1st Corinthians Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is where we get the idea of baby Christians.

Paul says that he can not talk to them like spiritual people but as worldly people. This "milk" he is talking about is worldly things.

Solid food is a spiritual thing.

They are not developed enough in their walk for him to talk to them about spiritual matters. He says that he knows that they are not mature because of the "fruit" that they bear.

He calls them jealous and quarrelsome. these are two attributes that are opposite the fruits of the spirit.

In verse four, he references the division he discussed in chapter one.

verse 6 is deep:

• I planted the seed.
• Apollos watered it.
• God made it grow.

It wasn't Paul or Apollos that did anything

they were just doing a servants job.

It was the power of God which caused any growth what so ever.

Our leaders don't directly cause us to grow.

They just tend us as servants unto the Lord.

It is the sole responsibility of God to help us with our actual growth.

Paul warns us about the type of material we should build with on top of the foundation of Jesus Christ. He gives a list, it starts out with the most important material and then goes down from there.

• Gold
• Silver
• Costly Stones
• Wood
• Hay
• Straw

He says that "fire" will test these materials.

These materials represent the quality of our ministry and the amount of truth contained within it.

You'll notice that the materials towards the bottom of the list are more suseptable to fire.

He is saying that if we build upon the foundation of Christ with material that is not worthy, they will be burned up in the End.

People works will be devoured, but the person will be saved, only because they built their foundation on Christ in the frist place.

verse 16 talks about how God will not tolerate people damaging His temple. We are that temple and we should not damage ourselves.

Sin damages the temple.

in verse 18 he references chapter one by talking about how you mst become foolish in order to become wise.

in verse 21 he says to stop boasting about men, because all things belong to us as christians. We all, as christians, belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. Therefore everything belongs to God ultimately and therefore we should only boast in Him.