1 Cor 3,13

Chapter 3

1

The Immaturity of the Corinthians

I could not, friends, speak to you as spiritual people but as worldly ones, for you are still infants in Christ.

2

I gave you milk, not solid food,

3

because you weren’t ready for it, and even now, you can’t receive it because you’re still fleshly. As long as jealousy and conflict exist among you, I can only say that you’re acting on a fleshly level and behaving like ordinary people.

4

While one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ what are you but people still on a human level?

5

What are Apollos and Paul? They are ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each of them.

6

I planted, and Apollos watered the plant, but God made it grow.

7

Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything; it is God who makes the plant grow.

8

The person who plants and the one who waters work together toward the same goal, and the Lord will reward each according to their efforts.

9

We are coworkers with God, but you are God’s field and building.

10

As a good builder, given the foundation I was trusted with, I laid it, and others must build on it. Everyone should be careful about how they build on it.

11

No one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12

Then, if someone builds with gold on this foundation, another with silver and precious stones, or with wood, bamboo, or straw,

13

the work of each will be revealed for what it is. The day of judgment will show this because fire will expose everything. The fire will test each person’s work.

14

If your work survives the fire, you will be rewarded;

15

but if your work burns up, you will suffer loss. You will be saved, but it will be as if passing through fire.

16

Do you realize that you are God’s temple and that his Spirit dwells in you?

17

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

18

Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you thinks he’s wise in the ways of the world, let him become a fool so he can be truly wise.

19

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As Scripture says: God traps the wise in their own wisdom.

20

It also states: The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is futile.

21

Because of this, let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you;

22

Paul, Apollos, Cephas—life, death, the present, and the future. Everything is yours,

23

and you belong to Christ, and Christ is of God.

Chapter 13

1

Hymn to Christian Love

If I could speak all the human and angelic languages but had no love, I would just be making noise like a clanging cymbal or sounding brass.

2

If I had the gift of prophecy, understanding all mysteries, possessing all knowledge, and had faith enough to move mountains but lacked love, I would be nothing.

3

If I gave all I owned to the poor and even sacrificed my body to be burned, but am without love, it would be do no good for me.

4

Love is patient and kind, without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. It is not rude, nor does it seek its own interests.

5

Love overcomes anger and forgives offenses.

6

It does not rejoice in wrongdoings but celebrates the truth.

7

Love forgives everything, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

8

Love will never end. Prophecies may cease, tongues will be silent, and knowledge will disappear.

9

For knowledge only partly understands the truth, and the same is true for prophecy.

10

But when what is perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

11

When I was a child, I thought and reasoned like a child, but when I grew up, I put away childish ways.

12

Now, we see dimly as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now, we know only part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. Now, faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love.

Commentaries

3:1 - 3:23

The Immaturity of the Corinthians.

After establishing the essential Christian principles that every community of believers should be built upon, Paul addresses the specific issues faced by his beloved Corinthians, starting with the main one: the envy and discord that had divided the community into factions (4). He then works to dismantle these factions rooted in personality cults: “Who is Apollos? Who is Paul?” (5). Ministers and servants of faith are not the owners of the community. They plant, water, build, and encourage growth; that is, “we are God’s fellow workers” (9), but only God causes the growth, and “no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (11), cf. Ephesians 2:20-22. Paul’s insightful perspective offers us a powerful conclusion: “All things are yours, you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (22f). 

13:1 - 13:13

Hymn to Christian Love.

Just as the body functions and is animated by organic processes, in the Church these are carried out by the super charism of love. At this point, Paul’s language becomes lyrical as he praises love.
How can this love be explained? Setting aside all definitions, Paul passionately dismisses and relativizes every human gift, quality, effort, renunciation, and sacrifice that is not motivated by love-charity (1-3). Then, he explains how a person who loves behaves (4-7), concluding that, ultimately, when we meet God face to face, faith and hope will have fulfilled their purpose and only love will endure forever. Only love for Christ and His body, now inseparable, can create community. As St. John of the Cross said, “on the last day we will be examined on love.” 

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