Building on the Foundation, Which Is Christ; the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:10–17)

1 Cor. 3:10. By the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I laid the foundation, and another builds upon it; but let each one take heed how he builds.

“You are God’s building”, he said. But God built you into a building through me, as His fellow worker. Furnished with His gracious aids—that is, with the knowledge of the wisdom of God, with moral strength, and with the gift of miracles—I, as a builder who knows his craft, laid the foundation of the building that is you, God’s building, and raised it to a certain fullness. But all that I did may be reckoned only as the laying of the foundation. And let us take this as the starting thought: suppose I laid the foundation, and another builds upon it and raises the structure. To what is this builder-upon obliged first of all? — To attend carefully and to make sufficiently clear to himself how the building ought to be raised. Though only the foundation was laid by me, yet in it the full design of the building is already given. In material buildings the foundation indicates only the outward form of the structure, but in spiritual ones it is not so: here the foundation foreshows both the plan of the whole building, and its character, and the materials of which it is to be built. Whoever undertakes to build must understand all this well, and then with all attention raise the structure: “let him take heed how he builds”.

Why this discourse becomes clear afterward. Here the Apostle fixes attention only on this, to make the one who has undertaken to raise the building stop and consider whether he has properly understood what and how he must do, having begun the building upon a ready foundation, and one, moreover, that indicates everything. Having founded the Church in Corinth, the Apostle went to another place; after him Apollos came and continued the building up of the Church. Apollos carried on the work entirely in the spirit of the holy Apostle Paul, and therefore faithfully and blamelessly. It is not him that St. Paul has in view. But when Apollos too had departed from there, there arose from among the local sages those more capable, more educated, and more talkative than the rest, and they set themselves up as leaders of the lesser brethren. It is at them that he aims. Yet at the same time, since every Christian is a little model of the Church, and has likewise received from the Apostle a foundation for building up salvation in himself by faith in the Lord, everyone too was to see in this a good reminder to himself: take heed how you build. St. Chrysostom indeed says: “Here, it seems to me, he turns them toward the labors of life”. Oecumenius continues: “He calls them to a worthy life, naming the activity of each a building-up. And let each take heed how he builds upon the foundation laid, that is, having faith, and Christ Himself, so as to do good works”.

In the words “as a wise master builder” the thought is not that he calls himself wise—there is only a comparison here: when some wise master builder lays a foundation, he lays the proper, firm, very best foundation. Just such a foundation I too laid, or rather God through me; for all that I do, I do according to the grace given to me. The stress of the thought falls not on the wisdom of the one laying the foundation, but on the firmness of the foundation, or its unalterableness—on the fact that a foundation has been laid which cannot be changed, for it is the only one in the spiritual building. Of this he speaks at once. But even if we grant that he called himself wise, this too is not in the sense that he “exalts himself, but he sets before them an example and shows that it belongs to the wise to lay one (single) foundation. And see how even here he preserves humility. Having called himself wise, he did not ascribe this to himself, but first gave himself wholly to God, and only then so named himself: by the grace, he says, of God, given to me. At the same time he suggests that all is God’s” (St. Chrysostom).

1 Cor. 3:11. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

As a wise architect lays the very best foundation, which cannot be replaced by a better, so I laid in you such a foundation as no other can be. The only foundation of the spiritual building of the Church and of believing souls is the one I laid, that is, Jesus Christ. This is the same as: “there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved”. Or, as above: “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”. The whole mystery of the faith is in this. Briefly it may be described thus: God, worshipped in Trinity, saves us in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, incarnate and dead upon the cross; those who believe in this are, through baptism, brought into communion with this crucifixion-death and, receiving full forgiveness, are granted the firstfruits of the renewal of the spirit; then, having taken up His dwelling in it, the Spirit of God leads the one being renewed—through the labors of good-doing, through the struggles of self-denial and self-mortification, and through the good-hearted endurance of all that befalls—to complete renewal, that he may be able to stand wholly pure and blameless before the face of the Lord on the day of His second coming. The foundation of salvation, therefore, lies in mystical union with the crucified Lord, and then in the ordering of such a life as would be wholly a co-suffering with the Lord. By this the holy Apostle said to the leaders: this is where the mind of all must be directed, to this must desires and undertakings be roused; and this is what you all must care for, how to abide in union with the crucified Lord, through co-crucifixion with Him—by the crucifixion of the passions and lusts, and by the bearing of one’s own cross.

