So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (1Corinthians 3: 21-23)

It is a powerful translation: all things are yours - life or death or present or the future - all belong to you.

That may be exactly what an English-speaking Paul would choose. But the Greek is more ambiguous.

In the original text the verb eimi is used once, in verse 21, and implied in the other two verses. This is what is translated above as "belong."

A much more common translation is to treat eimi as a verb of existence, such as I am or to be.

All exists: Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or present or future, you and Christ, Christ and God.

Do not be distracted by petty differences, attend to the profound unity that you share with Christ in God.

The Greek may - better than the English - highlight what we share rather than what belongs to us.

Above is an illumination by Hildegard von Bingen.