3:10 In the new illustration Paul laid the foundation of the church in Corinth by founding the church, and others added the walls and continued building on that foundation. Paul's special mission from God was to found churches (Rom. 15:20). He readily acknowledged that it was only by God's grace that he could do so as a skillful master-builder. He added a word of warning that the quality of the materials and workmanship that went into building the church are very important.
"By laying the foundation he did--Jesus Christ and him crucified--he was the truly wise' master-builder in contrast to the wise' in Corinth, who are building the church of totally incongenial materials and are therefore in danger of attempting to lay another foundation as well."70
3:11 Christ Himself is the foundation of the church (Matt. 16:18; cf. Isa. 28:16; Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:6). Basing a church on the work of any other person, even Peter, is improper. Paul laid the foundation for the church in Corinth when he preached Christ and Him crucified there. The apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church in a secondary sense only (Eph. 2:20).71
3:12-13 Even though the quality of the foundation was the best, the condition of the building also depended on what others built on top of the foundation. In Paul's day contractors built buildings of durable and or combustible materials, as they do today. In the building of the Corinthian church durable materials were those activities that sprang from reliance on Christ and Him crucified, the foundation. These works contributed to the permanent spiritual strengthening of the believers. The combustible materials were activities that arose out of human "wisdom"in all its forms. These made no lasting contribution though they may have served some temporary need. Examples of the former include instruction in the Word of God, training in evangelism, and the refutation of error. Illustrations of the latter would be the teaching of popular ideas not rooted in Scripture, social work that excluded the gospel message, and the use of time and money for simply temporal purposes. However, Paul's main concern in this metaphor was those doing the building rather than the building itself.
"The six materials in 1 Cor 3:12 are arranged to denote a descending scale by moving from a unit of three good qualities to a unit of three bad ones. The verse uses pictures to represent what Paul calls work' in vv 13 and 14. Paul's main point is to encourage building with quality materials that will meet with God's approval and receive eternal reward. Interpreters sometimes restrict the meaning of the symbols either to doctrine, to people, to activity, or to character. The [proper] conclusion is that Paul in the symbols combines several things that lead to Christ's good pleasure and a believer's reward. These are sound doctrine, activity, motives and character in Christian service."72
God will expose the work of each of God's servants on "the day."This is a reference to the day when the believer will stand before God and give an account of the stewardship of his or her life at Christ's judgment seat (cf. Luke 19:11-27; 1 Cor. 1:8; 2 Cor. 5:10; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2 Tim. 1:12, 18; 4:8; Rev. 22:12; et al.).73Then the fire of God's judgment will test the quality of each person's work and his workmanship, but not his person. The durability or transience of those works will then become apparent.
3:14-15 If the servant of the Lord has made a lasting contribution to the building of the church by emphasizing the gospel, he or she will receive a reward. If someone has not because he or she has pursued human "wisdom,"that person will not, though he or she will retain his or her salvation. Paul likened the unfaithful servant to a man pulled to safety through the flames of his burning house (cf. Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27). The context identifies those who suffer loss as being Christians who seek to build the church with materials that fail to withstand God's assessment. They do not refer to all carnal Christians (vv. 1-4), though carnal Christians may fail to make lasting contributions to the church.74
The rewards in view seem to be opportunities to glorify God by serving Him (cf. Matt. 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27). The Christian will have greater or lesser opportunities to do so during the Millennium and forever in proportion to his or her faithfulness on earth now.75The New Testament writers spoke of these rewards symbolically as crowns elsewhere (cf. 9:25; Phil. 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:19; 2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 2:10; 3:11). It is perfectly proper to serve Christ to gain a crown. We will one day lay it at the feet of our Savior. It is a symbol of a life of faithful service that we performed out of gratitude for His grace to us (cf. Rev. 4:4, 10).76
The testing in view here provides no support for the unbiblical doctrine of purgatory. It is the believer's works that God subjects to the fires of testing, not the believer personally. God applies the fire to determine the quality of the works, not to purify the believer.
"[The] whole subject of rewards for the believer is one, I am afraid, rarely thought of by the ordinary Christian, or even the average student of the Scriptures. But it is both a joyous and solemn theme and should serve as a potent incentive for holiness of life."77
"The Bible describes the judgment seat of Christ for one main purpose: to affect the way we think and live--to motivate us to anticipate with joy His return and to live our lives to please Him, not worrying about the way others treat us or what they may think about us. . . .
"Though not the only motivating factor, I am convinced that the doctrine of the judgment seat (bema) is meant to be one of the major scriptural motivations for godly living."78
"It is unfortunately possible for people to attempt to build the church out of every imaginable human system predicated on merely worldly wisdom, be it philosophy, pop' psychology, managerial techniques, relational good feelings,' or what have you. But at the final judgment, all such building (and perhaps countless other forms, where systems have become more important than the gospel itself) will be shown for what it is: something merely human, with no character of Christ or his gospel in it."79