“Let us build, St. Chrysostom teaches, upon this foundation and hold fast to it, as a branch to the vine, and let there be no division between us and Christ; for if we are separated from Him, we shall immediately perish. The branch draws sap into itself because it is joined to the vine, and the building stands because it is bound together (to the foundation and to itself); but what is torn away perishes, because it rests on nothing. Therefore let us not merely hold to Christ, but cleave to Him; for if we are separated, we shall perish. Those who remove themselves far from You shall perish, says the Scripture (Ps. 72:27). Let us cleave to Him, and cleave by deeds; for he who keeps My commandments, He says, abides in Me (Jn. 14:20–21). He (the Apostle) instills union with Him by many comparisons. Look: He is the head, we the body—between head and body can there be any distance? He is the foundation, we the building; He is the vine, we the branches; He is the bridegroom, we the brides; He is the shepherd, we the sheep; He is the way, we those who walk; we are the temple, He the dweller; He is the firstborn, we the brethren; He is the heir, we the co-heirs; He is the life, we the living; He is the resurrection, we those who rise; He is the light, we the enlightened. All this signifies union and admits of no division, not even the least. For whoever has separated a little will afterward separate much. So the body, receiving even a small wound from a sword, is corrupted; a building, cracking even a little, collapses; and a branch, broken from the root even a little, becomes useless. Thus this little is already not little, but almost everything. Therefore, when we err in anything of this kind, or feel slothful, let us not despise this little, because, if left in neglect, it will soon become great. So a garment, if it begins to tear and is left in neglect, tears entirely; and a roof, if it is stripped of a few tiles and left in neglect, brings down the whole house”.

1 Cor. 3:12–13. But if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw: each one’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed by fire; and the fire shall test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

Having pointed out the foundation and, in it, the plan, scale, and character of the building, the Apostle does not touch further on these matters, because for his purpose it was enough to fix attention only on the materials of the building. These materials he indicates not by name but metaphorically, leaving the intelligent free to understand for themselves what is meant. It is clear only that he wished to signify durable materials and non-durable ones. The durable are gold, silver, and precious stones; the non-durable are wood, hay, and straw. There is no need to inquire what precisely the Apostle means by each of them in particular; it is enough to determine what is durable and what is not. Durable is what is in accord with the foundation; non-durable is what is not in accord with it. For the foundation itself is so firm that it can neither be moved nor replaced; therefore everything in accord with it will also be solid and durable.

But first we must determine what is to be understood by the building-up—the teaching of the teachers, or the life of each Christian? By the Apostle’s aim, it would be nearer to understand the teaching of the teachers; but since he speaks in general terms, it is not strange that he wished to instill both—to the teachers, that they teach soundly, and to each Christian, that he live as he ought. Theodoret writes: “Some maintain that this is said by the Apostle concerning doctrines, but I think he says it concerning active virtue”. So in his time opinions were divided. St. Chrysostom, on the words “let each take heed how he builds”, said: “Here, it seems to me, he turns them toward the labors of life”. But then, explaining the meaning of the foundation laid, he says: “The Apostle’s words signify the following: I proclaimed Christ, I gave you the foundation; see how you build upon it—is it not with the aim of drawing the disciples away from Him and attracting them to certain men? Let us then not be carried away by heresies”. From this it is clear that St. Chrysostom understood by the building-up both the teaching and the teachers, and the life of the believers. Although he afterward speaks preferentially of the latter, this was required by the aims of his homilies, which are always moral.

What teaching, then, is durable? — That which develops directly from the foundation laid and is established upon it. That is, when the teachers strive to explain to their disciples only this: how salvation was accomplished and how to be saved—that is, how God created us and set us in paradise, how we fell, how the merciful God did not leave us in our fall but was pleased to accomplish salvation for us, not sparing His only-begotten Son; how the Son of God came to earth, was incarnate, suffered, and died on the cross for our salvation; how He then rose, ascended into the heavens, and sent down the Holy Spirit for the ordering of the salvation of each person; how these persons are called to salvation by the grace of God, are mystically made partakers of the Lord’s death, and, receiving new life, are led to perfection through voluntary and involuntary privations and sorrows, and through death are conducted into the realm of the inaugural blessedness with the Lord. Whoever teaches all this, and moreover just as it is set forth in the New Testament, prefigured in the Old, explained by the holy fathers, and held by the holy Church—teaching simply, clearly, having in view this one thing, to build up the souls of the hearers—his teaching is durable, like gold, silver, and precious stones. But whoever, in teaching, though he does not violate the doctrines, yet teaches about extraneous subjects that only stuff the head and rouse a proud opinion of learning—both in himself and in those who listen to him—or who, in teaching, sets forth the matters of faith more by the reasonings of the mind than as they are delivered in revelation, as if they derived their force precisely from these reasonings—or who, teaching about the Christian life, tries by every means to cover over the obligatory severity of this life, introducing self-indulgence and comfort instead of the cross, and thereby making void the cross of Christ—whoever teaches so and the like, his teaching is not durable: it is hay, straw, brushwood. To this belong also the talk of the Corinthian parties—petty, the fruit of levity and idleness.

