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Tag: 1 corinthians 3

  • Christ’s Contractor in Corinth

    Christ’s Contractor in Corinth

    You are God’s building

    According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation,

    and another is building on it.

    But each man must be careful how he builds on it.

    1 Corinthians 3:10 LSB

    The Architect of the Corinthian Church

    ἀρχιτέκτων – architektōn

    a master builder, an architect, the superintendent in the erection of buildings

    APOSTLES, all ministers of the Lord Jesus, Paul points out to the Corinthians, each have different roles at various times in the process of growing the church and your faith. 

    So why do you have divisions claiming that you belong to that powerful preacher Apollos OR Cephas of the Twelve OR Paul?

    The apostle’s approach to these Hellenists of Corinth:

    I am just an architect with the blueprint for you to use as you grow in your faith and as a church. Give all attention to the Foundation.

    Who is building on it?

    Apollos. AND other ministers to the Corinthians.

    Apollos and Paul – Apostles crossing paths

    Paul laid a foundation. It is a picture familiar to Greeks not only of buildings and walls, but a great metaphor for first principles establishing truth.

    I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it.

    1 Corinthians 1:10b NKJV

    The Master Builder OR Architect is no more important than those laborers who continue to build on the foundation. The Architect or MASTER builder here issues instructions to the laborers similar to what any superintendent of an important project of work might do:

    But let each one take heed how he builds on it.

    1 Corinthians 1:10c NKJV

    But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful.

    1 Corinthians 1:10c NLT

    The ARCHITECT (Paul) writes a caution using yet another metaphor for the first principles of building a CHURCH.

    In fact, Paul points out, the foundation has already been built!

    For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

    Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 3:11 NKJV
    Such imagery once familiar through worship Hymns with a Scriptural foundation, i.e. "The Church's One Foundation" [is Jesus Christ our Lord].
    Corinthian Greek columns with Jesus Christ inscribed at the foundation and wise architect (in Greek) imprinted above.

    the Day shall declare it

    The Corinthians and others of the Hellenist Aegean walked in ruins of great temples erected to many gods — glorious buildings of the Macedonian Alexander conquered, destroyed and being rebuilt by a distant Rome.

    from temples of ancient Corinth Corinthian-style columns

    Paul puts our current work on the building (be it a temple, church building or the Church itself) into the context were WE are its assigned builders.

    Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear..

    Do you see that every LABORER'S work matters here when building on the Great foundation before the work is finished (by many others)?

    If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

    1 Corinthians 1:14 NKJV

    The Wages of Work for Christ

    REWARD! (Perhaps you think of it as a ‘BONUS!’)

    YOU do not receive a bonus reward until completion of the work. What if the building is not finished before your death?

    • What good is any reward for a lowly minister of the Corinthians building a church which will only be completed AFTER our death and then destroyed by others?

    Reward – μισθός – misthos

    dues paid for work, wages, hire

    Okay, I get that; maybe a bigger wage for some work.

    reward: used of the fruit naturally resulting from toils and endeavours

    MORE: Pay attention here, and then we will get back to Paul's text.
    1. in both senses, rewards and punishments
    2. of the rewards which God bestows, or will bestow, upon good deeds and endeavours
    3. of punishments

    Paul has already reminded us of this two-sided coin of God’s reward for our labor.

    It is the SAME REWARD to which the apostle points for laborers in the field.

    each man’s work will be revealed.

    For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire;

    and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.

    1 Corinthians 3:13 HNV
    and the flip-side of the coin of REWARD:

    If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.

    Picture of the Completed Church

    If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward..

    Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

    1 Corinthians 3:14,16 NKJV
    Corinthian Greek columns with Jesus Christ inscribed at the foundation and wise architect (in Greek) imprinted above.

    If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

    Let no man glory in men

    Do you recall the divisions of the Corinthians caused by their loyalty to a preacher?

    18 Let no one deceive himself.

    If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

    19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.

    Is he writing to me?

    Paul suggests that “anyone among you” Corinthians may seem like the wisdom-worshiping Hellenist philosophers of ancient Greece (330-63 B.C.). Of course the present age belongs to Rome governing Corinth for more than a century now.

    And counter to Greek culture Paul advises, “let him become a fool.”

    What we of this Common Era age may not understand is that the wise [sophos] in this world are not entirely exact opposites of fools [μωρός] which suggests a root word [mystērion] which means:

    • a hidden thing, secret, mystery
      • generally mysteries, religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to ordinary mortals

    Have an open mind to the wisdom of GOD.

    Let no man deceive himself. KJV

    Paul has already written:

    But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory..

    1 Corinthians 2:7 NKJV

    Avoid Worldly Wisdom

    Now the Paul writes, as the Apostle often does, quoting Scripture:

    For it is written,

    “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; quoting Job:

    He catches the wise in their craftiness,

    and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.

