1 Corinthians 3:1-15

Another glorious day! It's kinda funny... I feel more busy now that I'm out of school than when I was in school! Perhaps it's just because I have so much free time I feel like I need to fill, and when I don't have anything to fill it with, I can turn to this! I'm always doing something... It's great, I highly recommend it. Now: on to chapter 3!

Forgive me that I forgot to mention this, but I would definitely advise you to have a Bible while you go over these since I don't quote every verse I reference. It's best to hear what God has to say straight from God's word. It has a bit more power that way. I use NKJV so if you have one of those it would be easiest to follow.

Chapter 3 is 23 verses long and begins with Paul in verses 1-4 condemning the divisions and strife among them. He goes so far as to say that these behaviors place them in the "carnal" category. It seems that unity is quite a big deal, and anger between brothers and sisters in Christ is unacceptable. Once again (if you remember from chapter 1) the sort of divisions he's talking about sound eerily like present day denominations... I am still trying to decide however, whether this present day battle is a battle over separations in the church, or false teaching? Perhaps its a mix of both, who knows? I just know that Paul never intended church to be the way it is today. If someone has insight, don't hesitate to share!

Another one of those "in passing" moments caught my eye in these few verses as well. Paul makes mention of milk and solid food as representation of truths in the gospel that are to be taught based on a certain spiritual maturity level. Now, I know there isn't much chance of determining a certain standard for this. "When they have given 50% of their earnings to the church, then you can tell them that lots of people go to hell" or something ridiculous like that... Obviously we as humans can't really come up with a definite standard for spiritual maturity since we can't see the heart, but Paul seemed to know they weren't ready for what he wanted to tell them since they were still acting like carnal people (v.3). Now, that doesn't exactly explain a standard, but I certainly don't want God's truth held from me because of what I do, even though God's grace wont be held from me based on what I do. This, I suppose, gives me at least one more incentive to follow God and commit myself to Him, letting Him live through me, since if it were up to me... Well I would know very much lets just put it that way.

Wow... Time to move on, we still have 19 verses to go! This next section is on the longer side and indeed has much more to say, although I'll do my best to keep it reasonable.

Paul continues from the last section by reasoning with the people of the church who claim to be "of" a certain person. Perhaps they were accrediting their salvation to that person because Paul asks "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord have to each one?" What the Corinthians apparently didn't understand is that they were not saved by Paul or Apollos. They weren't following Paul's gospel, they were taught the Gospel of Christ and believed it. Again, this bears great resemblance to denominations (in my opinion) as some are named for those who founded them. Paul explains that we as witnesses and preachers of the gospel are not responsible for saving people: "So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (v.7). Only God can make people grow into Him, our job is to provide the necessary information and truths in order to make that happen.

Paul then describes in the next paragraph the Christian life in general. He says that our foundation that we build our life on should be Jesus Christ, but to be careful what we build on it (v.10). It is possible to be saved, yet still waste my life doing worthless things through my own strength, and in the end when it is tested by fire it will become clear how I spent my life. Each person will then receive a reward based on what remains after it is tested (vv.14). This should not be confused with punishment for sin. Christ paid that penalty for all Christians - we will never have to endure that if we have accepted his gift. However, their are heavenly treasures and rewards spoken of in various places in the New Testament - this being one of the - and this is how God will decide what each person gets. Sadly, some people may get nothing and "be saved, yet so as through fire" (v.15).

Well... Chapter 3 still has a lot left to say, and I don't have a lot of time left to say it! I'll be putting up the rest of it tomorrow for those who are interested. I hope you enjoyed 1 Corinthians 3:1-15. Thanks for reading.