Whose life is durable? — That of the one who, having been mystically joined to the death of Christ and having received new life in Christ, and strengthened in his heart by the grace of the Holy Spirit, knows how to enter ever more deeply into co-crucifixion with the Lord, indulging self-love in nothing, constantly crucifying the flesh with its passions and lusts, ready sooner to die than to indulge himself in anything, or to violate in anything even the least commandment he is aware of—and doing all this not out of any fear, but out of love for the Lord who was crucified and who by His death granted us life. Whoever is so disposed, his rules of life and his deeds are gold, silver, and precious stones. But whoever, without openly violating the commandments, though he leads an orderly life, yet has no care to keep his heart pure for the Lord, and for that reason to be at war with himself and, as an aid to it, to hold himself in the struggles of self-denial—and therefore denies himself none of the comforts and pleasures possible on earth and introduced by the spirit of this age into the order of life, not regarding them as contrary to the cross of Christ, which every Christian is bound to bear—his rules of life and deeds are not durable. They are hay, straw, brushwood.

It should be noted that in this half of the exhortation (1 Cor. 3:10–15) the Apostle does not oppose to sound teaching of teachers and truly Christian life of Christians false teachers and obvious sinners, but such teachers who hold to the foundation laid and labor on this foundation to raise the building of teaching, except they take non-durable material—learning not related to the work and the like—and such Christians who do not want to destroy their souls but suppose they are saving it and do works of practical necessity for it, that is, they also raise the building of salvation, but in this also refuse themselves nothing—their material is hay and straw.

“Each one’s work will become manifest.” Now it is not visible, he says. And teachers enjoy glory, and respectable Christians enjoy honor. But the day will come when all will be brought to light. Each one’s work will be manifested—that which he has built on the foundation of faith received—the teaching built by teachers, and the works built by all Christians for salvation. “For the Day will declare it.” This is the day of judgment. The appearing of the Lord for judgment is depicted as preceded by a fiery river. It is a sign of the impartiality of the judgment, from which nothing can be hidden, and all that is uncovered will receive a righteous, impartial evaluation, and then a recompense. This is what the Apostle also expresses, saying that day “will be revealed by fire: and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” The Apostle represents such a picture, that everyone must pass through the fire preceding the Lord, so that, standing before Him, he may receive a reward. This fire that is passed through will test each one’s work—what it is, whether durable or non-durable. Here is a figurative expression of the fact that God’s judgment will precisely determine what each one’s deeds are worth.

1 Cor. 3:14–15. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

What a picture! Each one, whatever house he has built for himself on the foundation of faith, in that he lives, both here and beyond the grave; in that will he stand before the fiery river flowing before the Lord. It will roll over each one. Whose house remains intact when the fire passes through it will receive a reward from the Lord the Judge; and whose is burned, he will “suffer loss,” that is, see that all his labor was vain: he labored in vain, cherished a futile hope, deceived himself, thinking he was building rightly. It is evident whom the Apostle means by these latter and whom by the former. By the latter—such whose teaching and life are hay and straw; by the former—such whose teaching and life are gold and silver.

What will become of him whose house is burned?!—He will “be saved, yet so as through fire.” This passage is obscure and has given rise to various interpretations. The word “saved” means he will remain intact: his house will burn, but he will not burn, will not be destroyed. What will happen to him? The words “yet so as through fire”—point to a comparison. Let us take this comparison and obtain: he will be saved in the same way as those are saved whose fire catches in a house. Fire all around, they must run through it. What happens then? Some will run through almost unharmed, others—in various degrees of burning, while one remains in the fire. Something similar will happen to those whose buildings will burn in the fire of judgment. Some will go into fire, others will receive other various degrees of punishment; and some will be pardoned. For though all are guilty of building from non-durable material, their guilt may have different degrees. One may be guilty even without guilt; he labored on the building of non-durable material, not knowing a better way of building; or it may be by circumstances he did not manage to undertake the better, or for some other reason deserves pardon.

