3:1  HOWEVER, BRETHREN, I could not talk to you as to spiritual [men], but as to nonspiritual [men of the flesh, in whom the carnal nature predominates], as to mere infants [in the new life] in Christ [unable to talk yet!]

3:2  I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough [to be ready for it]; but even yet you are not strong enough [to be ready for it],

3:3  For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy {and} wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual {and} of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard {and} like mere (unchanged) men?

3:4  For when one says, I belong to Paul, and another, I belong to Apollos, are you not [proving yourselves] ordinary (unchanged) men?

3:5  What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Ministering servants [not heads of parties] through whom you believed, even as the Lord appointed to each his task:

3:6  I planted, Apollos watered, but God [all the while] was making it grow {and} [He] gave the increase.

3:7  So neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but [only] God Who makes it grow {and} become greater.

3:8  He who plants and he who waters are equal (one in aim, of the same importance and esteem), yet each shall receive his own reward (wages), according to his own labor.

3:9  For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with {and} for God; {you} are God's garden {and} vineyard {and} field under cultivation, [you are] God's building.

3:10  According to the grace (the special endowment for my task) of God bestowed on me, like a skillful architect {and} master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. But let each [man] be careful how he builds upon it,

3:11  For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

3:12  But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

3:13  The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose {and} declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test {and} critically appraise the character {and} worth of the work each person has done.

3:14  If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward.

3:15  But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire.

3:16  Do you not discern {and} understand that you [the whole church at Corinth] are God's temple (His sanctuary), and that God's Spirit has His permanent dwelling in you [to be at home in you, collectively as a church and also individually]?

3:17  If anyone does hurt to God's temple {or} corrupts it [with false doctrines] {or} destroys it, God will do hurt to him {and} bring him to the corruption of death {and} destroy him. For the temple of God is holy (sacred to Him) and that [temple] you [the believing church and its individual believers] are.

3:18  Let no person deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool [let him discard his worldly discernment and recognize himself as dull, stupid, and foolish, without true learning and scholarship], that he may become [really] wise.

3:19  For this world's wisdom is foolishness (absurdity and stupidity) with God, for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their [own] craftiness;

3:20  And again, The Lord knows the thoughts {and} reasonings of the [humanly] wise {and} recognizes how futile they are.

3:21  So let no one exult proudly concerning men [boasting of having this or that man as a leader], for all things are yours,

3:22  Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas (Peter), or the universe or life or death, or the immediate {and} threatening present or the [subsequent and uncertain] future--all are yours,

3:23  And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.