Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. | 1Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. |
2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, | 2I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, |
3for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? | 3for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? |
4For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? | 4When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? |
5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. | 5After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. |
6I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. | 6I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. |
7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. | 7It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. |
8He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. | 8The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. |
9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. | 9For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. |
10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. | 10Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. |
11For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. | 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. |
12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, | 12Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. |
13his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. | 13But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. |
14If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. | 14If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. |
15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. | 15But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. |
16Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? | 16Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? |
17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. | 17God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. |
18Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. | 18Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. |
19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” | 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.” |
20And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” | 20And again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise; he knows they are worthless.” |
21Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, | 21So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— |
22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, | 22whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, |
23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. | 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. |
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