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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>1 Corinthians 3 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_corinthians/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/1_corinthians/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > 1 Corinthians 3</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_corinthians/2.htm" title="1 Corinthians 2">◄</a> 1 Corinthians 3 <a href="../1_corinthians/4.htm" title="1 Corinthians 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/1_corinthians/3.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Paul and Apollos, Servants of Christ</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Dear brothers and sisters,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>for 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? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>When 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?</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>After 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Because 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>But 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>But 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.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> you? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“He traps the wise</p><p class="line2">in the snare of their own cleverness.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a></p><p class="b"/><p class="m"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And again,</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise;</p><p class="line2">he knows they are worthless.”<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a></p><p class="b"/><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">f</span></a> or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/3-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:1a </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">Brothers.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:1b </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">to people who have the Spirit.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:16 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">among.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:19 </span><span class="ft">Job 5:13.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:20 </span><span class="ft">Ps 94:11.</span><br><span class="fn">f</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:22 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">Cephas.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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