1 Corinthians 3:10

ἔθηκα אABC, for the rec. τέθεικα.

10. τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι. Which was given to me, i. e. when I laid the foundation.

ὡς σοφὸς�. St Paul now desires to identify himself with the teachers of the Corinthian Church, so far as they were really carrying on the work which he had begun. His object is to combat the individualism which had led the Corinthian Church astray. If their teachers be genuine ministers of Christ, it is but one work that they are carrying on. They are merely proceeding with the superstructure of that which the Apostle had founded. Comparison of their personal claims with those of St Paul, and still more an attitude of antagonism to him and to one another, are fatal to the healthy growth of Christ’s Body.

ἔθηκα. I laid, according to the true reading. See Critical Note.

ἐποικοδομεῖ. Is building thereon. Are we to understand here any reference to a particular opponent of St Paul? Or is the ἄλλος purely general, and equivalent to ‘other people’? It is impossible to say positively.

ἕκαστος δὲ βλεπέτω. A fresh subject is here introduced. We are now told of what kind the labour of a minister of Christ is to be, and what his reward. There is, there can be, but One Foundation, but there are many ways of building on that foundation. ἕκαστος tends to support the view that St Paul intended no special individual by ἄλλος.