1 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 3, Verses 1-11
“The Only True Foundation!”
[3-8-22]
Review: “Spiritual Truth Only Comes From The Holy Spirit!”
1 Corinthians 2:13-16) [NAS] which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
QUESTION: What is the idea here?
ANSWER: The reason Paul’s preaching sounds foolish to the unredeemed is because he’s expressing “spiritual thoughts” with spiritual words.”
14) But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
QUESTION: Why can’t a “natural men” accept these truths that are so simple to us?
ANSWER: These truths can’t be understood the way that some come to understand mathematics and grammar. They can only be understood through the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
QUESTION: What is my point here?
ANSWER: If you understand some Spiritual truths it’s not because you’re brilliant; it’s because the Holy Spirit has revealed them to you by grace.
NOTE: If you know some Spiritual truths and you think you’re all that because you do, then you don’t know anything yet.
1 Corinthians 8:2) [KJV] And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.
(CEV) In fact, people who think they know so much don’t know anything at all.
15) But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.
16) For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
QUESTION: What is Paul’s point here?
ANSWER: We who are saved, and therefore Spiritual, can understand these things. However, the unsaved will be unable to understand us, and they will render judgments about us that we should not be discouraged by.
QUESTION: Why do we understand Spiritual truths?
ANSWER: The Holy Spirit has revealed them to us, and we now have the mind of Christ.
This Week’s Lesson: “The Only True Foundation!”
1 Corinthians 3:1-11) [NAS] And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ.
2) I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,
3) for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
4) For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?
(CEV) Some of you say that you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn’t that how ordinary people behave?
Remember From Lesson One:
1 Corinthians 1:10-13) [NAS] Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11) For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
12) 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.”
13) Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
QUESTION: How did Paul have to speak to the Corinthian believers?
ANSWER: He had to speak to them “as to men of flesh.”
QUESTION: As “men of flesh,” what did Paul call them?
ANSWER: He called them “babes in Christ.”
QUESTION: What kind of spiritual food did Paul feed them?
***ANSWER: He had to feed them spiritual milk; i.e., baby food.
QUESTION: What do we learn from this?
ANSWER: Correcting bad conduct is spiritual milk. It’s not solid food; meaning it is not strong doctrine.
QUESTION: Why did Paul refer to them as “men of flesh”?
ANSWER: He did this because there was “jealousy and strife” among them.
QUESTION: What was that a sign of?
ANSWER: They were walking “in the flesh,” not “in the Spirit.” That means they were “of flesh,” not of the Spirit.
QUESTION: What did Paul point out to these Corinthian believers regarding their conduct?
ANSWER: They were demonstrating by their conduct that they were “mere men.”
QUESTION: What did Paul mean by that?
ANSWER: They were acting like people who weren’t born again, who weren’t empowered by the Holy Spirit, who weren’t new creatures in Christ.
5) What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.
6) I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
7) So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8) Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
(GW) The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive a reward for his own work.
QUESTION: What does Paul teach us regarding the work of ministry?
ANSWER: Note:
- Ministers are mere servants doing what God has given them the opportunity to do.
- One minister plants the seed; another waters the seed; but only God can cause the seed to grow.
- It’s not the ministers who should receive praise, but rather, give God the glory.
- We’re all working for the same goal, the growth of the seed.
- Each minister will be rewarded according to his/her faithfulness to God’s call.
9) For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
(GNB) For we are partners working together for God, and you are God’s field. You are also God’s building.
QUESTION: What do we learn from this?
ANSWER: Everything a minister does should be done with the understanding that it’s God’s will that must be done. Those we minister to belong to God; they are His field; they are His building.
10) According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it.
Concerning “master builder,”
“denoting rank or degree, and a workman, builder. A head or master workman or builder, an architect” [WordStudy].
QUESTION: What is Paul saying here?
***ANSWER: He is the one who first brought the Gospel to Corinth. He, as far as ministers go, began the work there.
11) For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(GW) After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that foundation is Jesus Christ.
QUESTION: What is Paul saying here?
ANSWER: He taught them that Jesus Christ is the foundation that one must build on.
***NOTE: Moses’ Law is not the foundation of the Christian church; Jesus is.
1 CORINTHIANS
Chapter 3, Verses 10-23
“How Is Doctrinal Error Judged?”
[3-13-22]
Review: ““The Only True Foundation!”
1 Corinthians 3:8-9) [NAS] Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
(GW) The one who plants and the one who waters have the same goal, and each will receive a reward for his own work.