Up to this point the Apostle has looked at the Corinthian Church as having received from him only the foundation. Now he looks at it as a whole, as a building constructed by him. You, he says, are the temple of God. The purpose of the discourse is to terrify all the more those who have undertaken to build, or rather, to rebuild the structure built, according to their own judgment; and that is the same as to destroy it. Above he left still a possibility for them of salvation, though with difficulty; but here he gives a decisive judgment: “God will destroy him.”

1 Cor. 3:16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

What he said above: “you are God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9), he now says: “you are the temple of God.” He expressed this as a question: “Do you not know,” showing the certainty of this truth and its being well-known. They all knew that it was so, therefore it was sufficient to insert this truth into their consciousness more forcefully by means of a question, to instruct them, without elaborating in the explanation and proof of it. With the consciousness that they are all one temple of God, should have come to mind also this, that a temple, though ordinarily a multi-part building, is one, undivided. With this thought, conscience could not fail to remind them: But what about us?—We have divided ourselves according to different teachers, some under one, some under another, some under a third. It turns out we have broken the temple of God into parts, destroyed God’s building. “And the Spirit of God dwells in you.” And this too was known to all. For all openly received through the laying on of hands the gift of the Holy Spirit, and He revealed His operations tangibly in their assemblies. What is the Apostle reminding them of?—That the division begun among them might lead to this, that the Spirit of God departs from them. As a vessel, while unbroken, holds and preserves some fragrance within, but when broken, the fragrance escapes, so it could be with them, that because of the division, they would be deprived of the Spirit. These words pertain to the whole community and instruct it, while the following are directed against the leaders of the division.

1 Cor. 3:17. If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which you are.

Although he speaks generally: “If anyone destroys,” he clearly alludes to those who caused and maintained the division. He does not say that they have already destroyed—in that case the Apostle would have written and acted differently—but neither does he consider what has already been done unimportant, reasonably supposing that if the same state of affairs continues, the division will take root, especially if any accidents increase the dividing partition. Then this will be actual destruction. And he terrifies them with the possibility of such an outcome. It was begun through levity and idleness, but it might end thus: the Church will divide—will be destroyed. All the blame falls on you. But see what judgment will then fall upon you: “If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.” “‘Will destroy,’ that is, will hand over to perdition. The Apostle does not curse, but prophesies.” (Holy Chrysostom). What stronger exhortation could be expected?! One feels the sword over one’s head.

Why such a punishment for destroying God’s temple?—Because it is holy, and it is holy because it belongs to God and is the dwelling place of the Spirit, and its foundation is Christ the Lord. When Gamaliel, as the Jewish authorities were about to destroy the Church in Jerusalem, turned them from it, terrifying them: “lest we be found fighters against God” (Acts 5:39). The same thought is here.

“Which you are.” Deliberately did the Apostle add this word, making it to be understood: see what you are!—Again he turns to the whole society of believers and gives them a lesson: how you, having such high significance, allowed yourselves to be placed in such a position that you could lose the Spirit. At the same time also to the instigators of division he intimated: you so thoughtlessly looked at this community of saints and began to tear it into pieces, and it is this!

Such thoughts appear in these verses (1 Cor. 3:16–17) according to the flow of the Apostle’s discourse. But when taken outside their context, they may be applied to heresy-founders and unrepentant sinners. Heresy corrupts the Church; mortal sin corrupts the soul. The heresy-founder answers for the corruption of the Church—God will destroy him. And for mortal sin, uncleansed by repentance, the sinner answers. And God will destroy him—that is, ruin him—if he does not repent. If not here (for this sometimes happens), then certainly in the next life. The final thought about the corruption of the soul’s temple by the sinner is unfolded by holy Paul below, when he warns against fornication (1 Cor. 6:15–20).

In verses 18–23 lies the conclusion of the foregoing discourse, like an answer to the question: what then should we do? After the preceding warning, such a question would very naturally arise, and holy Paul answers it: ααα) some should abandon the wisdom of this age (1 Cor. 18–20); and βββ) others should cease to marvel at it and stop submitting to its false reasonings (1 Cor. 21–23). “Intending to add what still remained to be said so as to complete this subject, the Apostle turns to refutation of external wisdom and to exposure of those who, boasting in it, divided the Church” (holy Chrysostom).