1 Corinthians 3:10

1Co_3:10-15

According to the grace of God … as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation … But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

All of grace

Now when we say a godly man acknowledgeth all to grace, consider--First, he doth it heartily, seriously. No fountain doth run more sweetly, fully, and purely than he doth. Oh, his heart is a happy spring from whence comes such rivers of living water! Secondly, this acknowledgment is accompanied with a renouncing all his own works. His own strength, his own duties, he doth not so much as think of them, nor mention them. Thirdly, this acknowledging it must be from an inward sense of our own sin and unworthiness, how ill we have deserved at Gods hand. No man can ever praise grace that hath not felt the sting of sin, the power of the law. Fourthly, he must wholly and solely acknowledge grace. He must not give some piece to grace and the rest to his own free-will. He must not by grace mean the outward manifestation and revelation of it, but the inward efficacy of it. Lastly, he must set up this grace of God in a Scripture way. Not to oppose godliness or holiness, or to sin more securely and boldly: this is not to acknowledge grace, but to abuse grace. In the next place consider why the godly are so sensible of Gods grace. And first, this is the final cause of all the good that God doth enable us unto. This is all He looks for. Secondly, the children of God are endowed with an ingenuous, free, and excellent spirit; therefore they cannot but confess by whom it is they have obtained grace. Thirdly, the real sting, smart, and danger they have been in makes their heart full and mouth full of the grace of God. Fourthly, they are an humble debased people in themselves. They have low thoughts of all that they do. And therefore it is that they are so precious with God. Fifthly, they must needs acknowledge grace, because they have the experience how hard it is to do anything spiritual and upon heavenly grounds. And therefore if they are ever enabled thereunto they cannot but exalt grace. Sixthly, to praise and exalt the grace of God, it is a very profitable and advantageous duty also. It is two ways profitable.

1. It procures more grace and mercies from God: He giveth grace to the humble (Jam_4:6).

2. This acknowledging of grace will enlarge a man, and make a man more willing and ready in all the ways of God. It is like oil to the wheel; it is like wings to the bird. Duties done with the spirit of praise and thanksgiving have great life and vigour in them. Now I shall add one caution: corrupt doctrines and opinions in religion may much cool this duty of giving thanks. I shall instance some. As first, the denying of original sin is a great engine against the grace of God. Secondly, the maintenance of free-will doth much detract from free grace. Thirdly, that the law is not to be preached; no, not for direction or obligation. Whereas Christ and Paul do often press this. (A. Burgess.)

A good foundation

This Paul makes the principal part of his wisdom, that he began with a good foundation. The point therefore in hand is of great consequence, both to the preacher and to the auditor, to consider what foundation his religion and godliness is fixed upon. For the opening of this, consider that divines do ordinarily make a twofold foundation. The one they call the foundation of our knowledge and faith in matters of religion; and this is the Scripture only. We can lay no other foundation for the matters of faith but the Word of God. Secondly, there is the foundation of the being, or existence of all our glory and salvation, and that is only Jesus Christ. I shall instance in four unquestionable foundations, which are the four main pillars that support our Christian building, for the necessary things of religion are these four. Either--

