1 Corinthians 3-4

What’s Happening?

The Corinthians were supposed to follow Jesus, but were captivated by teachers who looked nothing like him. They prided themselves on who followed the most popular teacher. Paul gives them two illustrations to show the folly and danger of being captivated by teachers instead of the Jesus they preach (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). 

First, Paul says the Corinthians are like soil. Paul planted the seed of the gospel, another teacher watered it, but neither of them caused the growth. Only God brings a harvest (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). To praise Paul or any teacher is like praising a farmer for the mystery of how crops grow—it makes no sense. The Corinthians are a result of God’s work, not human skill.

Then Paul switches to the image of a building. He says the Corinthians are the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:9,16). In Israel’s history, the temple was God’s house, where people encountered and worshipped him. But Israel trusted mortal men and brought defiling idols into the temple made for God alone. So God sent Babylon to burn Israel’s temple to purify it of its defilement (Jeremiah 52:12-13). Now, God is building his pure temple in the Corinthians through Paul and his fellow teachers preaching the Gospel. Paul warns that any teaching built on earthly wisdom instead of Jesus’ Gospel is a defilement. The same purification will happen to them when Jesus returns (1 Corinthians 3:17). Anything they’ve built upon a teacher or leader that they trust over Jesus alone will be burned away and purified (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). 

Paul is targeting a few teachers who are boasting in themselves for their role in building up the Corinthian church. But unlike them, Paul is not concerned with popularity. He is not working to receive their praise, but to receive God’s. Paul knows he will answer to God in the end, not the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:3-5). 

Paul’s desire for God’s praise alone is in direct contrast with some of the Corinthians’ other leaders and their followers. They are living like kings, using the Gospel to become rich and popular (1 Corinthians 4:8). But Paul shows that he and teachers like him are following the humble example of Jesus. They are not using the Gospel to play a popularity game but are willfully and joyfully facing poverty, hunger, homelessness, and death for it (1 Corinthians 4:9-12). Paul asks the Corinthians to contrast his life with the lives of their defiled teachers (1 Corinthians 4:13). They should imitate the one who looks most like Jesus.

To help them see what this looks like, Paul sends Timothy, his beloved son in the faith. Timothy is a living example of what it means to follow Jesus. He would model the humility, obedience, and faithfulness that Paul had been calling them to (1 Corinthians 4:17-21).

Where’s the Gospel?

The Corinthians were in danger of following teachers who looked nothing like Jesus. We often make the same mistake. We evaluate teachers by how impressive their church is, how profound their sermons are, and how successful their lives and ministries seem to be. But the only measure Paul tells us to use is the lowly, humble, life and death of Jesus. 

Jesus lived and died for the praise of God alone. He wasn’t puffed up by the crowds who asked him to save them through shouts of “Hosanna!” Nor was he defeated and discouraged by the roars condemning him to death when they yelled, “Crucify!” He built his life and death solely on God’s praise of him when he said, “This is my son whom I love” (Mark 1:11).  

In order to please the one who called him “Son,” he endured hunger and homelessness. When he was ridiculed, he did not retaliate (1 Peter 2:23). He returned cursing with blessing, forgiving those who persecuted him and tortured him to death (Luke 23:33-34). Yet his faithful service to God was rewarded. God raised Jesus from the dead and made him the praise of all heaven (1 Peter 3:22). 

Jesus laid the foundation for his people with his life and death. God provides good teachers for his church who preach and resemble Jesus. He sent Paul and Paul sent Timothy. As Timothy modeled Paul who modeled Jesus, we must follow teachers whose lives resemble Jesus’. Don’t follow teachers who are living for popularity. Follow teachers who live solely for the praise of God, who follow Jesus even when it’s humiliating. They are tending you like a crop and making sure they’re using the best materials to build a faith in you that will endure (Hebrews 13:17). 

For when we build our lives on Jesus, we too receive praise in Heaven. Even when following Jesus becomes unpopular and humiliating, praise from God will always outshine the praise of man (2 Timothy 4:7-8; Acts 5:29). As we build our lives solely on the foundation of Jesus, we will share in his humiliation, because we know we will share in his heavenly reward. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who has made you his temple and provides teachers who help you grow. And may you see Jesus as the foundation on whom to build your life.