Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:10-17

Since God Will Judge The Labors Of His Preachers, These Should Take Care How They Work
A Summary of 1 Corinthians 3:10-17

Although the various preachers of the Gospel are the same, as being servants of the one God and as working for the one end, yet God will Distinguish between them when He judges their labors and confers their respective rewards.  This reflection moves St Paul to call attention to the grave responsibility that rests upon the ministers of the Gospel.

1 Cor 3:10  According to the grace of God that is given to me, as a wise architect, I have laid the foundation: and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

According to the grace, etc., i.e., the grace of Apostolate among the Gentiles,  That is given to me.  Better, "That was given me."

I have laid, etc.  St Paul laid the foundation of the faith of the Corinthian Church, since he was the first to preach the Gospel at Corinth.  Afterwards another, i.e.,  Apollo, came to continue the work begun by Paul.  Perhaps "another" does not mean any one in particular, but only the teachers who were to come after St Paul.

Let every man take heed, etc., i.e., let every preacher of the Gospel be careful of the doctrine he delivers, lest he add something which is out of harmony with the true foundation of the faith as laid by St Paul.

1 Cor 3:11 For other foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid: which is Christ Jesus.
There is only one question of how preachers subsequent to St Paul should build on the foundation already laid; for the Church and the faith have but one foundation, and that is Christ Jesus, as preached by Paul.

1 Cor 3:12  Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble:

All must build on the one foundation, which is Christ; but all do not build with the same material.  Some add solid enduring materials, i.e., solid, useful doctrine, represented by gold, silver, precious stones; others, whole unlike heretics, they do not try to lay a different foundation, contribute only useless material, i.e., needless, unsubstantial or passing doctrines typified by wood, hay, stubble.

The poor materials here do not signify heresies, because (a) they are supposed to be added to the one true foundation; and (b) those who build with them are said to be saved (vs. 15).  The Apostle likely had in mind those, like certain followers of James, who were extolling the Jewish Privileges and obligations and trying to impose them on the Corinthians.  At any rate, it is the doctrine of teachers, and not the conduct of the faithful, that is directly referred to here.

1 Cor 3:13  Every man's work shall be manifest. For the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire. And the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is.

At the present time it may not be easy to determine just what material each builder adds to the one foundation; but the day of the Lord, i.e., the General Judgment at the end of the world shall lay open each one's life, and shall manifest every man's work, whether good or bad.  "Of the Lord" is not represented in the Greek, but "the day" can only refer to the General Judgment, since neither during this life, nor at the Particular Judgment can every man's work be said to be made manifest (cf. 4:3, 5).

Because it shall be revealed in fire.  Literally, "It is revealed" (ἀποκαλύπτω = apokalupto), i.e., the day of the Lord, or the General Judgment, is to be disclosed in fire.  The use of the present tense for the future indicates the certainty of the even.  That the world is to be destroyed by fire at the General Judgment we know from various parts of Scripture (cf. 2 Thess 1:8; 2 Pet 3:7), and hence "fire" here must be taken in its literal sense; real fire and real burning will bring about the end and renovation of this world, and so will usher in the General Judgment.

Fire shall try every man's work, etc.  The action here attributed to fire can be more easily understood figuratively; for fire cannot really burn one's preaching or other actions.  The reference then would seem to be to God's judgment, represented by fire.  However, many of the Fathers have understood that "fire," i.e., the final conflagration that shall consume the world, will, in its literal sense, as an instrument of divine justice, test each man's works, leaving unscathed those that are good and consuming those that are bad.  That there is question here only of the final conflagration, and not of the fire of hell or of purgatory, is clear from the words το πυρ αυτο δοκιμασει, "that fire shall try," namely, the fire of the day of the Lord mentioned in the beginning of the verse.  "That fire" is read by MSS. B A C and Peshitto against the fire of D E, Old Latin, and Vulgate.

The Domini of the Vulgate should be omitted, to agree with the Greek.

1 Cor 3:14  If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

If any man's work abide, etc., i.e., if the fruits of any preacher's doctrines to the Corinthians shall stand the test of the final conflagration and thus be found good, such a preacher shall receive a special reward.  There is not here a question of the essential reward which all the saved shall receive, otherwise it would follow, contrary to what is said in the next verse, that he who contributed poor material to the one foundation is lost.

It is uncertain whether "abide" should be present or future.

1 Cor 3:15  If any mans work burn, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.

Those who added poor material, i.e., poor and useless doctrines, to the common foundation shall receive the ordinary reward given to all the saved, but nothing more; hence their labors will be without the special merit and the special recompense promised to the Apostles.  Different workers may contribute different materials to the same building.  Some may add enduring things, such as gold, silver and precious stones; while others furnish only perishable materials, like wood, hay and stubble.  When fire comes, both classes of workers will escape and be saved; and the works of the one will endure, but those of the other will be destroyed.

Yet so as by fire.  The meaning is that the preacher who is alive at the time of the final conflagration, and who has mingled useless words and human teachings with his sacred preaching, shall, while suffering the loss of the special reward of the perfect preachers, save his own soul, but only by passing through the fires of that dreadful time, which for him will have a purging and purifying effect, constituting his purgatory on earth.  Or, if we take διά πῦρ (by fire) in a proverbial sense, the reference is more clearly and directly to purgatory in the strict sense.  The meaning, then, would be that those preachers who, at their death or at the end of the world, are found to have been negligent in their teaching shall be saved, but only with difficulty, namely, after passing through the purifying fires of purgatory.

The Apostle is speaking here of what will take place at the end of the world, and not directly of purgatory;  and yet his teaching clearly is that, for venial offenses unsatisfied for at the close of life, there must needs be a purging and a purifying before the soul can enter heaven.  Hence the doctrine of purgatory naturally follows from this verse.  That there is fire in purgatory is made probable by this passage, but nothing more; neither has it ever been defined by the Church.

Some have concluded from the present verse that St Paul expected the end of the world during the lifetime of those to whom he was writing.  He speaks in a similar way elsewhere (1 Cor 15; Phil 3:20, 4:5; 1 Thess 4:14-17, 5:23; Titus 2:13).  But he certainly never meant to teach any such a doctrine, since he knew that the Gospel must first be preached in the whole world and the Jews converted.  In Eph 2:7 and in 1 Tim 4:15 the opposite of such a conclusion seems clearly taught by St Paul.

1 Cor 3:16  Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

The severity of God's dealings with imperfect preachers and teachers arises from the fact that they contribute unworthy material to a sacred structure.  Hence the Apostle reminds the Corinthians that they are the temple of God, i.e., God dwells in them through faith and charity, and hence it is of real moment that they should not be defiled in any way.  The Corinthians, like all good Christians, are the dwelling place of God, because the Spirit of God, i.e., the Holy Ghost, abides in them.  It is to be noted that the Apostle is here identifying the Holy Spirit and God.

1 Cor 3:17  But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are.

So far there has been a question of those who build on the one true foundation, some using good, some poor material.  Now the Apostle speaks of those who, by false doctrines and erroneous teachings, destroy the foundation, which is Jesus Christ.

If any man violate.  Better, "If any man destroyeth" the temple of God, i.e., by preaching false doctrines and leading the faithful away from Christ.  The Corinthian Church was the temple of God, the special dwelling place of God, and therefore it was holy.  In other words, the faithful are the temple of God; but the temple is holy; therefore the faithful are holy.  If any man, by his false teachings, should destroy this sacred temple, God shall destroy him, i.e., will deprive him of eternal salvation.