10 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.
11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 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.
14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
I think that at this point in Paul’s letter, the emphasis is moving from “who led you to Christ?” (See: 1 Cor. 1:11-13; 3:4), to “Are you living for Christ? Is the Holy Spirit guiding your life so you are becoming more and more like Christ?” Paul and Apollos, or Peter, Titus, Timothy, or Barnabas - any of these evangelists can bring the gospel. They also can teach and mentor the believers as they grow in their Christian lives.
The message becomes more personal in that each believer must decide if he will follow the Lord.The pastors and teachers provide the tools and materials for building your own faith-life. They cannot accept Christ as Savior for you - that is your decision. They also cannot accept and live out the teachings that will help you grow in Christ - those are your decisions. God will judge each teacher concerning the veracity of the message. God will judge each believer with respect to living out the faith. There is no corporate salvation - you are not saved because your family members have accepted Christ. You are not saved because you go to the church where others are saved. One of the problems the Jews had was that they thought they got a free pass simply because they were Jews.
V. 10 - “I laid a foundation” - Is Paul bragging here - “wise master builder”? I don’t think so. It seems Paul’s personality and temperament drove him to do the best possible job he could. Paul was a Pharisee, studied under a master Pharisee (Gamaliel - see: Acts 5:34, 22:3, 23:6, 26:5; Phil. 3:5). You get the impression he did nothing half-heartedly. When Paul was “in”, he was “all in”.
Here he is stating Jesus called him (on the road to Damascus Acts 9:1-6). Jesus taught him (Gal. 1:17).
The foundation of the church - Jesus Christ, who died for our sin, was resurrected to glory. Jesus Christ is God, the Messiah, the fulfillment of the long awaited promise, made to Adam and Abraham and the Jews and the Gentiles, of salvation and redemption. The key is “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)
“Another is building on it” - Paul moves us beyond a strictly local dust-up in a church. We need to see that the foundation of the church is holy - because Jesus is Holy (See: 1 Pet. 1:15-16; Lev. 11:44ff; 19:2; 20:7). Believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, were to be different than the average bloke who does not know God. Why? Because God is different - God is Holy, and those who are His are to be like Him - that is, Holy. One person may share or spread the gospel message, but another can teach and mentor the new believers in their Christian life.
“Each man must be careful how he builds on it” - Be sure, as you teach others about their life in Christ that you are not mixing worldly philosophy and mores with the pure Word of God. Let the Holy Spirit lead you as you teach and preach. Examine what is being taught - does it match, conform to the teaching of the Word of God?
V. 11 - “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” - There is no other foundation - basis for salvation - other than Jesus Christ our Lord. Teaching some “Christ-plus” religion is not Christianity. “Christ-plus” is humans inserting themselves into the equation in order be able to do something to make themselves acceptable to God.
V. 12-13 - “If any man builds on the foundation” - Every believer is expected to mature in the faith. Pastors and teachers are used by the Lord to encourage that growth in faith. The images of gold versus wood, silver versus straw, diamonds or rubies compared to hay is to help us see not all teaching and mentoring are equal. Gold and silver are purified by heating them intensely - to the point that the metals turn liquid - so the impurities either boil off or can be skimmed, leaving only the pure metal. Wood, hay and straw cannot withstand the heat, and will turn to ashes. God’s judgment is a purifying fire. (See: Gen. 19:24; Exo. 24:17; Lev. 10:2; Num. 11:1, 16:3) But God’s fire also can be a protection for those who are His. (See: Exo. 13:21)
“Each man’s work...” - There are several phrases or words in this chapter that link together the ideas of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not to be static, but to grow and expand the faith. Consider the following:
“fleshly” (vss. 3:1, 3) - I think Paul is frustrated with the Corinthian believers. He is telling them there is little evidence that Jesus is in their lives. Jealousy and strife indicates they are not living with the power of God (Jesus + Holy Spirit) working in them. It seems they are living and acting as if Jesus had no place in their lives.
“God causes growth” (vss. 3:6, 7) - Do not rely on Paul, or Apollos, or your local pastor/minister to make your life more Christ-like. All change which draws you closer to God comes from Him. It is not your doing. Mostly we hinder God’s working in us, trying to take over and do it ourselves.
“foundation” (vss. 3:10, 11, 12) - Jesus Christ, our Savior, lived and was crucified, raised from the dead. That is our foundation. Christ stands before the Father and testified that you or I are His. We are forgiven our sins because we believe in Him, place our faith and hope in Him. There is no other foundation upon which we can base eternal life.
“each man’s work” (vss. 3:13, 14, 15) - Every thing you do.
“temple of God” (vss. 3:16, 17) - We, each believer and the collection of believers, have replaced the Temple. God resides in us, not in an edifice, no matter how magnificent that building may be.
V. 14-15 - “If any man’s work...” - All that we do will be judged by God. (See: note 1 below) There several references to the Lord likened to a ‘consuming fire’ in the Old Testament (See: Exo. 24:17; Deut. 4:24, 9:3; Isa. 29:6, 30:27, 30:30; Lam. 2:3). The image is that God is so perfect, so brilliant in majesty, that anything not as perfect as He will be burned. Similar to approaching too close to the Sun or another star. The heat is intense, as it must be to generate enough light to flow out to the planets and moons. God is even more brilliant, and therefore even hotter than the sun.
Our works, that is, our life comes before God. If it is worthwhile, it will survive. Similar to the way metal is purified. When gold or silver is heated to a liquid state, impurities float to the top and can be skimmed off. Only those works done in the power of the Holy Spirit will survive in the presence of the Lord.
And even if no works, things we do as Christians, survive the presence of the Lord, the believer will survive. All ‘impurities’ will be removed, and we will be pure and ‘golden’ before the Lord. Praise His Holy name.
***Note 1: I don’t know the extent of ‘judging of works” for those who do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. I suspect it hardly matters, because those who do not believe, those whose name is not written the Lamb’s Book of Life, are separated from God for eternity. We call that going to hell. I think there are hints that those who do evil will receive a judgement in addition to being permanently separated from God. I am not sure how much worse that could be.
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