Spirit and Flesh
(Parallel teachings: Hebrews 5:11-14)
(Thematic parallels: Isaiah 5:1-7)
- 1 And brothers, I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual men, but as I would to fleshly men, as I would to infants in the Anointed.
- 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you weren’t able to receive solid food yet, but you still aren’t able to even now,
- 3 for you’re still fleshly. For where jealousy and quarreling [and pointless divisions] are among you, aren’t you fleshly? And don’t you walk in accordance with man?
- 4 For when someone says: “I’m indeed following Paul”, but another says: “I’m following Apollos”, aren’t you [fleshly] men?
- 5 Therefore, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord granted to each servant.
- 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
- 7 So neither the man planting nor the man watering is anything, but the One causing the growth is God.
- 8 Now, the man planting and the man watering are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12; Ezekiel 18:30 (also quoted/alluded to by Matt 16:27; Rom 2:6; Rev 22:12); numerous other echoes exist
- 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field and God’s building.
The Anointed is the Foundation, and Testing by Fire
(Parallel teachings: Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-8)
(Thematic parallels: Malachi 3:2-3)
- 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, I laid the foundation like a wise master craftsman,fnquotation/allusion to Isaiah 3:3; Exodus 31:1–5; 35:30–35 (Bezalel) but another builds on it. And each man must carefully examine how he builds on it.
- 11 For no one is able to lay another foundation besides the one already laid, which is Jesus the Anointed.
- 12 Now if anyone builds with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or strawfnquotation/allusion to 1 Chronicles 29:2 (cross reference with 1 Kings 5–7, the building materials for Solomon’s temple) on the foundation, then
- 13 the work of each will become obvious. For the day will make it clear because it’s revealed in fire, and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s is.
- 14 If anyone’s work which he built will remain, he will receive his reward.
- 15 If anyone’s work will burn up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet only likefn“like” is literally “so like”. In Greek, this final clause of the sentence is idiomatic of a narrow escape where everything except yourself is lost. For example: a house catching fire and the person escaping through the flames, but losing all his possessions except “the clothes on his back” (to use an English idiom). someone escaping through a fire.
- 16 Don’t you *know that you are God’s temple, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
- 17 If someone ruinously corruptsfn“ruinously corrupts” is one word in Greek, typically translated “destroy” here. It literally means to corrupt, rot, or spoil something so that it wastes away to ruin. It’s typically associated with moral corruption/decay leading to ruin. the temple of God, God will ruinously corrupt him, for God’s temple is holy, which you are.
- 18 Let no one utterly deceive himself: if someone among you thinks himself to be wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he might become wise.
- 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it’s *written:
- “He’s the One trapping the wise in their craftiness.”fnquotation/allusion to Job 5:13
- 20 And again:
- “the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are futile.“fnquotation/allusion to Psalm 94:11
- 21 So then, let no one boast in men, for all things are yours.
- 22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,fn“Cephas” is Aramaic for “a rock”, and is another name for the disciple Peter. or the world, or life, or death, or things *present, or things about to come; all are yours.
- 23 But you belong to the Anointed, and the Anointed belongs to God.