Building analogy
Paul transitions from the plant analogy into a new analogy. The building analogy. Paul laid the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. The foundation is the basic message of salvation. Everything that the Bible says, everything that is wise must be building upon the foundation of the gospel message. If you believe anything to be wise and it defies in any way, the basic message of salvation, then it is simply wrong. You would be attempting to build a new foundation, which cannot be done. There is only one, Jesus Christ. Others build on the foundation, and must do so carefully as to not change the message of the gospel.
If you build, regardless of what you build with, it will be revealed by fire in the final day’s. The final days refers to our judgment before Christ when our works on earth will be judged according to their eternal value (2 Cor 5.10). If what was built survives it was gold, silver and costly stones; spiritual works. If it is consumed, it was wood hay or straw; carnal works. This is good works versus worthless ones; it is spiritual acts versus carnal acts.
If it is burned up, the loss that is suffered is not their salvation. The loss is the benefit of knowing that you did God’s work. In Phil 4.1, Paul says that His brothers, whom he led to Christ are His crown. Our crown in heaven will be in direct proportion to the work that we do on earth for Christ.
(Notice the parallel from the previous section where Paul planted and Apollos watered. It’s the same thing.)
Temple of God
In OT times, God dwelt among the people in the Temple in Jerusalem. Today, we are the temple of God. Same as in OT times, defilement of the temple is direct rejection of God. To introduce practices into temple worship that conflict with God’s ordinance is to make unholy what God designed to be Holy. In OT times the Israelites were punished for defiling the temple by worshiping false God’s. In the same way, when we worship the world, when we defile ourselves as the temple of God, when we build our lives on a foundation other than Jesus Christ, we are guilty just the same and therefore deserving of destruction.
Remember that God did not abandon Israel because of their sin. They were ultimately exiled for their idolatry, but they remained God’s chosen people. The same is true for us. To return to the analogy, we will ultimately be destroyed for defilement of God’s temple, but we will not lose our salvation. “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13.5). “We will be saved, yet so as through the fire” (v. 15).
Self Deception
Paul exhorts the Corinthian church not to deceive themselves. Let’s stop for a moment and review the context. The context of the book thus far is this: the Corinthian’s are new believer and still live according to the flesh. They are carnal, not spiritual. The context of this chapter is building up to this very exhortation. Paul has given them the infant analogy, the building analogy and the temple of God analogy as a way to say, ‘you will be punished for living according to the world.’ If we think that we are wise, we must humble ourselves, become fools, so that we can truly become wise according to the wisdom of God. Because why? Because God is “the one who catches the [worldly] wise in their craftiness.” God knows that the wisdom of this world is useless; it is foolishness before God.
Verses 21 and 22 are incredible. God created everything for “you”. Who is “you?” “You” is all Christians, since that is to whom the letter is addressed. Everything that was created was created for the benefit of Christians and Christians belong to Christ, who created all things and Christ belongs to God who knows all things.
The major take away for this chapter is simple. Paul opens the chapter talking about spiritual living versus carnal living. Then he produces a number of analogies to show what will happen if we do not do Christ’s work. Then he returns to the context of the passage. The Corinthians had factions and divisions which resulted in infertile grounds for God to do his work in. These analogies simply show us that when we work against God instead of for Him, he will simply cast us aside, even unto death, so that His plan will be done.
We do not lose our salvation over it, but won’t we, if we truly belong to Christ, have a desire to do His work?
Image Credits: anbra33, sxc.hu
Build on the Foundation of Jesus Christ–1 Corinthians 3.9-23