1. The matters to be believed.

2. The worship and necessary service of God.

3. The spiritual benefits and mercies, justification and salvation.

4. The things to be done by us in our way to salvation.

We will begin with the first, the foundation of our faith or Divine assent in matters of religion. What is that which every man must build his faith upon? And that is the Word of God. As God at first put all the light into the sun, and the stars shine by a borrowed light from it, so God hath now put all supernatural light into the Scripture, and all guides are to shine by that. Now that the written Word of God is the only foundation of our Christian faith, appeareth by these reasons--First, a Christian faith ought to be a Divine, supernatural faith, not a bare human faith. Now nothing can be the ground of a Divine faith but a Divine authority. Secondly, the Scriptures are only the foundation because they are the immediate verity or truth coming from God, who is the first essential truth. They have not only a Divine authority, but evident infallibility. Take a tree from the river side and plant it in a wilderness, what can you expect but withering? And thus it is if you take a man from the Scripture; his seeming faith, graces, godliness will all presently vanish. Thirdly, the Scriptures only are the foundation of faith because they are only immutable and unmovable. They abide always the same, they are not subject to changes, to perturbations of affections, as men are. Councils consisted of men carried by passions and- interests. Lastly, the Scripture is only to be laid for a foundation because this only is strong enough to support and bear up in sad hours of temptation and dangerous times of persecutions. Our Saviour quelled Satans temptations by arrows out of the Scripture quiver. Now for the matter of doctrine to be believed, some men lay four rotten and weak foundations; others may be reduced to this. The first is that of the papist, the authority of the Church and the Pope, being wholly ignorant themselves, but resting all on their authority. The second foundation men lay is the authority of the civil magistrate. This is a mere political faith. The third is private revelation and enthusiasms. Fourthly, another false foundation is mere human reason. (A. Burgess.)

Foundations

The foundation therefore of every good duty or work we do hath these parts. First, there is a foundation by way of a direction or rule, to which everything we do must be commensurate, and by which it must be regulated, now that is the Word of God. For Gods Word is not only a rule of faith but of manners. And as thou must be of no other religion than the Word directs to, so thou must do no other actions or live any other life than that guides thee too. A second part of that foundation we must lay for the practice of holiness is the justification and reconciliation of our persons with God through Christ. Thirdly, another foundation we must lay is to receive power and strength from Christ only, both in the beginning and progress of al1 good actions. Fourthly, the last part of this foundation is a renewed and sanctified nature. Now let us consider why we are to be careful about laying this foundation. First, because it is very dangerous, and it is very easy to miscarry in this matter, if the foundation be not well laid thou art undone for ever. In matters of mens estates, or of their bodily life, how careful are they to go upon a sure foundation. Only they wilfully venture their ruin in the matters of their soul. Thou wouldst be unwilling to live in an house whose foundation is rotten! Consider, then, am I in the right? Fear would make thee jealous and suspicious. Secondly, we mistake easily. We see the greatest part of Christians never attend to these things. And withal the difference between true and false foundations is spiritually to be discerned. Oh then say, I do the outward works of religion, I am careful to discharge them! But how easy may I build all upon a false foundation! Thirdly, therefore we must look to our foundation because of the great confusion that will be at last on those who have failed therein. Fourthly, therefore lay a good foundation, for if that be wanting, thou doest nothing but sin in all thou doest. In the third place, let us take notice what are those weak and rotten foundations that many men build upon in regard of their practice. First, a conformity to the life of others; they do as most do, they shall speed as well as they; what would ye have them to be singular, to be different from others? This is a most rotten foundation. Secondly, others build upon a partial practice of good things. The hypocritical Jews they rested upon their temple, their sacrifices, their outward worship of God; in the meanwhile their hands were full of blood, of unrighteousness and injustice. Thirdly, another rotten foundation is the mere work done. They consider no more than the external act of religion, of justice, of charity, and so they think they have obeyed the commandment. This was the Pharisees foundation. Fourthly, another rotten foundation is the goodness, yea, supposed perfection, of the work they do. (A. Burgess.)

Building on the foundation

To amplify this, consider, there may be a twofold building or addition to the Word of God, either destructive and corruptive, such as wholly overthroweth the true meaning and sense of the Holy Ghost. And this is a very dangerous sin. Or else perfective and explicative. Thus the New Testament was added to the Old as a perfective addition, not corruptive; though it could not have been added as Scripture, but that the authors thereof had a Divine infallibility. And now what the ministers of God in their ministerial labours do, it must be an addition explicative of the foundation, though it be not with Divine infallibility. Secondly, the Word of God, which containeth the foundation that the apostles have laid, may be either considered in respect of the words only, or in respect of the sense clothed with words. In the next place, let us consider why we ought so to take heed, and that is to be manifest in many respects. First, from God Himself, His glory and honour is greatly concerned herein. Secondly, on Gods part we are to take heed because He hath so severely threatened all those that add or detract to His Word. Any that shall alter these foundations or change these bounds. Secondly, on the peoples part. Therefore we ought greatly to take heed. For--

1. The Word of God in the true sense of it is the only food and nourishment of the soul.

2. If we build not on this foundation, the preaching of the Word loseth those glorious and excellent effects for which it is appointed.

