2. The temple of God (3:16–17)
E. The foundation and the building (3:10–17)
1. The test of good building (3:10–15)
Paul develops the thought of building, his emphasis being on the quality of the materials used. With Christ as the foundation of the Christian life, it is important that the building be worthy.
10. Paul ascribes his work at Corinth to the grace God has given. Grace means more than ‘commission’ (Moffatt, Goodspeed), or ‘gift’ (GNB), or ‘kindness’ (LB). Such translations miss the thought of God’s enabling power. Paul insists on the primacy of God and the insignificance of God’s ministers. He speaks of himself as an expert builder, where expert translates sophos, ‘wise’ (which recalls the discussion of ‘wisdom’ in chs. 1, 2). Builder is architektōn, the man who superintends the work of building. Plato differentiates him from the ergastikos, ‘workman’, as one who contributes knowledge rather than labour (Robertson and Plummer). Paul laid the foundation, but someone else was carrying on the work of building. Paul cautions every builder to be careful. Each one (hekastos, twice more in v. 13) points to individual responsibility. Many commentators restrict the application of this passage to the work of teachers, and it surely has special reference to their work. But the words seem capable of more general application and vv. 16–17 certainly refer to a wider circle. It is true of every believer that he is building on the one foundation. Let him be careful how he builds. Exactly what is being built? Some, impressed by the emphasis on right teaching, think it is sound doctrine. Others see a reference to building the church, or building up Christian character. Probably none is completely out of mind, and it is best to see the reference as quite general.
11. Paul does not leave the foundation open to choice, with the implication that he just happened to lay the foundation he did. There is only one possible foundation and that is already laid, namely Jesus Christ. That is basic. No-one can begin anywhere else, a truth still worthy of emphasis in the light of attempts to build ‘Christianity’ without Christ, on a foundation of good works, or humanism, or the like.
12. But if there can be only one foundation it is otherwise with the superstructure. It is all too possible for astonishing varieties to make their appearance. Paul lists several materials which may be used for building, and ingenuity has sometimes been exercised in trying to find edifying meanings for them all. Such labour is probably in vain, for Paul seems concerned simply with two classes, the valuable, typified by gold, silver, costly stones, and the worthless, the wood, hay or straw. The workman may try to make the building as worthy of the foundation as possible. Or, in slovenly fashion, he may be content to put into it that which costs him little or nothing. Costly stones may be ‘precious stones’ used for ornamentation, or costly building materials, like marble.
13. There will come a time of testing for all we build. The Day is not further defined, but clearly it is the day when Christ returns, the day of judgment (cf. 1 Thess. 5:4; Heb. 10:25). That day is often referred to in terms of the believer’s joy at being united to the Lord. But it will also be a time when the work God’s people have done will be judged. Here the thought is that of a searching test, one likened to fire. The picture is that of fire sweeping through a building. It consumes what is combustible, but leaves metal and stone. The quality of the work will be shown, for the Day will bring it to light, ‘show it in its true character’, ‘reveal it for what it is’. The ‘it’ in It will be revealed may be the work, but is more probably the Day. The meaning is ‘the Day reveals itself (or, is revealed) in fire’ (cf. Mal. 4:1); the present tense perhaps gives a greater sense of certainty.
14–15. The test in fire will determine whether or not a man will receive a ‘wage’ (misthos, see on v. 8; here it is the wage of the building worker whose work is approved; cf. Luke 19:16–19; Rev. 22:12). All those considered here are saved, for they have built on the one foundation, Jesus Christ. Even of the one whose work is burnt up it is said that he himself will be saved. The distinction is not between the lost and the saved, but among the saved between those who have built well and those who have built poorly. He will suffer loss means he will lose his wage, a workman fined for poor workmanship. Being saved ‘as through fire’ (RSV) may have been a proverbial expression to indicate one saved and no more (like the brand plucked from the burning, Amos 4:11; Zech. 3:2). The imagery is that of one who has to dash through the flames to escape to safety. The fire is, of course, a fire of testing, not one of purifying, and the passage lends no support to the doctrine of purgatory as some claim (see Godet for a refutation).
2. The temple of God (3:16–17)
Paul brings out the sacredness of the community of believers by likening the building to a temple in which God dwells.
16. Don’t you know introduces a mild rebuke and is a device Paul uses ten times in this letter (and once only elsewhere). It introduces a question on a matter which ought to be common knowledge. Believers are God’s temple, which makes it clear that Paul is addressing the whole church, not teachers only. There is no article with temple in the Greek, but this does not imply that there are several temples (though Godet renders ‘a temple of God’, saying ‘The Church of Corinth is not the universal Church’). It simply puts a certain emphasis on their character as God’s temple. There are two Greek words for ‘temple’, hieron, which includes all the temple precincts, and naos (used here) which denotes the shrine proper, the sanctuary. It points to the very presence of God. This is brought out explicitly with the assertion that God’s Spirit lives in the Corinthian believers. The expression ‘the Spirit of God’ is not common. It emphasizes the connection of the Spirit with the Father and underlines the deity of the Spirit. The Spirit is God as he dwells in his church. The words are sometimes applied to the individual believer, but the thought is rather that the whole community of believers is God’s shrine. Temple is singular, but you is plural; the reference is to the church (the individual is also God’s temple, as we see from 6:19, but that is not the thought here).
17. The seriousness of the divisions at Corinth is seen in the light of this understanding of the church. Because it is God’s temple anyone who fails to react rightly towards it is guilty of no light sin. The repetition of the verb destroy shows that the punishment is not arbitrary; it ‘fits the crime’. To engage in making divisions is to destroy the divine society and thus to invite God to destroy the sinner. The word is not specific and cannot be pressed to mean either annihilation or eternal torment. It simply makes it clear that one who commits a grave sin lays himself open to a grave penalty. In v. 15 the bad workman is yet saved. Here a greater sin than inferior workmanship is in mind, and salvation is excluded. Sacred (hagios) means something like ‘set apart for God’. In the plural it is the usual New Testament word for the ‘saints’, those who are God’s people. The word draws attention to the character of the church as God’s own possession, so that its ‘destruction’ is a very serious matter. The concluding words, ‘such are you’ may be understood as NIV, you are that temple, or ‘of such kind are you’ (Lenski). Either way, you is emphatic (both by the use of the pronoun and by coming last in the sentence); it brings home the character and hence the responsibility of the readers.