1 Corinthians 3:5–8

⁴But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

¹WE then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

¹⁰As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

⁶Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

¹⁰According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

³Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

²⁸And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

⁴Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

⁵And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

⁶And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

⁷But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

⁹To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

¹⁰To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

¹¹But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

⁷So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

¹LET a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

²Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

¹⁷For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

²⁷John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

²Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;

¹⁵And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

¹⁴How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

¹⁵And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

³For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

⁴For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:

⁵So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

⁶Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

²⁵Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

⁷Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

⁹For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

¹⁰According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

²⁵The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

¹⁴For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:

¹⁵Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,

¹AM I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

⁴And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

⁵And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

⁶And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

⁷¶ And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue.

⁸And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

⁹Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

¹⁰For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

¹¹And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

³⁰But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

¹AND it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

¹⁰For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

¹¹So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

¹⁴I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

¹⁵For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

⁷Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

⁸Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?

⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?

¹⁰Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

¹¹If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?

²Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

³Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

⁴And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

¹⁴¶ And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

²⁶And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

²⁷And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:

¹³Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.

¹⁴They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

¹⁵To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

²⁷And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

²⁴¶ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.

¹⁹And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.

¹¹For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

¹EXCEPT the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

¹¹God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.

⁹Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

¹⁸For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,

¹⁸When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

⁵For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.

¹MOREOVER, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

²By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

⁴And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

⁵And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

⁶After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

⁷After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

⁸And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

¹¹Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

⁵I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

³For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

⁹And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

¹NOT unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

²And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

¹⁷All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

²⁹Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

⁶Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

⁸Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

³⁶And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

³⁷And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

³⁸I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

²⁷For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

¹²Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

⁷Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

⁸For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

¹²And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

⁴And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

⁴But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

¹⁴If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

⁹For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

³And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

¹⁰For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

⁴¹He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.

⁴²And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

¹¹Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

¹²Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

⁶And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

¹⁷For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.

¹⁸What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.

²³And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.