3. On the peoples part we had need to take heed, because they are more prone and ready to receive any corrupt sense than the pure meaning of the Scripture.

Lastly, on the ministers part it is necessary theft he should take heed. For--

1. He hath not a magistery but a ministry committed to him.

2. He is accountable for all the sin and error people run into through his neglect.

3. He must take heed because, though a man do preach the substantials and the necessary things of salvation purely, yet if he add or mix any corrupt opinions, though of a less nature, that mans salvation is very difficult. (A. Burgess.)

The spiritual foundation

I. The foundation.

1. Is laid.

2. Is one.

3. Is sure.

II. The superstructure.

1. Is in course of erection.

2. Is variable in character.

III. The test is--

1. Certain.

2. Severe.

3. Decisive.

The foundation of faith

I. The text establishes a distinction between fundamental doctrine and that which is not fundamental. It speaks of the foundation which must be laid in all Christian teaching. It speaks also of the superstructure, which varies according to the disposition or knowledge of the individual teacher.

II. Christian teaching may legitimately be carried beyond the limits of fundamental doctrine. There have certainly been seasons in the history of the Church in which its secondary doctrines have usurped the first place. Times of re-action, in which the Christian mind was recalled to the foundation, have in some cases promoted the development of other secondary doctrines, which have overshadowed the foundation no less than those which obtained acceptance before. One phase of the Reformation was a return to the heart of Christianity from the intricate subtleties of scholasticism. Yet Calvinism in its extreme development is at least as barren, and as subversive of all place and keeping in the mutual relation of doctrines, as any part of the scholastic system. It is no wonder that men are tempted from time to time to cast aside all but the most elementary doctrinal teaching, as to content themselves with accepting the bare letter of the Bible, denouncing every inference from it as a corruption of Evangelical simplicity. Far different was the teaching of the apostle. As a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation, he does not add Let no man build thereupon; but Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. While he disparages the wisdom of this world, he congratulates his converts that they are enriched … in all utterance, and in all knowledge, and declares his intention to speak the wisdom of God not indeed to the carnal babes in Christ, but among them that are perfect and able to bear the highest teaching. The Hebrew Christians also are reproved, as those of Corinth are, for their backwardness in the school of Christ (Heb_5:12-13).

III. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1. To preach Christ is the chief office of Gods messengers. The leading events of the gospel history, the doctrine of Christs nature which is a necessary inference from and the only consistent explanation of those events, and the efficacy of His redeeming work which rests on the truth of His nature, make up one complex whole, the due and proportionate exhibition of which is preaching Christ. This is presupposed in all farther Christian teaching.

2. All more advanced teaching must rest upon this.

(1) It must not be inconsistent with it. For the superstructure may not merely overshadow, it may disturb and destroy the foundation. Doctrine which comes into collision with fundamental doctrine is a virtual denial of the foundation.

(2) It must stand in a definite relation to it and grow out of it. Thus the doctrine of the Sacraments cannot be duly taught, except as it is taught in connection with those of the Incarnation and Atonement.

IV. let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

1. There may be teaching which is not inconsistent with the leading Christian verities, and which nevertheless is false or worthless. Those who promulgate it will have to answer for it before God. The day shall declare it. Paul was thinking mainly of vain, subtle, and barren questions such as those against which he frequently warns Timothy and Titus (1Ti_1:4-7; 1Ti_4:7; 1Ti_6:3-5; 2Ti_2:16; 2Ti_2:23; 2Ti_4:4; Tit_3:9). But the words apply to every form of teaching which is in itself false and groundless, which is barren and unprofitable, and which ministers questions, rather than godly edifying.

