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1Cor.3:1. And I could not speak to you, brethren, as spiritual, but as carnal. Above, he overthrew the arrogance of the Corinthians with external wisdom; but, so that they do not say: we are not exalted by this, but by spiritual wisdom, now he shows that in our wisdom they have not achieved perfection, but remain still imperfect, and says that they have not yet heard anything about objects that are more perfect. He said well: “I could not,” so that they would not think that he did not tell them about something more perfect out of envy. The reason I could not speak to you as if you were perfect was because you were still engaged in carnal things. But how did they, being carnal, perform signs? Indeed, they were as they were said at the beginning. But it is possible to perform signs and at the same time be carnal, like those people who cast out demons in the name of Christ. For signs happen for the benefit of others and therefore are often performed through unworthy people. 1 Corinthians 3:1–3. As with the babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, and not with solid food, for you were not yet strong, and even now you are not strong, because you are still carnal. In the mysteries of Christ, he says, you are still babies, so I gave you milk, that is, the simplest teaching, and did not offer you solid food, that is, a more perfect teaching. Why? because you were not yet able (to accept it). And in order to overthrow their pride, he adds: “even now you are not able,” for you are still thinking about carnal things. You see: they are not able to accept such a teaching because they do not want to be spiritual, but remain carnal. 1 Corinthians 3:3. For if there is envy, strife, and disagreement among you, are you not carnal? and are you not acting according to human custom? Everything that was said above, he spoke to the bosses, who were proud of their wisdom and nobility, and now he turns to his subordinates and says: I rightly call you carnal, because there is envy, disputes and disagreements among you. He could accuse them of fornication and many other vices; but since disagreements and disputes between them have especially intensified, he mentions them. It is important to note that everywhere envy is connected with disputes. This is because envy produces disputes, and disputes produce disagreements. But if you have all these disorders, then “are you not acting according to human custom?” that is, do you not think about carnal things, about human and earthly things? 1 Cor.3:4. For when one says: “I am Paul’s,” and another: “I am Apollos’s,” are you not carnal? The names of Paul and Apollos signify men and teachers famous among the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 3:5. Who is Pavel? who is Apollos? They are only ministers through whom you believed. Having put his and Apollo's name, he truly achieves his goal. He reasons this way: if we are nothing, then what can we say about your teachers? We, he says, are “servants,” and not the very root and source of goods, this source is Christ. Therefore, we should not be proud, since we have delivered to you the benefits received from God; for everything belongs to Him, the Giver of good things. He did not say: we are evangelists, but: “servants” - this is because the gospel embraces only teaching, and service also includes deeds. 1 Corinthians 3:5. And moreover, because the Lord gave it to everyone. Yes, and this, he says, is a small service that we do not have from ourselves, but received from the Lord, each in his own measure. 1 Corinthians 3:6. I planted, Apollos watered, but God increased. I, he says, was the first to sow the sermon; Apollos, by his constant teaching, did not allow the seed to wither from the heat of the temptations of the evil one, but God increased you. 1 Corinthians 3:7. Therefore, the one who plants and the one who waters is nothing, but God who increases everything. See how, by humiliating himself and Apollos, he makes the humiliation of the wise and rich leaders of Corinth bearable, teaching that all the blessings bestowed upon us are attributed to Him. 1 Corinthians 3:8. He who plants and he who waters are one. They cannot do anything without God's help, in this regard they are one; How can you be proud of each other when you are one? 1 Corinthians 3:8. But everyone will receive their reward according to their labor. It could easily happen that those who worked more than others in matters of faith would become careless when they heard that everything is one; therefore, he immediately explains his expression and says that everything is only in relation to their powerlessness to do anything without the help of the regenerating God. As for reward, everyone will receive a reward according to their work. He did not say: according to his own work, but: “according to his own labor,” for what need is there if someone has not done the work? At least he worked. 