1 Corinthians 3:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

NIV: and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

NASB: and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

CSB: and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

NLT: and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

KJV: And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

NKJV: And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Paul has written to the Christians in Corinth that they should not limit themselves to following one Christian teacher or another. After all, God has given to them the service of several Christian teachers, including Paul, Apollos, and Peter. Why should the Corinthians declare themselves dependent on one and reject the others? His presumption here is that this applies to multiple teachers of legitimate truth (1 Corinthians 3:12–15). Paul is not, in any sense, telling believers to accept every single person who claims to have spiritual knowledge (James 3:1; Galatians 1:8–9) .

Instead, he has urged them to see that, as heirs with Christ, everything that is His is theirs, too. This even includes the world, life, death, the present time, and the future. Belonging to Christ brings with it enormous and endless gifts. We can, and should, seek to benefit from the spiritual wisdom of any godly teacher (Proverbs 24:6; 1 Corinthians 12:12–13), rather than artificially separating ourselves from other Christians over which teacher we prefer.

Paul adds that Christ is God's. Taken together, Paul's writings do not mean to say Christ is separate from God or that God "owns" Christ in a crass sense. The three persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist together as one God. We come to God through Christ. Christ "lives to" God and to nothing else, though, mysteriously, both are one.

First Corinthians 3:16–23 is the third metaphor Paul uses to explain the relationship between works, spiritual growth, and God's judgment of our efforts. An emphasis here is on the superiority of God's wisdom compared to the fallible knowledge of man, echoing statements from chapters 1 and 2. Paul's main point here, again, is that we ought to focus on allegiance to Christ and His will, rather than being divided over loyalty to different human teachers.

Paul cannot call the Corinthian Christians ''spiritual'' people. Though they are in Christ, they continue to live to the flesh. They are spiritual infants, not ready for solid food. Divisions among them prove they are still serving themselves, picking sides in a senseless debate between Christian teachers. Paul insists that both he and Apollos are mere servants of the Lord and co-workers. They are not in competition. Those who lead the Corinthians must build carefully because their work will be tested on the day of the Lord. Christian leaders who build the church will have their work judged by Christ to see if they have built on the foundation of Christ. All human wisdom will be shown to be futile and worthless.

First Corinthians 3 follows Paul's teaching that only spiritual people can understand the wisdom of God. Paul cannot fully call the Corinthian Christians spiritual people, though, because they continue to live of the flesh, as if they were still infants trapped in an immature condition. Evidence includes the divisions among them. Paul insist that he and Apollos are both servants of the same master. The Corinthians should follow God, not them. Those whose work is worthless will suffer loss, but they will be saved. After this, Paul will expound on the idea that believers ought to set Christ as their example, rather than being defined in terms of their earthly leaders.

First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the New Testament. Paul writes to a church immersed in a city associated with trade, but also with corruption and immorality. These believers are struggling to properly apply spiritual gifts and to resist the ungodly practices of the surrounding culture. Paul's letter gives instructions for real-life concerns such as marriage and spirituality. He also deals with the importance of unity and gives one of the Bible's more well-known descriptions of love in chapter 13.