2. If men are answerable for teaching which is not inconsistent with the foundation of the faith, how much more for that which directly or indirectly overthrows it. If vain and unprofitable religious questions cannot be raised with innocence, how can men teach heresy without guilt? If an unwise builder injures the Temple of God by unskilful workmanship, a judgment is pronounced against him: how then shall he escape, who has either never laid the foundation at all, or who (when it has been laid) has succeeded in disturbing it? (Bp. Basil Jones.)

Building the true life

I. Christ is the foundation of Christian trust and character. No other King and Saviour of men is possible to those who know and understand what He was and taught. Great teachers of religion, and great examples of conduct, have been in the world: but in comparison with Christ, they are but stars in the firmament of the worlds night, which become lost to sight when the glorious sun has risen. He stands unique and preeminent in all history, the only true Saviour of mankind. A Congregational minister once said to a Unitarian minister, Can you conceive of anything greater and higher than the life and teaching of Jesus Christ? and the Unitarian minister frankly answered, No. Then what is the difference between your conception of the character of God and the character of Christ? and he as frankly said again, That it was a very fine point. The apostle, as a wise master builder, had laid this foundation as the basis of the new life; not himself, or Apollos, or Peter. The Corinthians were to be rooted and built up in Christ, and in no other. But they were to take heed how they built themselves up on Him.

II. Two structures are possible even upon Christ. A Christian life must have Christ as the model as well as the foundation. The gold and silver, and precious stones, that constituted the glory and beauty of Christs character, must constitute the glory and beauty of theirs. But it was possible for men holding some connection with Christ to build up a pile of perishable rubbish, a hut instead of a temple. They might mingle doctrines and practices which had no necessary connection with Christ and Him crucified; and they were doing it.

1. Some men never think of building up anything, but take life just as it comes. They have no plan of life to work at. Indeed, nothing is so irksome to such men as to live by rule. They live on impulses, come from where they may, from inward passion or from outward circumstances. Dreadful, indeed, is the fate of those who have tried to make this life a holiday.

2. Others live for a purpose; but they are building only for this world, and not for eternity. Their foundation is on the very surface of things, and as the building rises it tapers off into nothingness. A man may bring to it intellect, will, energy; and all for what? Perhaps to have it said of him, That man started with half-a-crown, and he has made a fortune. But the Divine soul within him has not been built up; his nobler nature has lain despised and neglected; he has been building up his circumstances, but he has not been building up himself.

3. I once watched the building of a new church, and remember what trouble they had in getting a foundation for the tower, and how long they were in reaching down to a solid basis of stone that would bear the immense mass of weight that was to rest upon it. I remembered also when the foundation was laid, how carefully the plan of the building was studied and followed by the workmen; how every principal stone was selected and measured, and chiselled to a nicety. It was all done by faithfully working according to the plans of the architect; and when the building was complete, it was but a transcript of what had been in the architects mind before a stone had been laid. It was a parable in stone of the manner in which a human life must be built. We must get down beneath the surface and rubble of things before we can reach Christ as our foundation, as the rock upon which our eternity of life is to rest. Hearing and doing His sayings is trusting to Christ; nothing more and nothing less (Mat_7:24, &c.). He drew with a Divine hand and an unerring pencil the plan of a human life, not only by His words but by His deeds, to show what God meant in creating man. To believe in Christ is to believe that His plan is to be our plan, faithfully worked out after the living pattern He exhibited. But our mistake and disaster is, that we mix up the wood and the gold, the stubble with the silver, and the hay with the precious stones. One man has great gaps in his character because he thinks God regards faith as the transcendent virtue; and if faith meant the prompt and active loyalty of the mind to all Christs commandments, he would be right; but if faith is taken to mean an indolent confidence, such a notion will arrest the progress of the building up of the soul. Another man says that prayer is the principal thing. Now, though Christ says that we ought always to pray and not to faint, He says also that it is he who does His will who is most eminent before God. What would be otherwise gold, becomes wood or stubble when we put it out of its place, and make it a substitute for other equally essential things. The doors of a house are necessary things; but if we put them at the top instead of on the floor, they are useless and absurd. It is this jumbling of things which often makes the spiritual structure of our lives unsightly and unprogressive. We want symmetry,

