Comments on 1 Corinthians 3:9-15

  Last time we started chapter 3 and got through the first eight verses. We had discussed the fact that the Corinthian believers were still living according to the desires of their flesh rather than growing to spiritual maturity as Paul was hoping for them. Part of living in the flesh led them to exalt servants and create divisions because of it and Paul argued that he and Apollos were mere servants working in the field and that their focus needed to be on God. In these next few verses Paul shifts from the analogy of the field to the analogy of a building. I’ll read verses 9 to 15:

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

    Paul uses the word συνεργοί to describe himself and Apollos which means: “fellow workers.” The word carries the idea of working together, laboring side by side. And that is a remarkable statement. Paul is not saying that they are working independently for God, but that they are working with Him in what He is doing. Now we need to be careful here. This does not mean that God depends on us. He does not need our help to accomplish His purposes. He could have had His angels declare the gospel from the heavens, just as He announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds. But instead, He has chosen to use men and women like us as instruments in His hand.

That is both a privilege and a responsibility. It is a privilege because we are allowed to take part in something that is entirely God’s work. And it is a responsibility because we are handling something that is not ours. The message is His. The power is His. The results are His. We are simply laborers in His field. And that is exactly where Paul directs their attention next: “you are God’s field, God’s building.” The Corinthians were not Paul’s field. They were not Apollos’s field. They belonged to God. The work being done among them was God’s work, not man’s.

That perspective corrects two dangers at once. On the one hand, it keeps us from exalting the servant and losing sight of the Master. On the other hand, it keeps us from dismissing the message because of the servant and, in doing so, dishonoring the Master who sent him. The focus must remain where it belongs, on God Himself.

It is also worth noting that Paul is speaking here of the local assembly. Later in this letter he will speak of the individual believer as the temple of the Holy Spirit, and elsewhere the whole church is described as a temple. But here the emphasis is local: this gathering of believers is God’s field, God’s building. He is at work among them, shaping, growing, and building according to His own purpose.

    Paul reminds them that his work among them was foundational. “According to the grace of God which was given to me …” He doesn’t try and take credit for the work. Even his role as the “wise master builder” was something entrusted to him by God. He laid the foundation by preaching the gospel, and that foundation was established when people believed.

But he immediately shifts the focus: “and another is building on it.” The work did not stop with Paul. Others came along and continued what had been started. And that is where the warning comes in: “But each man must be careful how he builds on it.” That is a serious statement. Paul is not concerned here with whether men are building, but how they are building. It is entirely possible to build on the right foundation in the wrong way. A man may preach in the right place, to the right people, and still do damage to the building if he does not bring the message according to the Word of God.God’s work must be done in God’s way, or it will not stand. 

    And that leads directly into the reason for the warning: “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The foundation is not up for debate; it is not adjustable or expandable. It has already been laid, once and for all, in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It was not Paul’s invention, and no one who comes after him can improve that foundation in any way. 

This cuts off two errors at once. First, no one can replace it with something else, whether philosophy, tradition, or personality. Second, no one can add to it, as though the work of Christ was insufficient. The church does not rest on a system, a structure, or a man, but on Christ alone.

This verse could also be cross-referenced to Galatians 1:8 where Paul warns those believers “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” There can be no other foundation and anyone attempting to proclaim any such thing should not only not be heeded but be put out of the assembly. With the foundation being fixed, every one must be careful how he builds up the church.

    Which leads us into the next verse. The materials Paul lists here could all be used in constructing a building. So we have two categories here of materials reflecting the two types of wisdom that Paul has been discussing thus far in this letter. So, gold might remind us of the overlay that Solomon put in the temple, or one of the gifts that the magi brought to the Lord Jesus at His birth. It is often used as a picture of the righteousness of God in Scripture as well. Silver was used by the nobles of the day to cover the columns and sometimes even the rafters of their houses to make it shine and display their wealth. Scripture also uses silver as a picture of the price paid for our redemption. The stone here, Ironside was pointing out is the Greek λίθους and means an actual stone, while the word translated precious here τιμίους might more rightly be translated as “costly” in the context of building. So Paul did not have in view here diamonds and rubies, but rather the great stones used in large buildings that were expensive, but stood the test of time in the construction. 

The second set of materials, wood, hay, and stubble, can also be used in building. Wood can be carved to look magnificent and so can have a certain amount of beauty and value attached to it. Hay and straw both might be used to thatch a roof, and hay has the additional value of being possible animal feed. Paul’s argument here, though, is that though the materials might look impressive, they will not withstand the fires of judgment. 