QUESTION: What does Paul teach us regarding the work of ministry?
ANSWER: Note:
- Ministers are mere servants doing what God has given them the opportunity to do.
- One minister plants the seed; another waters the seed; but only God can cause the seed to grow.
- It’s not the ministers who should receive praise, but rather, give God the glory.
- We’re all working for the same goal, the growth of the seed.
- Each minister will be rewarded according to his/her faithfulness to God’s call.
9) For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
(GNB) For we are partners working together for God, and you are God’s field. You are also God’s building.
QUESTION: What do we learn from this?
ANSWER: Everything a minister does should be done with the understanding that it’s God’s will that must be done. Those we minister to belong to God; they are His field; they are His building.
This Week’s Lesson: “How Is Doctrinal Error Judged?”
1 Corinthians 3:10-23) [NAS] According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it.
“master builder,” – “denoting rank or degree, and a workman, builder. A head or master workman or builder, an architect” [WordStudy].
QUESTION: What is Paul saying here?
ANSWER: He is the one who first brought the Gospel to Corinth. He, as far as ministers go, began the work there.
11) For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
(GW) After all, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, and that foundation is Jesus Christ.
QUESTION: What is Paul saying here?
ANSWER: He taught them that Jesus Christ is the foundation that one must build on.
NOTE: Moses’ Law is not the foundation of the Christian church; Jesus is.
12) Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
QUESTION: What are the three good things you can build upon the foundation with?
ANSWER: They are “gold, silver,” and “precious stones.”
QUESTION: What are the three bad things you can build upon the foundation with?
ANSWER: They are “wood, hay,” and “straw.”
13) each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
NOTE: What is this fire being spoken of? “the fire of persecution” [Macknight]. “the approaching destruction of Jerusalem” [Whitby]. “time in general” [Grotius; Rosemuller]. “the Day of Judgment” [Barnes].
QUESTION: What is wrong with “wood, hay,” and “straw” building materials?
ANSWER: They will be burned up by the fire that tests the work.
QUESTION: What is good about “gold, silver,” and “precious stones”?
ANSWER: They will stand the test of fire.
14) If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward.
15) If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.
“Eternal salvation. His work is burned up completely and hopelessly, but he himself escapes destruction because he is really a saved man a real believer in Christ” [Robertson].
QUESTION: What happens if you build on the foundation with “gold, silver,” and “precious stones”?
**ANSWER: You will “receive a reward.”
QUESTION: What happens if you build on the foundation with “wood, hay,” and “straw”?
ANSWER: You will “suffer loss;” but you “shall be saved.”
16) Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17) If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
QUESTION: What are the six building materials referring to?
ANSWER: They represent the various doctrines that are taught to the Christian Church.
QUESTION: How do I know that?
ANSWER: Christian doctrine/teaching is what this chapter is about. Paul laid the foundation of/ taught them the doctrine of “Jesus Christ.” He taught them that they must place their faith in Christ alone; not Christ and the Jewish Law.
NOTE: Paul planted the seed/the Word of God among the Corinthians and Apollos watered that seed by reinforcing the doctrine of salvation is by faith in Christ, plus nothing [vs. 6]. That seed that took root formed the foundation. Then other teachers came along and planted other seed, seed that was different from what Paul planted; or, other teachers came along and built upon, through their teachings, the foundation Paul had laid, through his teachings. Those, like Apollos, who used the same seed/taught the same doctrine, will be rewarded. Those who taught conflicting doctrines are divided into two groups:
- Those who are saved but whose labor of teaching will not be rewarded [vs. 14];
- Those who will be destroyed [vs. 17]; i.e., the heritics.
QUESTION: Wait a minute, isn’t this passage teaching about smoking, drinking, and doing drugs?
ANSWER: Absolutely not!
Matthew 15:11, 17-20) [NAS] What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’”
17) “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
18) But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘’unclean.’’
19) For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
20) These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’”
NOTE: Smoking does not defile a man! The nicotine enters his body through his mouth. Jesus said that those things that to “into a man’s mouth” do not defile him/make him unclean.
*18) Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise.
19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”;
20) and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”
21) So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you,
22) 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,
(ERV) Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, and the future–all these are yours.
23) and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.
QUESTION: What was leading Christians to get caught up with who is the best preacher nonsense?
ANSWER: Paul used these reputable ministers to point to the foolishness of the believers at Corinth aligning themselves with others who were buying into error, and separating themselves from those who were clinging to truth.
NOTE: You don’t belong to the preacher; the preacher belongs to you, the church.