    Job 5:13 BSB

    20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile,” recalling Psalm 94:11.

    Psalm 94:
    1 O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs—
    O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!
    2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth;
    Render punishment to the proud.
    3 Lord, how long will the wicked,
    How long will the wicked triumph?
    8 Understand, you senseless among the people;
    And you fools, when will you be wise?
    9 He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?
    He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
    10 He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct,
    He who teaches man knowledge?
    11 The Lord knows the thoughts of man,
    That they are futile.
    Had Paul possibly previously taught the hymn of PSALM 94 to the Corinthians?

    NO Boasting in anthrōpos

    So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours..

    1 Corinthians 3:21 NIV
    • So let no one boast..
    • Therefore let no man glory in men.

    It’s all the same word: καυχάομαι – kauchaomai —

     glory (23x), boast (8x), rejoice (4x), make boast (2x), joy (1x).

    Again, Paul has already introduced the all-important dichotomy between giving GOD glory (boasting in God) and giving various mortal men, even church leaders such glory.

    • that no flesh should glory in His presence. – 1 Corinthians 1:29 KJV
    • therefore, as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:31 NIV

    Human Leaders

    ἄνθρωπος – anthrōpos

    DIVISIONS, Paul asks?

    Do you GLORY over mere men like your PREACHER or some APOSTLE?

    31X Paul speaks of men [anthrōpos] in 1 Corinthians, the most in any Epistle.

    And what does the Apostle say?

    For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

    “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—

    1 Corinthians 1:25 NIV, 2:9b NIV

    3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

    Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

    1 Corinthians 4:1 NKJV

    This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.

    1 Cor 4:1 NIV

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  • 1 Corinthians 3 Meat for Ministers

    1 Corinthians 3 Meat for Ministers

    and Milk for New Babes

    In his letter to the Corinthians the Apostle typically begins with encouragement.

    I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.

    Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians 1:4-5 CSB

    And Paul will, as is his custom, close this epistle written in Greek with the same personalness of the Lord Jesus.

    The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.

    I Corinthians 16:23-24 CSB

    However HERE in the meat of his message Paul addresses the Corinthian church most pointedly, especially its ministers and leaders.

    AND the Apostle also will close with a CURSE of those who would divide Christ by their own means.

    blessing of curse you can choose

    If anyone does not love the Lord [does not obey and respect and believe in Jesus Christ and His message], he is to be accursed. Maranatha (O our Lord, come)!

    1 Corinthians 16:22 AMP

    1 Corinthians 3:

    Lest we take a more common casual contemporary approach let us begin with the King James Version.

    And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

    I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

    1 Corinthians 3:1-2 KJV

    for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

    1 Corinthians 3:3 NKJV
    There it is: the Apostle's initial summary of the problem reported to him of the Corinthian church. 

    NOTE a few of the HEADINGS various Bibles use for their serious doctrinal issues:
    • The Church and Its Leaders
    • Divisions in the Church
    • Sectarianism Is Carnal
    • Jesus Christ, Our Foundation
    • But I cannot yet call you spiritual

    Are you Spiritual? OR Carnal?

    Christian, (brother, as Paul addresses the Corinthian readers, who would also read the Apostle’s letter to the whole church, including women) — Dear MINISTER to your Corinthian community — HAVE YOU RECEIVED CHRIST?

    or DO you just lift up the preaching of one minister over the teaching of another?

    For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

    HEAR in your heart Paul's CONTRAST of those gathered together as the Corinthian church.

    πνευματικός – pneumatikos

    Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit

    1 Corinthians 3:1a NIV

    AND the Apostle has already brought our consequent condition IN CHRIST to the forefront.

    ANNOUNCEMENT of the Testimony of GOD
    1 Corinthians 2

    These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual…

    But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

    1 Corinthians 2:15 NKJV
    Judge ALL things, 
     yet judge NO ONE.

    Are you and your church doing any better than the Corinthians?

    Fleshy Carnal ‘christians‘

    Paul points to those unbelievers from the world who join us to worship God.

    WE ought to influence those who are BABES in their FLESH and FAITH without including their carnality so as to be like them.

    CARNAL iS NOT a nice enough word to describe someone sitting next to you on Sunday in your evangelical 21st century C.E. ‘church‘ is it?

    Never-the-less, WE all know what WE are by NATURE 
    and what we were before confessing Christ.

    Some translations of the BIBLE describe our carnal ‘worldliness‘ as IN THE FLESH.

    The KJV translates Strong’s G4559 in the following manner: carnal (9x), fleshly (2x).