1 Corinthians 3:9. For we are fellow workers with God. We are teachers - co-workers with God, assisting God in the salvation of people, and not the culprits or givers of salvation. Therefore, one should neither despise us, for we are God’s co-workers, nor be proud of us; for everything is God's. 1 Corinthians 3:9. And you are God’s field, God’s building. Having said above: “I planted,” he continues the comparison and calls them cornfields. If you are a field and a building, then you should be called by the name of the Lord, and not by plowmen or house builders, and, like a field, you should be surrounded by a wall of unanimity, and like a building, you should be in unity with each other, and not in division. 1 Corinthians 3:10. I, according to the grace given to me by God, like a wise builder, laid the foundation. He calls himself a wise builder not out of arrogance, but wanting to show that it is characteristic of a wise builder to lay such a foundation, that is, Christ. And that he really did not say this out of arrogance is clear from his words: “according to the grace given to me from God,” that is, my wisdom is not my business, but a gracious gift of God. 1 Corinthians 3:10. And another builds on it; but each one watch how he builds. Above he talked with them about unity, and now he talks about the way of life, calling the work of each person construction. 1 Corinthians 3:11. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He cannot, as long as he remains a wise builder. If someone is not a wise builder, he can lay a different foundation; hence the heresies. You, Corinthians, have one foundation - Christ: therefore, you should edify on this basis not what comes from disputes and envy, but deeds of virtue. 1 Corinthians 3:12–13. Whether anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, everyone’s work will be revealed. From the time we received the foundation of faith, each of us builds on it: some build good deeds, which are different, some more, others less, for example, virginity is like gold, an honest marriage is like silver, non-covetousness is like precious stones, alms with wealth is a matter of lesser value. Others of you edify evil deeds, which also come in different degrees. Those deeds that can more conveniently be burned, called hay and straw, are as follows: uncleanness, idolatry, covetousness; those that do not burn so easily are called trees, such as: drunkenness, laughter and similar vices. Some, however, understand it the other way around, that is, the previously mentioned vices are called trees, and the latter are called hay and straw. 1 Corinthians 3:13. For the day will show it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test everyone’s work as to what it is. Calls the day the day of judgment. “In fire,” he says further, “it is revealed,” that is, it is revealed what the deeds are in themselves, whether they are gold or something else. 1 Corinthians 3:14–15. Whoever's work that he built survives will receive a reward. And whoever’s business is burned, he will suffer loss. If you have silver or gold, then your business will survive and you will receive a reward; if you have hay and the like, then your work will not withstand the power of fire (this means the expression “will burn”), but it will turn out that it is bad. If someone crossed the river of fire in golden armor, he would come ashore in a lighter form; but if another one had gone across the same river with hay, he would not only not have received any profit, but would have also ruined himself. The same will happen with business. Therefore, faith without good works brings no benefit. For here Christ is the foundation; but deeds done not according to the law of Christ are condemned to burning. 1 Corinthians 3:15. However, he himself will be saved, but as if from fire. He himself will not perish like his deeds; he will not, that is, pass into insignificance, but will be “saved,” that is, preserved whole to burn in the fire. And in our country, about that tree that does not burn easily and turns to ashes, they usually say that it remains intact in the fire, so that it takes quite a long time to burn it. So, the sinner suffers a loss from the fact that he worked on such things from which he perishes, and used all his efforts on something that does not exist and does not exist (for all evil is something non-existent), just as if someone at a great price bought himself a corpse instead of a living body. Meanwhile, he himself, that is, the sinner, will be “saved,” that is, preserved whole for eternal torment. 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the church of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? Addresses speech to the sinner. And look how successfully it brings him to shame. Exactly; by the grace given to us, that is, by the dwelling of the Spirit in us, he shames the sinner, although he does not clearly show his face, but speaks in general. Meanwhile, if we are the church of God because the Spirit lives in us, then it follows that the Spirit is God. 1 Corinthians 3:17. If anyone destroys the church of God, God will punish him. That is, it will destroy. These words do not express a curse, but a prediction about the future. 