1 Corinthians 3:15

Paul is writing to a church split into parties. “Every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:12), and he has already rebuked them for it (1 Corinthians 1:10–17). He calls this rivalry the mark of carnal, immature believers (1 Corinthians 3:1–4). He then shows that he and Apollos are only servants. One planted and the other watered, and God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:5–9). That section ends, “ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9), and with the last word of it Paul moves from a farmer’s field to a building site.

The picture suited Corinth well. It was a major Roman city, wealthy and busy with trade, standing on the isthmus between two seas, and its mixed population brought together many philosophies and religions. Large building projects were common there, and in a region that knew earthquakes everyone understood what a sound foundation was worth. The church itself, made up of Jewish and Gentile converts, had carried in the city’s love of eloquence and its habit of exalting human leaders. Through 1 Corinthians 1 and on into 1 Corinthians 3, Paul answers that habit by turning their eyes from the workers to the Lord who owns the work, until he can say, “And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:23).

Paul begins with grace: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me”. The word cháris is God’s unmerited favour and its working in a person’s heart and life. Paul’s place as the one who founded this church was a gift he received from God, and he says the same of his whole life: “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10). He speaks this way again when he tells the Romans, “through the grace given unto me”, to think of themselves soberly (Romans 12:3), and Peter tells every believer to use his gift “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”, so that God may be glorified in all things (1 Peter 4:10–11). Every work in the church begins with what God gives.

The word for masterbuilder is architéktōn, made from words for “chief” and “builder” or “craftsman”. This was the master craftsman in charge of the whole plan of a building and of a sound foundation, and the Corinthians knew the role well. Paul’s wisdom as a builder is the wisdom God gave him, and the very next verse shows where it led him: to lay Christ as the foundation. He did that by being the first to preach the gospel in Corinth and so bringing the church there into being.

“And another buildeth thereon.” After the foundation came others, Apollos among them, who built up the church by teaching and discipling it. Each worker has his own part in one building. Then comes the warning that carries the verse: “But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” The verb blépō means to look at, to perceive, and so to beware. Paul’s attention moves from the work he has done to the work others are doing now, and from who built to how they build. His first concern is those who teach and lead in the church. Since every believer has a part in building it up, the warning reaches all of us, and the verses that follow show why it matters so much.

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The little word gár, “for”, gives the reason for the warning just given. Builders must take heed, because the foundation they build on is Christ himself.

The word themélios means something laid down, the base on which a building stands, and it is used figuratively, as here, for the basis on which a faith or a community rests. Paul says that no man, oudeís, can, dýnamai, lay, títhēmi, another one. The word for other, állos, simply means “other” or “another”, one besides this one. There is no second foundation to put alongside Christ or in his place, and every human leader, school of wisdom or tradition the Corinthians might rally around is ruled out as a foundation by this one sentence.

“That is laid” translates keîmai, to lie or to be laid and set in place. The foundation is already lying there when the builders arrive. Paul laid it by preaching, and behind his preaching stands God, who promised long before, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation” (Isaiah 28:16). The relative pronoun hós, “which”, then names that foundation: Iēsoûs Christós, Jesus Christ.

The foundation is a person, together with all that he has done. He is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8), and he “was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25). He is the head of the body, the church (Colossians 1:18), and the one by whom all things were created and in whom all things consist (Colossians 1:16–17). To build on him is to build on the Son of God.

The rest of Scripture uses the same picture. The psalm says, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” (Psalm 118:22). Paul tells the Ephesians that believers, Jew and Gentile together, are one household of God, “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20), growing into a holy temple (Ephesians 2:19–22). Peter calls Christ the living stone to whom believers come as living stones themselves (1 Peter 2:4–6), precious to those who believe and the rejected stone made head of the corner (1 Peter 2:6–7). Jesus himself said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18), and he warned that a house built on sand falls while the house on the rock stands (Matthew 7:24–27).

This verse also answers the Corinthians’ quarrels. The followers of Paul, Apollos and Cephas all stood on the same foundation, so the unity of the church comes from the one Lord they share.

“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble”. The verb here is epoikodoméō, “to build upon”, formed from epí, “upon”, and oikodoméō, to build a house, the word that also means to edify. Every builder in view is building on Christ, so Paul is speaking about the work of believers. “If any man” is eí tis, a plain “if any”, and it takes in anyone who builds.

The six materials fall into two groups of three. Gold, chrysós, and silver, árgyros, are precious metals that stand up to fire. “Precious stones” joins tímios, “valuable, costly”, to líthos, “stone”, and means costly, durable stones. Then come wood, xýlon, which is common and burns, hay, chórtos, which is dried grass and burns quickly, and stubble, kalámē, a stalk of grain or the dry stalks left in the field after harvest, the cheapest and most easily burned of all. The Corinthians saw stone and costly metals in their temples and public buildings, and wood, hay and stubble in simple dwellings or as fuel, so the picture needed no explaining. The first three survive fire, and the last three are consumed by it.

