◄ 1 Corinthians 3 Devotional Commentary ►
1 Corinthians 3:1
There was disorder in the church at Corinth and division within the congregation. The teachings that Paul had given to these believers was being ignored. They had become carnal and needed their minds to be renewed and their hearts to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.
They were focused on themselves, instead of looking to Jesus. read more...
1 Corinthians 3:3
Paul teaches that there are two types of people in the world, the saved and the unsaved. But he then expands his teaching to show that believers also fall into two categories, spiritual Christians and carnal Christians. Those that are growing and maturing in the faith are called "spiritual," and those that are not are labelled "carnal."
The meaning that Paul applies to the word "spiritual" is read more...
1 Corinthians 3:4
Paul was very concerned about the disorder, division, and internal disputes that were erupting in the Corinthian Church. It seems that little groups or different sects were forming within the Body of Christ, with each one stating their preference for a different leader.
Some were arguing that Apollos was a superior teacher to Paul and vice read more...
1 Corinthians 3:9
HOW ASTONISHING, that we are fellow-workers with God. We are His field and His holy building! Through us, He wants to bring forth fruit for our eternal benefit - to bring forth 10-fold, 50-fold, 100-fold fruit. We are living stones that are being built into a holy habitation for the Lord. He desires to use us for His greater glory and by His grace, has taken up residence within our mortal bodies, as He supernaturally conforms us read more...
1 Corinthians 3:11
During His earthly ministry, Peter confessed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The Father had revealed this wonderful truth to Peter, and it was upon this stupendous revelation that Christ would build His church. The foundation of the Church would be built on the one and only Rock of Salvation, "and upon this Rock I will build my Church," were the words of Christ, "and the gates of hell read more...
1 Corinthians 3:15
As believers, we are saved by grace through faith, and once we are part of God's family, we are to mature in the faith and to live our Christian life as unto the Lord. As believers, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are living stones being built up into a spiritual house.
Having started our Christian pilgrimage by grace through faith, we are to continue living our Christian life the same way. We do this by depending read more...
1 Corinthians 3:16
It is an amazing privilege as well as a huge responsibility to realise that as Christians our frail, human body is a temple of God. One result of trusting in Jesus as Saviour is to have God's Holy Spirit come and take up permanent residence within our mortal frame.
In warning the carnal Christians in Corinth that they were seeking to build up the Church by means of their own might and wisdom rather than the wisdom and strength of read more...
1 Corinthians 3:19
Paul plunges into a section of disciplinary teaching in this chapter, because of the shocking divisions that were taking place within the congregation. Their behaviour towards each other reflected the carnality of the unsaved, causing petty jealousies and strife to divide them.
When Christians behave like the unsaved, it mars their testimony, stunts their spiritual growth, and causes the Holy Spirit to be quenched in their lives read more...
1 Corinthians 3:21
Paul was the apostle appointed by God to reveal many mysteries to the Church that had been hidden from man's understanding and which the former prophets of old longed to look into. Paul is a teacher who builds up the theme of his teaching in a logical progression which has its ultimate focus on the face of the lovely Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of grace.
Having reiterated the principal that God is the source of all wisdom and read more...
1 Corinthians 3:23
When we get our eyes off the Lord, our eyes are on the wrong things.
The believers in Corinth had taken their eyes off the Lord and were arguing about the qualities or deficiencies of their favourite teachers and preachers. Some preferred Paul's style, and others were more partial to Apollos or Peter. How foolish it was of them to take their eyes off the singular subject of Scripture and squabble about the credentials of the read more...
1 Corinthians 3:23
Christ is the anointed of God - the Messiah - the One chosen by the Father to be pre-eminent among humanity. A perfect Man Who alone can save us from our sins and bestow upon us eternal life. If we belong to Christ and He belongs to God, it is beholden upon us to know more and more of Him.
When we start to look to Who Christ is and how He impacts every aspect of our life and death, we discover that there is nothing more vital read more...