1 Corinthians 3

1Brothers and sisters, I could not talk to you like spiritual adults. You still act like babies in Christ.

2I had to feed you milk, not solid meat. You were not ready for real spiritual food! Even right now, you are still not ready.

3You are still controlled by your selfish human desires. You are jealous of each other, and you constantly argue. That proves you are acting just like worldly people!

4For when one of you says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not acting like ordinary people?

5After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are only servants through whom you believed — each doing the work the Lord gave us.

6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything; only God matters, the One who makes things grow.

8The one who plants and the one who waters work toward the same goal, and each will be rewarded for their own work.

9We are God's team of workers. You are God's garden, and you are God's building.

10God gave me the grace to lay the solid foundation. I worked like a skilled builder. Now other leaders build on top of that foundation. Every person must be very careful how they build!

11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12A person might build with gold, silver, or precious stones. Another might build with cheap wood, hay, or dry straw.

13The Day of Judgment will expose everyone's work. A great fire will test the quality of each building.

14If a person's work survives the fire, they will get a reward.

15If their work burns up completely, they will lose everything. That builder will still be saved, but like someone running from a burning house!

16Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit lives in you?

17If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18Do not fool yourselves. If any of you thinks they are wise by the standards of this age, they should become a “fool” so that they may become truly wise.

19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scripture says: He catches the wise in their own cleverness.

20And again: The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless.

21So no one should brag about human leaders! Everything belongs to you,

22whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future — all are yours,

23and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.