Paul names the materials and leaves their meaning to the test that follows, and the rest of Scripture helps us see what they stand for. Gold, silver and precious stones are work done in faith and with a pure motive, in obedience to God’s word and for his glory: love for God and for others, sincere worship, faithful use of gifts, sound teaching, sacrificial service, and lives truly changed and disciples truly made. Work like this is the fruit of the Spirit at work in a believer (Galatians 5:22–23). Wood, hay and stubble are work that looks productive but has nothing lasting in it, done for applause, for gain or out of mere obligation, or built from worldly wisdom and passing trends. Such work can be well meant and still lack substance, which is why the question is how a man builds as well as how much.

Lasting work comes from Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), and he told his disciples, “for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Work done in him is work done “heartily, as to the Lord”, and from him comes “the reward of the inheritance” (Colossians 3:23–24).

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest”. The word for work, érgon, means toil or effort, and by extension an act or deed. Here it is the whole of what a person has built: his deeds, his service and the effort and intention behind them. “Every man”, hékastos, makes it personal and leaves no one out. To be made manifest, phanerós, is to be brought into the open, so that what was hidden or unclear is seen for what it is.

“For the day shall declare it”. The day, hēméra, is a set time in the future, the Day of the Lord, when Christ judges the work of his people. Paul says elsewhere, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). The Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22), so the one who tests the building is the same Lord who is its foundation. His own life passed every test, for he “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Paul speaks of the day as though it were a person who declares the truth about each man’s work.

“Because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” Fire, pŷr, is the means by which the day reveals. The verb dokimázō means to test, to prove, and by implication to approve, the way a smelter tested metal in the fire to bring out the pure metal and expose what was false. Peter uses the same picture for faith, “though it be tried with fire” (1 Peter 1:7). The phrase “of what sort”, hopoîos, shows that the fire tests quality. Size, number and outward show will count for nothing on that day, and the Lord who says, “I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts” (Revelation 2:23), will weigh the motive behind each work.

“If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.” To abide, ménō, is to stay, remain or continue, and work that abides is work that comes through the fire intact. “Thereupon” points back once more to the foundation, so the work in view is work built on Christ.

The builder will receive, lambánō, a reward, misthós, the word for pay, hire or wages, and every Corinthian knew what it was to be paid for skilled work. Here the reward is God’s own commendation of faithful service. It is a gift of grace, since even the ability to build well came from him, and salvation itself was never wages. The verse does not say what form the reward takes. It may include honour from the Lord and greater service in his kingdom. Jesus says, “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12), and he tells us to lay up treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt (Matthew 6:19–21). The elders in Revelation cast their crowns before the throne and say that the Lord alone is worthy of glory (Revelation 4:10–11), which shows where every reward ends up.

All lasting work stands on the one work that abides above all others. Christ “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever”, and “by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:12–14).

“If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss”. The word for burned, katakaíō, means to burn up completely, and the work is found to have had nothing lasting in it. The builder then suffers loss, zēmióō, to suffer loss or receive damage. Paul uses the same verb of himself in Philippians 3:8, “for whom I have suffered the loss of all things”. The loss here is the loss of the reward and commendation that faithful work would have brought, the honour he might have had.

“But he himself shall be saved”. The words “he himself” set the person apart from his work. To be saved, sṓzō, is to be delivered, kept safe and made whole. His work is gone, and he is safe, because his salvation rested on Christ the foundation and on grace: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Paul wrote to the Romans, “being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Romans 5:8–9).

“Yet so as by fire.” The Greek is hōs diá pyrós, “as through fire”, a saying for a narrow escape. The picture is of a man who gets out of a burning house with his life and nothing else, as he watches everything he built go up in flames. It is real salvation, and it comes with the painful knowledge of years of effort wasted.

Everything we have to build with is given by grace, just as Paul’s place as masterbuilder was. That keeps us humble and dependent, and it means we can serve with gratitude for what God has given. Whatever part you have in the church, whether you teach, lead, give, serve or simply live faithfully among other believers, you are building on Christ, and it is worth asking what materials you are using and why.

The passage is both a warning and an encouragement. Service done in secret and unpraised is seen by the Lord, and work done in love for him will stand on his day. Work done for our own name will burn, however impressive it looked. Those who teach and lead carry a particular charge to build with sound doctrine and real growth in Christ, because their work shapes the church itself.

The same passage gives a believer firm assurance. The man whose work is burned is still saved, because he stands on Christ. So we build out of love for the Lord who has already secured us, and we can look at our own failures honestly, knowing that our standing with God rests on the foundation he laid. And since every believer stands on that same foundation, the church’s unity lies in Christ himself, ahead of any leader or party, as Paul wanted the Corinthians to see.