The picture here is of the local assembly being built up, but these principles would be applicable to the individual as well. A man ought to be building up useful and precious things in his life, just as we all together should be building up the local assembly with good things, or as Ironside put it, “life-building materials that will … stand the test of fire.” 

    The work will be revealed on “that day,” Paul warns them. Even things done today in secret will be visible, “because it shall be revealed by fire.” That fire will show, NASB has “the quality” and KJV has “what sort” the work is. You will note here that Paul does not ask how much work there is to show, but is more concerned with its quality. A man might have very little work done, or a great deal, but the character of that work is what is important. God will judge it by His perfect standard and so will judge it perfectly. There will be nothing hidden on that day, every motive, every intention, every thought of the heart will be revealed, and so the quality of the work will be known. The outward structure may impress men, but the fire will reveal what God sees.

I do want to note here that this is not the Great White Throne judgment mentioned in Revelation 20 where those that are lost will be judged, but rather the Bema seat mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5. The Bema seat isn’t for condemnation, but rather to determine what laurels were due to the competitors in the Games, and so Paul uses that picture for those that are saved standing before the throne of Christ to receive rewards for their service.

     So, “if any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.” We need to be clear here that this reward is not referring to salvation. Salvation is never earned, not can it be increased or diminished by our works. What Paul is speaking of is reward for faithful service. As he said earlier, “each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” And as Ironside put it, “This reward is in addition to salvation. We are saved by grace, but the reward is for faithful service… The Lord enables us and then rewards us.” So even in the reward, grace is still the foundation.

And that should encourage us. Because God is not indifferent to what is done for His sake. He sees the quiet acts of obedience that no one else notices. He sees the faithfulness in the small things, the behind-the-scenes work, the moments when no one else is around and we still choose His will over our own. Those things may never be recognized here, but they are seen by Him, and they will not be forgotten.

At the same time, this should sober us. Not everything a believer does, even things that appear spiritual to others, will stand in that day. It is possible to be busy, to be active, even to be involved in the work of the assembly, and yet have little that actually remains because it was not done for the Lord’s glory. That is why Paul’s warning matters: the issue is not simply that we are building, but how we are building. Because one day, the fire will test it, and only what was truly for Him will endure.

    On the other hand, Paul uses some rather harsh language in the next verse. “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” This shows us that the reward mentioned above cannot be salvation since the man whose work is completely burned up is still saved. None of the work that he had built into the assembly survived the fires of judgment, but he himself was saved. And we can see the grace of God in this as well. At the judgment seat, when our lives are played before us, God will reward us for all that we did that brought honor to Him. And all that we did that did not honor Him will be burned up, never to be mentioned again. The loss experienced is that of lost time, time spent that could have been redeemed, but was instead used either for selfish pursuits, or even building up the body for selfish reasons, since God knows the motives of our hearts. I liked how Ironside put it here, “Let's say that you have a beautiful home. You have spent a long time building it, but one night it catches fire and you wake up to find flames roaring through the halls. You leap out of the window and are saved, but the house is burned up. That is an illustration of what will happen to many a believer whose life amounted to nothing. If his life and testimony have been wasted, there will be no reward, but the believer himself will be saved, ‘yet so as by fire.’” Now, later in this letter Paul indicates that there won’t be a believer who has done absolutely no work worthy of reward, but he is using the harsh language here to distinguish between the rewards for the good works we do by the power of God, and the salvation that is the free gift of God. 

We see a picture of this in Lot. 2 Peter 2:7-9 reads, “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation.” The entirety of Lot’s wealth that he had built up while living in Sodom was destroyed by fire, but he was able to escape that destruction because of God’s grace. May we be careful where we build up our treasures.

All of this brings us to a very personal question. If Christ is the foundation, and if our lives are the materials being laid upon that foundation, then what are we actually building? Not what it looks like on the outside, not how busy we are, not how others evaluate it, but what will remain when it passes through the fire? Because that day is coming for every one of us. And in that day, it will not matter how impressive the structure seemed here, only whether it was built with what God values. The foundation has already been laid for us in Jesus Christ. The opportunity to build is being given to us right now. So the question is not whether we are building, but whether we are building carefully, faithfully, and in dependence on Him. May we be those whose work endures, not for our glory, but for His.