III. If we could follow the Divine order in the building of the soul, how beautiful our lives would be! If the first act of the new life could be an act of faith, grandly receptive and grandly active at the same time; and if to such a faith we could add virtue or mental valour--an enterprise of soul that would launch us forth upon every difficult work with enthusiasm; and if to such valour we could join knowledge, &c., &c. (2Pe_1:5, &c.). These are the gold and silver and precious stones of the Christian life, if we could but build them into our characters with symmetry and beauty.

IV. We are like men who are building in the night, who cannot see exactly what they are doing, but every mans work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, the full daylight shall show the true value or worthlessness of that which we have been building. A great part of the building that is going on is an unconscious operation, or nearly so. That which we knowingly build into ourselves is but a small part in the structure of our lives. A habit steals upon us with furtive steps, and embraces us with arms which are as soft as velvet but as strong as chains. We forget the work that has been wrought upon us in the past, because we were never distinctly conscious of its kind and extent. And so each man is a mystery to himself, an enigma in his own eyes. He feels that there is in him such a strange mixture that he is doubtful of himself, doubtful whether the gold or the alloy is in the larger proportion. Therefore the apostle exhorts us to take heed, to be vigilant, and as far as possible to know how we are building. For the daylight will break, and this compound structure which we call ourselves shall become more clearly defined by and by. (C. Short, M. A.)

Building men

St. Paul here calls himself a builder; and nothing could be more significant of the specific end he has in view than this word. The word build means work fitted to set up, to strengthen and establish. In this sense we see it illustrated in all the business and varied occupations of human life. The apostle, in his sphere as a preacher, was as much a builder as a carpenter, or a mason; for the work of an apostle was a most assured reality. It implied all the deep intensities of a most zealous soul in order to save and to bless.

I. What is a builder? A builder is one who brings together materials and adjusts them properly, in order to secure symmetry, strength, coherence, and beauty. A wise master-builder in Gods Church seeks soul after soul; its rescue from sin; so that each godly soul may take its proper place in the spiritual temple of the Lord Jesus. This process sets before us the vocation of a spiritual builder. He has two aims before him. His work is first to get hold of souls, and then, second, to fix them, as permanent parts or members of the Church of God.

1. This getting hold of souls is a great work, and success therein in the test of a real builder for God. For so great is the subtilty of Satan, and such is the hardness of the heart of man, that to effectually resist the one and to prevail with the other is the surest proof that the preacher is sent of God. No mere human learning, sense, skilfulness, or eloquence, can make a master-builder for God. No! He must have that spiritual magnetism by which one soul, strong in the might of God, can go out to another soul, and grapple with its guilt and hate, and overcome it by the love of Christ.

2. But souls, when saved, are to be fixed into the temple of God, as permanent parts or members thereof. Thus St. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians: Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of faith; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom, adds the apostle, all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord. Here we have this permanent abiding of saints, their fixedness in Gods Church, graphically set forth. So much, then, with regard to the qualities of a builder.

