1Brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as to spiritual people. I had to speak to you as to people of the flesh, as to babies in Christ.
2I fed you with milk, not with solid food. Until now you were not able to take it, and even now you are still not able.
3You are still people of the flesh. There is jealousy among you, and fighting, and divisions. Does that not show that you are of the flesh, and living the way people of the world live?
4One of you says, "I follow Paul," and another says, "I follow Apollos." Are you not people of the flesh?
5So who is Paul, and who is Apollos? They are servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave to each one his work.
6I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.
7So the one who plants is nothing, and the one who waters is nothing. It is God who makes it grow.
8The one who plants and the one who waters are one. Each one will receive his own reward, according to his own work.
9For we work together with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.
10By the grace of God given to me, I laid the foundation like a wise master builder, and someone else is building on it. But let each one be careful how he builds on it.
11For no one can lay any other foundation than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,
13each one's work will be shown for what it is. The day will make it plain, because it will be revealed by fire. The fire will test each one's work, to show what sort it is.
14If the work anyone has built on it lasts, he will receive a reward.
15If anyone's work is burned up, he will lose it. He himself will be saved, but only as one who escapes through fire.
16Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
17If anyone ruins the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.
18Let no one fool himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this world, let him become a fool, so that he may be wise.
19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As it is written, "He catches the wise in their own cleverness."
20And again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are empty."
21So let no one boast about men. For all things are yours:
22whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things now, or things to come. All are yours,
23and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.