In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Paul addresses a certain group of people who are infants of Christ, but people of the flesh. I think this refers to those who are saved, but their faith is still lukewarm and they often turn back to the things of the flesh. Paul says that he fed these people with spiritual milk instead of solid food, which probably means a dumbed down version of the Gospel. The church of Corinth may have thought that they were spiritual and godly, but their jealousy and conflict showed otherwise. Although nobody is perfect and no one is perfectly spiritual like Jesus was, I think there are levels to spirituality and relationship with God, and our relationship with God is reflected in how we act and have relationships with humans as well. In verse 4, Paul gives an example of the strife. The Corinthians often dispute about following Paul and Apollos, which is also addressed in 1 Corinthians 1.
Paul shifts his focus to the idea of spiritual work in verses 5-9. He planted the seeds in the Corinthians while Apollos watered the seeds, but God was the one who gave the growth in the end. Paul reminds the Corinthians that he, Apollos, and God are all one in purpose. This picture of watering plants is similar to the popular one about reaping and sowing in the Gospel books. If we think about it, none of us can take responsibility in converting someone because we aren’t the ones actually converting them. It is God using us to plant seeds or water, but God is the one actually growing the people. That should get rid of any pride that comes along with conversion as well since we aren’t the ones who convert, but it is God. We are God’s fellow workers and we will be rewarded for our labors. I personally asked the question of why we would be rewarded if God is the one taking credit for the conversion. I think it is because although human works don’t cause conversion, God rewards obedience regardless of the results. In the last verse, Paul shifts again from a field to a building.
Finally, in verses 10-15, Paul creates an analogy between Church and building on a foundation. First of all, Paul gives glory to God for working through him. He gives us a baseline for the church and he also gives us a baseline for what he means in the few verses after that. Paul may have laid the foundation, but he is not the builder of the body of the church. That is up to the church leaders, but also the church citizens: us. No one can lay a different foundation than Jesus, but the body of the building may be a different material. Now we have a choice in building materials: gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw. Gold, silver, and precious stones are the ones that do not disintegrate in the fire while wood, hay, and straw disappear when tested. Those who built with good material will be rewarded while those whose buildings burned down will not be rewarded even if they have faith. Again, this talks about our own labors being rewarded. Now we know that we have to build with gold, silver, or precious stones, but what does that even mean? I think the biggest thing when building the body of the building is the same as the foundation. Is the body of the church still built on Christ? Are we building with Christ-centered ideas and motives, or are we acting from fleshly desires? Are we encouraging each other, or are we filled with pride? Are we relying on our own wisdom, or on the wisdom of God? These are just things to think about going forward in building up the church.
What does this mean today? Everything I just talked about can be applied today. When I asked myself those questions at the end, not all of them were good and godly answers, and it is clear what I have to work on as a Christian and as a brother in my family in Christ. I think we should have a lot of urgency going forward because there will be a Day that is coming where we will stand before God and give an account of all of our works and labor to Him. Those who believe will be vindicated, but not everyone will have the same level of labor that has been done in their lives. I pray that we can all build up the church together with strong materials.
Thankfulness:
• Spending lots of time with God
• Deep deep conversation last night. Thankful for Jacob and Aaron. Sorry for not doing QT!
• Dad coming back safely
• Gym and Teens and McDonalds with my friend
• Job finally haha