremoved from your midst.

³For I, on my part, though ^aabsent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.

^4aIn the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ¹I with you in spirit, ^bwith the power of our Lord Jesus,

⁵I have decided to ^adeliver such a one to ^bSatan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in ^cthe day of the Lord ¹Jesus.

^6aYour boasting is not good. ^bDo you not know that ^ca little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?

⁷Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our ^aPassover also has been sacrificed.

⁸Therefore let us celebrate the feast, ^anot with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote you in my letter ^anot to associate with immoral people;

¹⁰I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with ^aidolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.

¹¹But ¹actually, I wrote to you not to associate ²with any so-called ^abrother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or ^ban idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

¹²For what have I to do with judging ^aoutsiders? ^bDo you not judge those who are within the church?

¹³But those who are outside, God ¹judges. ^aRemove the wicked man from among yourselves.

Chapter 6

Lawsuits Discouraged

¹Does any one of you, when he has a ¹case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and ^anot before the ²saints?

²Or ^ado you not know that ^bthe ¹saints will judge ^cthe world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to ²constitute the smallest law courts?

^3aDo you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

⁴So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, ¹do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?

^5aI say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his ^bbrethren,

⁶but brother goes to law with brother, and that before ^aunbelievers?

⁷Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^aWhy not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

⁸On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your ^abrethren.

⁹Or ^ado you not know that the unrighteous will not ^binherit the kingdom of God? ^cDo not be deceived; ^dneither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ¹effeminate, nor homosexuals,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will ^ainherit the kingdom of God.

^11aSuch were some of you; but you were ^bwashed, but you were ^csanctified, but you were ^djustified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

^12aAll things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

^13aFood is for the ¹stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will ^bdo away with both ²of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but ^cfor the Lord, and ^dthe Lord is for the body.

¹⁴Now God has not only ^araised the Lord, but ^bwill also raise us up through His power.

^15aDo you not know that ^byour bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? ^cMay it never be!

¹⁶Or ^ado you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^bThe two shall become one flesh.”

¹⁷But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^aone spirit with Him.

^18aFlee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the ¹immoral man sins against his own body.

¹⁹Or ^ado you not know that ^byour body is a ¹temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from ²God, and that ^cyou are not your own?

²⁰For ^ayou have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in ^byour body.

Chapter 7

Teaching on Marriage

¹Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is ^agood for a man not to touch a woman.

²But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.

³The husband must ¹fulfill his duty to his wife,…