1 So I myself, brothers, could not deal with you as spiritual persons, but as creatures of human clay, as merely baby Christians.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you could not take it. Why, you cannot take it even now,
3 for you are still unspiritual. For when there are still jealousy and wrangling among you, are you not still unspiritual and living by a human standard?
4 For when one says, "I belong to Paul's party," and another, "I belong to Apollos' party," are you not acting as mere human creatures?
5 Then what is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Mere servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave each of us his task.
6 I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but it was God who kept the plants growing.
7 So neither the planter nor the waterer counts for much, but God is everything in keeping the plants growing.
8 The planter and the waterer are one in aim, and yet each of us will get his own pay in accordance with his own work,
9 for we belong to God as His fellow-workers; you belong to God as His field to be tilled, as His building to be built.
10 As a skilled architect, in accordance with God's unmerited favor given to me, I laid a foundation, and now another is building upon it. But every builder must be careful how he builds upon it;
11 for no one can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid, that is, Jesus Christ Himself.
12 And whether one puts into the building on the foundation gold or silver or costly stones, or wood or hay or straw,
13 the character of each one's work will come to light, for the judgment day will show it up. This is so, because that day will show itself in fire, and the fire will test the character of each one's work.
14 If the structure which one builds upon it stands the test, he will get his pay.
15 If the structure which one builds is burned up, he will get no pay; and yet he himself will be saved, but just as one who goes through a fire.
16 Are you not conscious that you are God's temple, and that the Spirit of God has His permanent home in you?
17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is sacred to Him, and you are that temple.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If any one of you supposes that he is wise in this world's wisdom, as compared with the rest of you, to become really wise he must become a fool.
19 For this world's wisdom is mere nonsense to God. For the Scripture says, "He who catches the wise with their own cunning,"
20 and again, "The Lord knows that the arguings of the wise are useless."
21 So let no one boast in men. For everything belongs to you --
22 (46:21) Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future -- they all belong to you.
23 Yes, you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.