II. Let us now consider what is the obligation of being builders of souls. Surely, it is to be this, or else to be destroyers! In the universe of God there are two great principles ever antagonistic, one to the other; that which conserves, and that which destroys. And to one of these two classes every one of us belongs. There are, indeed, differences of character and degrees of depravity. See the singular light which comes upon this point from the narrative of the rich man and Lazarus. When you examine the character of Dives you can discover nothing prodigious in immorality. But during his lifetime he was not a builder for God. Self, and not God, was the mainspring of his being. His life work was not to save and bless. Hence he was ranked with the class of destructives in time, and sent to keep company with them in eternity! It is your duty not to be destroyers, but to be builders, consciously and with purpose. Note here what God is--a Builder; ever since, as a great Architect, he laid the foundations of the universe, and built all the great fabrics of His creation: the globe, beasts, birds, fishes, and man, the crown of all! And if this is the fashion of the Omnipotent being of God, what then should men be, who are His image and likeness? Ought we not to be builders, as God is? How otherwise shall we show our similitude to Him? The new creation, in Christ Jesus, for what is it wrought in us, if not to make us co-workers with Him? Join to this the testimony of your own nature. Look into your spiritual framework, and see that in every way, the soul of man was fitted in every attribute to be a builder of souls. What is the power of thought but a power formative in all its activities? What is reason but a constructive force? What imagination but a creative faculty? Our physical members are also formed for creative action. Take the hand, and mark its wonderful adaptedness to operations creative and fashioning. It can demolish. But every one sees that that is not its special vocation. It was made to construct. Hence, naturally from the functions of the hand have sprung up the divers formative trades of men, in clay, wood, leather, stones, and metals. But the hand of man, of itself, had no skilful cunning, no ingenious art. No more than the claw of a bird, or the foot of a squirrel or a rat. But the hand is the instrument and agent of the soul. And because the soul of man is a builder, therefore it is that there are carpenters and wheelwrights, blacksmiths and machinists, ship-builders, stonemasons and architects, painters and sculptors. But what are all these functions and faculties of men, compared with the grand creative power of God? God made man in His own image. But man fell into ruin; and then God began again the refashioning of humanity out of the ruins of the Fall. And ever since He has been building up man, by all the operations of the kingdom of grace; by the workings of the Spirit. But angels, and men too, are workers together with God, to the same gracious end. Jesus died to build men. For this purpose the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost. So again, to build men, the ministry was commissioned, and the Scriptures were given. As God is a builder of souls, so are all His disciples. And although ministers are set apart to special duty in this grand work of soul-building, the laity of the Church, in a subordinate way, are likewise called the same solemn vocation.

III. And now, lastly, let us consider the classes of persons we should build up.

1. First, of course, ourselves. It is a great trust to have souls. Broken and impaired as are the spirits of men, they show, even in fragmentary powers, the skill of a Divine architect.

2. Next to ourselves, are our kinsfolk and relatives to be built up in the faith of Jesus. It is our duty to strive to build up parents and children in the most holy faith; by all the several means of training and teaching, by admonition, by prayer and spiritual example. In the family relation this is, without doubt, the most obvious of all duties to train up our children and servants. Build them! that is the word; not tear them down to ruin by indifference, by carnal indulgence, by foolish vanity!

3. But besides kinsfolk and family, there is a further outer circle of human beings separate from ourselves, for Whom it is our duty to live, and our aim to build up in the temple of the Lord. So, then, it seems quite apparent that our life-work among our fellow-men is primarily, constructive and restorative. Christ came to seek and to save the lost.

Learn:

1. Do not destroy! Keep from ruining souls for whom Christ died! Do not destroy little children! Do not ruin women! Boys and girls, baptized into Christ, do not destroy! Nay, strive to save other boys and girls. Yea, all of you, do not destroy! Do not destroy by whisky or by wine! Do not destroy by cursing, nor by oaths! Do not destroy by scoffing or by filthy speech, or carousing.

