seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Corinthians 3:1 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 quarreling 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 labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.
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.
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 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”[a]; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”[b] 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[c] 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.
- 1 Corinthians 3:19 Job 5:13
- 1 Corinthians 3:20 Psalm 94:11
- 1 Corinthians 3:22 That is, Peter
This is from the easy English site.
The Christians at Corinth were not behaving as if the Holy Spirit was guiding them. They were acting in the same ways as people who thought only about their physical nature. Paul could not give them the kind of teaching that was like solid food. They were still behaving like babies.
The Christians at Corinth were acting as if they were no different from non-Christians (people who were not Christians). Some were jealous. Perhaps they were jealous of the wealth or social position of other people. They quarrelled about which leader they belonged to.
Paul uses the words ‘You should know’ ten times in this letter, and only once in other letters. The Christians at Corinth were very proud about their ‘knowledge’. But they had not really understood the nature of the Christian church.
There were many temples in Corinth. They all had idols but none of them contained a real god. The Christians in Corinth had God among them by means of his Holy Spirit. Therefore they were like a temple. Because there is only one God, there was only one true temple in Corinth. The spiritual *temple of Christians existed to show that the only real God is holy. But the bad behaviour of the Christians at Corinth was stopping the work of the Holy Spirit. Their jealous quarrels were destroying God’s work. The Christian church was becoming like a weak building. God would punish those who were destroying his church. Paul does not say how God would punish them. But he is probably thinking about the day of judgement.
Therefore they must not be confident about their own ways to think. They must trust Christ rather than trust people. They had said, ‘I belong to Paul’ or ‘I belong to Apollos’. ‘I belong to’ was the kind of language that described the relationship of slaves to their master. The Christians at Corinth were making themselves the slaves of people. They do not belong to Paul, Apollos or Peter. Instead, Paul, Apollos and Peter belong to the Christians at Corinth. Those apostles were servants to the Christians.
The whole world belongs to God. So the world belongs to the Christians as well. Christians believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Therefore, Christians have the real life from God that never ends. They can have eternal life now in the present time. They may suffer physical death, but they can never lose this real life from God.
Paul ends with words of praise. Christians possess ‘all things’ because they belong to Christ. And Christ belongs to God. God has a plan. ‘He will bring everything together, things from earth, and things from heaven. Christ will be the head of them all.’ Paul wants the Christians at Corinth to understand that only one person is finally in charge. This person is Jesus.
This is from bibletrack.org.Verse 16 says we are the housing for the Holy Spirit. This concept contrasts with that of the Old Testament where God's dwelling place was inside the Tabernacle and later Solomon's Temple.Yes, today God no longer inhabits a man-made structure, but rather is inside every Believer. Think about it - you're like a mobile sanctuary walking around with God inside. Paul intentionally emphasizes the importance in these verses of displaying ourselves as houses of God...with all the appropriate attention to godliness in our actions. And finally...when you bicker with another mobile house of God, you're just manifesting that you're not allowing God to control your mobile sanctuary. CAN'T WE JUST ALL GET ALONG? Yes! We can...when we are all led by God's Holy Spirit.
The people in Corinth were worshiping a fake god named Aphrodite. Part of the religious service was servicing a whore.... there were prostitutes right there in the church..... and then came the Christians...... The Corinthians loved to argue..... not fight but more like long elaborate debates about certain subjects. So when the news about Christ delivering the antidote to death [being crucified on the cross, laid in a borrowed tomb, and then walking out of the tomb alive] the idea of eternal life was just the ticket. The fountain of youth is one thing.... but eternal life.... now that's worth giving up a little sex for.... right?
It didn't work like that..... the Christians were on fire with the Gospel and they were running headlong into those who wanted things to stay the same.
That's when Paul introduced the "personal" side of the Christian. Hey.... let me be frank here..... there were prostitutes in the church in Corinth.... male and female no doubt..... and they had to make a living somehow..... so the temple building where the Christians were meeting was a brothel.... no wonder there were problems with jealousy.
That moment when a human accepts Christ as their personal Savior..... it doesn't matter what building that person may or may not be standing in. The building isn't saved the human is. What a person believes is personal.
No one can blame me for what they do. I can tell them to do it.... I can badger them.... I can beat them up..... I can step on their blue suede shoes..... BUT I cannot make someone do something they do not agree to do. Everyone is culpable..... for something..... each takes a part.
So Paul says the human body.... not a building.... is now housing the Holy Spirit. God never was really tied to a brick and mortar type of life. He's an indwell kind of God.
I keep a flat rock... about the size of my palm... in the freezer. I'm old and when a pain hits.... or when I'm overheated.... it's there ready to use. The other day hubby was using the rock on my shoulders..... and he mentioned that the rock felt wet.... to which I replied... that's the water in the rock... it's thawing out.... that's what makes it cold....
So this morning.... I'm saying that Christians are like that rock and the Spirit is like that water...... it makes the rock get cold or hot......
I guess I long to become a rock..... Housing the Spirit.