    • having the nature of flesh, i.e. under the control of the animal appetites
      • governed by mere human nature not by the Spirit of God
      • having its seat in the animal nature or aroused by the animal nature
      • human: with the included idea of depravity

    The Humanist by embracing ALL humanity denies our demonstrable depravity as godless creatures of desire.

    Roger@TalkofJesus.com

    PAUL had nurtured the Corinthians with SPIRITUAL MILK as babes at the breast. The Corinthians, a NEW church of Hellenists, naturally admired oratory and great emotional appeals. Christ through Paul adopted these children (though they were adults) drawn even as Greeks to this JESUS of the JEWS.

    Powerful Preaching to powerless Christians
    Luke describes Apollos’ preaching as eloquent

    I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.

    1 Corinthians 3:2-3a NKJV
    IS IT STILL THE MILK YOU REQUIRE, BELOVED EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN OF THIS COMMON ERA TIME AND PLACE?

    What makes US Carnal?

    Paul tells the Corinthian believers what to judge — how to identify in others MINISTERS claiming Christ.

    • ζῆλος – zēlos – ENVYING
    • ἔρις – eris – STRIFE
    • διχοστασία – dichostasia – DIVISIONS among you

    After sending a second letter to the Corinthians next year, Paul will write to the Romans in A.D. 57:

    Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

    Romans 16:17 NKJV
    In essence, give them back to the world and the enemy of Christ.

    Mere Men, Mere Ministers

    NKJV 3:4 
    For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

    The rhetorical QUESTION of personal accountability in Greek reads:

    οὐκ ἄνθρωποί ἐστε

    (I imagine that you will recognize the word.)
    more literally:

    eimi [are you] ou [not] anthrōpos

    • LSB v.3 for you are still fleshly [sarkikos]
    • .. are you not fleshly [sarkikos]
    • are you not walking like mere men? [anthrōpos]?
    • are you not carnal [sarkikos] and behaving like mere men [anthrōpos]?
    • v.4 .. ARE YOU NOT anthrōpos?

    The Apostle goes on to point out through his apologia that PERSONALITIES do not matter OR who it was that BAPTIZED you (where you publically confessed to ALL that JESUS CHRIST is LORD!)

    Ministers of Christ

    5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?

    1 Corinthians 3:5 NKJV

    The Apostle had pointed to their divisions by minister and he will mention Peter [Cephas] even more in his rebuke of their schisms.

    • Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” – 1 Cor. 1:12
    • whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, – 1 Corinthians 3:22 LSB

    Paul uses imagery of sowing [planting a new church in various places] and watering [the very symbol of baptism, cleansing and in a sense the milk of pure nourishment required for growth].

    I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

    So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

    8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one..

    one? (as opposed to divided?)

    What does the Apostle mean by this?

    Paul will later emphasize the ONENESS of spirit in ministers of the church writing later in this letter:

    But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

    For even as the body is one G1520  and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one G1520 body, so also is Christ.

    1 Corinthians 6:17; 12:12 LSB

    3:8b ..and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

    9a For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field..

    the Reward of your Labor

    The Apostle now changes the metaphor and picture of faith for the Corinthian church to visualize in his Epistle.

    For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. - 1 Cor. 3:9 NLT

    ..and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

    θεοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν συνεργοί θεοῦ γεώργιον θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐστε

    1 Cor. 3:9 TEXTUS RECEPTUS 
    For those of us who do not understand Paul's eloquent GREEK text, rather than leaning on a single ENGLISH translation let's observe some of what we know from Paul's Greek words in this verse.

    For we are laborers together

    synergos – συνεργός

    • Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers G4904 in Christ Jesus – Romans 16:3
    • Timotheus my workfellow, G4904 – Romans 16:23a

    with God [THEOS], you are God’s

    geōrgion – γεώργιον

    I didn't know this one. a (presumed) derivative of γεωργός (G1092) husbandman

    husbandry – a cultivated field, husbandry (as in the animal husbandry of tending sheep), tillage (tilling soil for planting and growth)

    It is the WORK -early work – BEFORE the harvest.

    You are God’s farming, translates the HNV and in most English translations: you are God’s field.

    SO Paul has been preaching that it does not matter to YOU THE SOIL in Corinth (or in your home church) the names of the MINISTERS who labored in you.

    EACH will have their separate reward.

    The Apostle then builds on this:

    You are God’s [Theos]

    oikodomē – οἰκοδομή

    metaph. edifying, edification

    the act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, happiness, holiness

    ..and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. 1 Cor. 3:8b RSV

    What wage have you earned for edifying other Christians?

    (Paul will speak more to this later.)

    NEXT: Christ’s Contractor

    According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation..

    1 Corinthians 3:10a NKJV – Paulos klētos apostolos iēsous christos

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