Father,

You are the wise master builder. You alone know every good and perfect work that is in the minds of men. Create in us a new work, one that is demonstrating your love towards us. Give us the words of life that will enlighten others and bring you glory. Amen

Key word: build

Summary: 1 Cor 3:10-17

The idea of building anything of a spiritual nature calls for spiritual tools. It is a marvelous work that Paul talks about in this unit, and compares it to first agriculture, and then to an actual house. The final discussion is devoted to the spiritual house we become when we become a Christian. This is the house of God, in the Old Testament, there are numerous examples of what to do and what NOT to do concerning the maintenance of the temple that we can use to take care of ourselves now!

Paul switches here from agriculture to carpentry. Within his mind, he now associates this new metaphor with a spiritual one that will carry through the rest of the chapter. He speaks about a master artisan who knowing how to build a house by grace is very careful to make sure that anyone else, who also builds, will add to his building and not create shoddy workmanship. I have laid (emphasizing the event) points to the initial preaching, while another buildeth (indicating the continual building) includes Apollos' work (cf. 1 Cor 3:6).

There is no more sure foundation than that which is already been placed into the ground than the Lord Jesus, who is the chief cornerstone. One must be careful and not forget, that it is Jesus Christ who is the one and only foundation (cf. John 8:12; 10:9; 14:6; Acts 4:12).

There are three types of builders-the wise man (vv. 12-14), the unwise (v. 15), and the foolish, who injures the building (v. 17). Three different results follow. Even among God's laborers, there are two types of labor, the one solid and enduring, the other perishable and passing (the foolish laborer does not belong to God; v. 17).

All other materials which man could use to add anything to a normal house hoping to make it rise up, and become a magnificent structure are useless to the kingdom.

There will come a day when the internal efforts which are invisible now shall be made visible. When that day comes, fire will destroy the burnable materials within it. . The phrase, every man's work, looks at the individual person’s responsibility. The day is the day of the judgment seat of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 4:5; 2 Cor 5:10), before which only believers appear. Of what sort it is indicates that the basis of judgment is quality of work, not quantity, a comforting thing for those which only have little gifts to give to the Lord Jesus (cf. 1 Cor 4:2).

When the fire subsides anything that is left will give the builder a reward or some sort of profit. Paul does not explain the nature of the reward (cf. 2 John 8).

The builder’s house goes up in smoke while the builder is saved. He will have the smell of smoke upon him even when he is delivered. Shall suffer loss. The loss of reward is not the loss of salvation. There are no differences among the Lord's congregation; there may be differences among his servants (cf. Luke 19:17). He himself contrasts the person with his work and pointedly upholds the believer's security. By fire. Better, through fire. The thought behind it is of someone's rushing through fire to safety as the building crumbles.

The final metaphor has arrived with this verse. We are the building Paul has talked about so far. It is Christ, who is the master builder. We are here because the Spirit of God rests within us. He (the Holy Spirit) tabernacles within us!

We should not do anything that defiles our body, either spiritually or physically. We cause great trouble for the Kingdom when we knowingly do wrong things to our body. Things which we do not know, we are not responsible. This third class of builder, who injures the building, is the nominal Christian, who is not a possessor (cf. Gal 2:4; 2 Peter 2:1). Defile and destroy are derived from the same Greek word, which is much stronger than suffer loss (1 Cor 3:15). The temple is the local church, but surely, the local church is the local manifestation of the one true temple of God. Every Christian is a living temple of the living God. God dwelt in the Jewish temple, took possession of that tabernacle, and resided in it, by that glorious cloud that was the token of his presence with the Jewish people. Christ by his Spirit dwells in all true believers. If we are the temples of God, we must do nothing that shall alienate ourselves from him, or corrupt and pollute ourselves, and thereby make ourselves unfit for His use; and we must hearken to no doctrine nor advocate that would try to seduce us into any such practices.

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