2. Build! Strive to mould, to compact and strengthen the immortal spirits around you, that they may become powerful for Christ. Endeavour to root and ground every soul you meet in the truth. Labour to build men in the knowledge and love of Christ. Make it the aim of your life to strengthen and uphold, and build immortal souls. Build men! by speech, by influence, by godly example. Use every possible instrument and agency, both small and great, at all times, and in all places, in your families, in the world, at the workshop, on the highway or in the street, to save men, and to glorify Christ. (A. Crummell.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 3:10-11. According to the grace of God — This he premises, lest he should seem to ascribe any thing to himself; as a wise master-builder — A skilful architect, directed by divine wisdom; I have laid the foundation — Jesus Christ and him crucified, a foundation sufficient to support the whole fabric of Christianity, with all its blessed effects: and another buildeth thereon — Succeeding teachers bestow further labour for your instruction and edification. But let every man — Every minister; take heed how he buildeth thereon — That all the doctrines which he teaches may be consistent with the foundation. For other foundation — On which the whole church, with all its doctrines, privileges, and duties, may be built; can no man lay — How much soever he may endeavour to do it; than that which is laid — In the counsels of divine wisdom, in the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, and in the preaching of Christ himself and his apostles, St. Paul in particular; which is Jesus Christ — Who in his person and offices, in his love and sufferings, his humiliation and exaltation, his atoning death, his victorious resurrection, his glorious ascension, and his prevalent intercession, is the firm, immoveable rock of ages; a foundation every way sufficient to bear all the weight that God himself, or the sinner, when he believes, can lay upon him, even to support his immortal hopes. Christ, in his prophetic office, as a teacher come from God, is the foundation of all the doctrines of Christianity, and as made of God unto us wisdom, the source of our knowledge of, and faith in those doctrines: in his priestly office, atoning and interceding for us, he is the foundation of all the privileges of Christianity; and, when made of God unto us righteousness, puts us in possession of those privileges; in his kingly office he is the foundation of all the duties of Christianity, and when made of God unto us sanctification, of our power to perform those duties; for when the tree is good, the fruit is good; when we are created anew in Christ Jesus, good works are the never-failing consequence, Eph 2:10. Add to this, that as the firstborn of them that sleep, and our forerunner into glory, he is the foundation of all our hopes; and when made of God unto us complete and eternal redemption, he brings us to the enjoyment of the blessings hoped for.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

1Co_3:10.—Was given … I laid, q.d. “when I was at Corinth.” “A foundation,” “which I subjectively laid in my teaching at Corinth, because God had already laid the same objectively in heaven” (Evans). “Laid objectively for the whole Church in the Great Facts [by God], … laid subjectively in the hearts of the Christians at Corinth as the firm ground of their personal hopes by Paul” (Beet).

1Co_3:11-15.—See Homiletic Analysis; also Appended Note. No valid analogy to warrant the application of this to the doctrine of Purgatory. This rests upon (a) the distinction drawn between venial and mortal sins with temporal and eternal penalties attached, and (b) the doctrine of merit. The temporal penalty of sins not “paid off” at the date of death must be “paid up” in Purgatory fire. The accumulated stock of merit, of Christ and the saints—a surplus beyond their own requirements—may be drawn upon by an indulgence, and the amount be applied to reducing the purgatorial term.

HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.—1Co_3:10-15

Work tried by Fire.