1 Corinthians 3:17. For the church of God is holy; and this church is you. Consequently, a fornicator cannot be a saint, since he has ceased to be the church of God, having driven out the Spirit that sanctifies him. Who makes up this church? You, if you remain pure. 1 Corinthians 3:18. No one should deceive himself. Thinking that it happens differently, and not as I said. 1 Corinthians 3:18. If any of you thinks to be wise in this age, let him be foolish in order to be wise. Having made a slight allusion to the sinner, he again turns his speech to those who were puffed up by external wisdom. Whoever, he says, “thinks to be wise in this age, be foolish,” that is, let him reject external wisdom in order to acquire divine wisdom. For just as poverty according to God is wealth, and dishonor is glory, so foolishness according to God is wisdom. Look: he did not say: let him reject wisdom, but, what is much more, “be mad,” that is, let him not think about anything on his own, let him not believe his own evidence, but follow God like a flock following a shepherd, and believe in everything divine. 1 Corinthians 3:19. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For not only does it not contribute to the acquisition of true wisdom, but, on the contrary, it also prevents this, because, thinking highly of itself, it rejects the divine teaching and thus leaves those who have this wisdom in constant ignorance; that is why they are caught by God like madmen. 1 Corinthians 3:19. As it is written: He catches the wise in their wickedness. He gives evidence of how human wisdom is foolishness before God, and says that God catches the wise as if they were fools, that is, subdues them with their own weapons. For, with all their craftiness and wisdom, they are convicted of stupidity and madness. For example: some thought that they had no need for God, but could comprehend everything by themselves; but God showed them by deed that the power and art of speech did not bring them any benefit, and that they, especially before others, had a need for God, they who thought to do without any help. So, with all their art, by which they considered themselves omniscient, they turned out to be complete ignoramuses, and in necessary subjects more uneducated than fishermen and tanners. 1 Corinthians 3:20. And one more thing: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. If the Lord knows that human speculation is vain, because there is nothing necessary and saving in them, then how do you, Corinthians, entertain thoughts that are contrary to God, and engage in them as if they were useful! 1 Corinthians 3:21–22. So let no one boast about men, for everything is yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas. This seems to speak to the subordinates, but it amazes the bosses, suggesting that they should not at all be vain of either external wisdom, since it is madness, or spiritual gifts, since they belong to God and are given for the benefit of their subordinates. This means the words: “for all is yours,” that is, why are your teachers proud? and why do you puff up and exalt them? After all, they have nothing of their own, but everything they have belongs to you, was given to them for your benefit, and they should be grateful to you. Meanwhile, he again mentioned himself and Peter: this is so that his words would not be so heavy, and to inspire: if we also received gifts for you and were appointed teachers for you, then all the more your current teachers should not be proud of the gifts, as if they were their own acquisition: for these are other people's goods. 1 Corinthians 3:22. Or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future. And the “life” of teachers, he says, is for you, so that you learn from them and benefit; and their “death” to you; for for your sake and for your salvation they are exposed to dangers. Or in other words: Adam’s death is for you, so that you may become chaste; and the death of Christ is for you, that you may be saved. In short: the whole “world” is for you, so that through it you ascend to the Creator and through His perishability learn to desire incorruptible blessings. For you, the “present”, that is, the benefits that God still gives to believers here; The “future” is also prepared for you. 1 Corinthians 3:22–23. Everything is yours; But you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. Christ is not God's in the same respect as we are Christ's. We are Christ's as His work and creation, and Christ is God's both as the eternal Son and as having the Father as His culprit. Thus, although the expression is the same, the meaning is different, for everything is not ours in the same respect as we are Christ’s; we are servants of Christ and creation, and everything that exists is neither anything serving us nor our creation. Therefore, you do not do well by being divided among people, while you belong to Christ. You might be interested in: