1 Corinthians

¹ Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. ² I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, ³ for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? ⁴ For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?

⁵ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. ⁶ I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. ⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, ^[a] and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. ¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹² If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, ¹³ his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. ¹⁴ If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.

¹⁶ Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in ^[b] you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he 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.” ^{[c] 20} And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” ^[d]

²¹ Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas ^[e] or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, ²³ and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.