1 Cor. 3:11 "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Cor. 3:12 "Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw
1 Cor. 3:13 "each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
1 Cor. 3:14 "If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
1 Cor. 3:15 "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."
The foundation, the fire, and the reward - these are the three things this passage talks about. It talks about the foundation of Christ, it talks about the testing of our works, and then it talks about what happens after we are tested.
1 Cor. 3:10 "According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it."
Paul was a skilled master builder because of God's grace which was given to him. What he means is that he was an Apostle, as he says in almost all the books he wrote: Rom 1:1 "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God." The word "apostle" means "delegate," "ambassador," "officially a commissioner of Christ with Miraculous power." Paul is an apostle, which means he has miraculous power, he is there to represent Christ, directly, here on earth. Think about that; a man whose sole purpose in life was to destroy the church of Christ (before his conversion) - this man's purpose on earth is now to represent, directly, the Person whom he had persecuted with so much zeal. Paul gets his authority from Christ because he is an Apostle. We are to follow his direction because he is a direct representative for God. Moreover, he is one who has the authority from God, directed by the Holy Spirit, to lay the foundation of salvation for people.
Paul didn't lay this foundation with eloquence or with worldly wisdom: 1 Cor. 2:1 "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 1 Cor. 2:2 "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." The foundation of Christianity is sinners saved by Christ's death. The end. That is the foundation of our faith. Without it, there is NO salvation. On top of that you build other things, such as these:
His resurrection is power over death and therefore sin: Rom. 5:17-18 "For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men."
Christ is the Son of God: Matt. 26:63-64 "But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to Him, 'I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.' Jesus said to him, 'You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"
This God is the only God: 1 Tim. 1:17 "To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."
Another that I'll mention is the Trinity - three Beings who are all one, yet still three. All three were seen in this passage. Matt. 3:16-17 "And when Jesus was baptized, immediately He went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on Him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'"
These basics are built upon the foundation of Christ's death. On top of these more things are built. This is what Paul is talking about in 1 Cor. 2:6-7 "Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory." and what he talks about here, in 1 Cor. 3:1-2 "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready."
The wisdom all stems from the foundation of Christ.
1 Cor. 3:11 "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
There is only one foundation; anything else is not a foundation at all.
Matt. 7:24-26 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand."
Sand is what you build on if you're not building on the rock of Christ. Christ is our foundation and our cornerstone. Isa. 28:16 "therefore thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: 'Whoever believes will not be in haste.''"
The cornerstone is the stone that the rest of the building is built around. In fact, the rest of the bricks are all placed in the correct position in relation to this cornerstone. Therefore, if Christ is our cornerstone, everything we do should done because of Him, and should be done in relation to Him. If you go to the gas station today, how are you going to treat the cashier? How do you interact with the cashier in relation to Christ? Are you going to be grumpy and thereby misaligned from where Christ would have you? Or will you show some joy because you know where you're going and you know what Christ has done for you?
1 Cor. 3:12-13 "Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done."
This fire is an interesting concept. Fire is used other places by God: with Moses and the burning bush, (Exod. 3:2 "And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.") in burnt sacrifices, (Lev. 1:9 "but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.") burning idols, (Deut. 7:25 "The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.") in baptism in Christ (Matt. 3:11 "'I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.'") His angels are seen as a flame, (Heb. 1:7 "Of the angels he says, "He makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.") a pillar of fire was used to lead the Israelites, (Exod. 13:21 "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. Exod. 13:22 "The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.") fire was used to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24 "Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.") it is figuratively used in 1 Peter to represent trials to test our faith, (1 Pet. 1:6 "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 1 Pet. 1:7 "so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.") in Revelation, Christ's eyes are said to be like a flame of fire, (Rev. 2:18 "'And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.''") God is said to be a consuming fire, (Heb. 12:28 "Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, Heb. 12:29 "for our God is a consuming fire.")
Here in 1 Corinthians, it says "for THE Day will disclose it" ("it" being each one's work) and "it will be revealed by fire." It says in Revelation that Christ (whose eyes are like a flame of fire) will sit on the Great White Throne and judge the living and the dead: Rev 20:12 "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done." He will use His discernment to judge our works and judge our motives; He will test our works and what survives His test will show what we have done here on earth for Him. If we have done all the right things, but had the wrong heart, our works will be consumed. 1Co 4:5a Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. If we have done the right things with the right heart, they shall not be consumed. The only way we can do this is through faith, humility, and through following the Spirit to allow Christ to live through us.
1 Cor. 3:14 "If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward."
During our judgment we will get a reward for what we have done. 1 Cor. 4:5b "Then each one will receive his commendation from God." This commendation is this Matt. 25:23 "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'" We are all servants of God, Titus 1:1 "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness." This means that if we are servants of Christ we have a couple possibilities, either this where it says "well done good and faithful servant" or as it says in verse 26, "you wicked and slothful servant." It's up to you to choose how you serve and what you build on.
1 Cor. 3:15 "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."
Basically, they will not receive the reward obtained by those whose works survived the fire. On top of that, they shall forever know they didn't do as much as they could/should have for Christ. Only as through fire shall they be saved. This means that after our actions have been tested by Christ's discernment, if there is nothing left but you still have the foundation of Christ, you have nothing besides the foundation of Christ; it's as if you came through a fire.
