1 Cor 3 – Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Cor 3:1-9

1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? 4 For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere human beings?

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. 9 For we are fellow workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

A. Find Out:

1. How did Paul view them & how had he treated them? v.1,2
2. How did he view them and why? v.3,4
3. How did he answer that? v.5
4. What different roles did he describe? v.6
5. What conclusion did he draw? v.7
6. What pictures did he use of them? v.9

B. Think:

1. Why did Paul consider the Corinthians worldly?
2. What was his answer to that?
3. How can we be similar to this church in Corinth ?

C. Comment:

In 1:10 Paul had started speaking against the divisions he had heard about in the Corinthian church. In this he had gone on to show that the message of the Cross and the way of it’s delivery was the way of humility and weakness, the inference being that they had no room to boast about anything, or even take sides with any particular preacher. Now he returns more directly to the matter of divisiveness.

First of all he says it is a sign of their worldliness, of their immaturity. When he came to them he taught them as little children, for so they were when they first came to Christ. The trouble is that they haven’t grown up, they are still like little children with their petty squabbling over who is the best preacher.

Look, says Paul, take note of a few simple facts: first each of us is only a servant of God. Second, whatever gifting we have it has been given by God, and that for a limited purpose. Third, whatever that purpose, it is God Himself who brings life and growth, so (implied) don’t give us any glory. We’re just workers for God, you are the place of Hs planting, you are the building He is forming, we are just workers there in the background to bring forth something great.

D. Application:

1. Don’t get worked up over the “tools” God uses, be blessed by Him!
2. Esteeming one leader to the exclusion of others is a sign of immaturity and worldliness. May it not be in us!

Passage: 1 Cor 3:10-15

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved – even though only as one escaping through the flames.

A. Find Out:

1. What had Paul done and what had followed? v.10
2. What had been the foundation ? v.11
3. What variety of “materials” could be used to build on? v.12
4. How will their quality be revealed? v.13
5. What will happen if it survives? v.14
6. What will happen if it is destroyed? v.15

B. Think:

1. What had been Paul’s role and how had he received that?
2. What other roles was he also now talking about?
3. How would the genuineness of them be seen?

C. Comment:

The gist of this passage can perhaps be summed up as “the reality of the various ministries you have been arguing over will be revealed in God’s time and (by implication) I shouldn’t make to much of them until God does that”.

Paul knows his own role: to put down the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to bring people into the kingdom of God . Other people had different roles: to build on that foundation and to establish, teach and mature the new disciples. Paul makes the point at the outset that what he did he did by the pure grace of God, and therefore, by implication, all other ministries should also be recognised as coming by the grace of God and not the strength or wisdom of man. There is no room here to glorify man, no room for division.

To emphasise that, Paul goes on to warn that each of their works or ministries will be shown up for what it really is on the day when testing comes. This is not the Day of the Return of the Lord but the Day of Testing. When a disciple is tested, will they stand in the face of difficult circumstances? If they stand, the leader’s ministry will be validated and he will be given the satisfaction of seeing it. If they fall then the leader will anguish over the inadequacy of his ministry.

D. Application:

1. We have a ministry only by the grace and goodness of God.
2. Whatever we have is tested and proved by trying circumstances.

Passage: 1 Cor 3:16-23

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives among you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’; 20 and again, ‘The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.’ 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

A. Find Out:

1. What are we and why? v16
2. And what does Paul say about that? v.17
3. What should the “wise” do? v.18
4. How does God view the “wisdom” of the world? v.19,20
5. So what instruction does Paul give? v.21a
6. With what supporting reason? v.21b,22

B. Think:

1. How are the temple comments relevant to talk about division?
2. How had they been viewing themselves?
3. So what is Paul’s answer to all the divisive talk?

C. Comment:

Paul has just shown that all the various ministries over which they are arguing all came from God. Now he reminds them that the church itself is God’s dwelling place, because the Holy Spirit dwells in each Christian. So, he says, if you destroy the church with all your arguing and divisions, you destroy the place where God lives and God will come and deal with you for it is a sacred place, belonging to Him.

Then he goes back to talking about the so-called wisdom of the world. They obviously thought of themselves as mature Christians, wise in outlook. “You joke!”, is virtually what Paul is saying. Wisdom, as the world sees it, is seen as pure folly by God. It just leads men into pride and foolish living and to destruction. Men, whoever they are, left to themselves, are in a hopeless mess.

There is no room to boast over men. If they are spiritual and have a ministry that is purely because it is a gift of God (see Rom 12:3,6). Apart from that they have nothing of lasting value, so cut out the boasting of being a follower of this man or that one. Look, he goes on, (by implication) the Spirit is yours and all things are yours that you need in Christ. You have no need to lay claim to the blessings that have come from a particular man’s ministry. All things are yours in Christ.

D. Application:

1. People without Christ are lost and have nothing of value to boast about.
2. People with Christ are gifts of grace. Still nothing to boast about!