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1 Corinthians

About this book
Chapter 3

1 So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh,⁠ as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,⁠ 3 for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people? 4 For whenever someone says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” are you not merely human? 5 What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. 7 So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work.⁠ 9 We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done. 14 If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?⁠ 17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are. 18 Guard against self-deception, each of you. If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”⁠ 20 And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 62:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:8

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

In 1 Corinthians, Paul echoes Psalm 62, where God is a just ruler who repays each person for their deeds. The psalm contrasts trust in divine justice with human vanity and greed, and Paul reshapes it to describe how God fairly rewards labor.

Passages

Psalm 62:10

Hebrew Bible
8 Trust in him at all times, you people! Pour out your hearts before him. God is our shelter. (Selah) 9 Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. 10 Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression. Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery. If wealth increases, do not become attached to it. 11 God has declared one principle; two principles I have heard: God is strong, 12 and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love. For you repay men for what they do.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

1 Corinthians 3:8

New Testament
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. 7 So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work. 9 We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

References

"... Paul makes it clear that judgment is according to what someone has done ... Was Paul simply borrowing an expression, or was he allowing the Psalm to frame his thinking. The theme that judgment is according to works was commonly accepted in Jewish circles. Paul could also have referenced a number of other Psalms, but deliberately focused on Psalm 62. When the opposition has intensified, he acknowledges twice over that God is his rock (62:2, 6), and his need for refuge. He speaks of the cowardliness and falsehood of men (62:3-4), and of the vanity and greed of men (62:9, 10). David remains confident of the power and of the steadfast love of God (62:11, 12), and it is in that context that he speaks of God rendering to a man according to his work. The contrast in Psalm 62 is between those whose rock and refuge is God, and those who do evil. “The psalm, which ends with the phrase quoted here, sees God’s just judgment according to works as an expression of God’s power and mercy. This deep-rooted Jewish tradition is not denied by Paul, but rather celebrated. If one of the purposes of the letter is to show that God’s justice upstages that of Caesar and Rome, we could expect nothing less ..."
Iain Gibb, “Paul and the Psalms: Paul's Hermeneutic and Worldview” (MTh(R) diss., University of Glasgow, 2017), 109–110.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Psalm 62:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:8

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