I. The imagery employed.—Ancient cities, and some modern ones (e.g. St. Petersburg), not so sharply divided into rich quarters and poor quarters as often the case with us. Houses of highest and humblest much more closely associated and intermingled. Palace and hovel might literally jostle. Buildings adorned with costly marbles [=“precious stones”], perhaps made priceless by the lavished art of the sculptor, stood surrounded with (sometimes literal “lean-to”) houses of stucco, of wood, or even of clay, thatched with hay and stubble, the houses of the artisan, the poor, the slave. St. Paul sees the work of a great fire, such as that which under Nero was made the occasion of a great persecution of the Christians, or that which a century before, on the capture of Corinth itself by Memmius, had laid the city in ruin. [Not to be made too precise, but may be conceived of thus:] The fire breaks out (say) at midnight, in some obscure dwelling, and quickly reduces to a heap of ashes the frail tenement of “wood, hay, stubble.” It catches adjoining houses; the winds fan and spread the flames, till a whole quarter of the city is wrapped in a conflagration which seems to Paul a fit emblem of the fires of “The Day” of all days, God’s Day of testing and doom. In the morning little knots of curious spectators and of sufferers wander about the ruins, discussing the work of the night. The slave is looking for his house of wood, hay, stubble. It stood there where that heap of ashes lies. He stirs them with his foot, and lays bare the stone foundations still unconsumed. The fire could not touch those. And, like many more, the homeless man recounts to any sympathetic listeners how his own life and that of his family are all they could save out of the wreck and loss of all. They were awakened, perhaps, and saved at the very last moment, “saved through the fire.” Another little group gathers round the stronger-built and still-standing stone walls of a better class of house. Stucco, woodwork, ornament have perished; but the man who built it “has his reward” for the money and pains spent over his substantial walls. There is something, more or less, to begin with, in restoring his ruined house. Close by stands a temple or a palace, as if almost contemptuous of its ruined neighbours, as it stands in the isolation of its survival. It has passed through the ordeal almost unscathed. Contents uninjured; cunning works of the goldsmith; spoils of conquered nations,—all untouched by the fire. Its costly marbles and statues within have not felt it. Its strong walls, besmirched with smoke indeed, have defied the flames. That builder, too, has his reward. He built with good material; it stands the fire.

II. Paul’s use of the imagery.—

1. In the course of a somewhat lengthy stay in the city, Paul had founded the Church of Corinth. No man could pretend to dispute or share with him the honour of being the “master-builder,” the first to preach Christ in the city. Some little time after his departure, he sent over from Ephesus his friend Apollos to carry on the work. Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew, worked in perfect harmony of heart and aim after Paul; but perhaps felt himself more free than Paul had done to use the Alexandrian rhetoric and human learning in setting forth the Gospel. Every Greek was a born “politician,” or at least a born party man; the Corinthian Church early showed the effects of this partisan spirit within its membership. Parties sprang up with men’s names for their badges. [Little “schisms” Paul calls them, dissidences within the body, not yet grown to separations from it.] Whether we have the exact names 1Co_4:6 perhaps makes a little doubtful, nor is it clear that Paul’s list is exhaustive. Yet the characteristics and tendencies of the parties may be easily gathered.

2. There was an “Apollos” party. They liked such rhetoric as Apollos gave them, and chose to think their intelligence flattered by what of philosophy he may have employed in the shaping of the truth. Their danger was perhaps (e.g. in 1 Corinthians 15) to exalt reason at the expense of faith; we may not unreasonably think that in trying to be philosophical Christians they were denying or refining away the facts and doctrines of the Gospel, frittering away their power, or rejecting them as contrary to reason. It might not to be an unwarrantable borrowing of a modern name to call them the “rationalising” party at Corinth.

3. There was a “Cephas” party, belonging to that “wing” of the Christian Church who had been Jews, and whom at this period of Paul’s life we everywhere find dogging his footsteps, denying his Apostolic standing, often defaming his character. These at Corinth glorified Peter,—no, “Cephas.” “Call him by his honest Hebrew name!” Old school men, who could not so rapidly or readily unlearn as Paul had done the habits and training and teaching of years; who mistrusted him as “sadly radical”; who, though Christians, sought to enforce upon the Gentiles the worn-out ritual of Moses’ law and the now meaningless circumcision. Old style, conservative men, with a leaning to ceremonialism. The “ritual” party.

4. “No,” said another party. “We stand by Paul. He will have none of your Law for Christians. We will have none of it. He is a ‘liberty’ man. We are ‘liberty’ men too.” Only, where he meant the formal law of Moses, they meant the very principle of law itself. When he taught “liberty,” they interpreted “licence,” and some lived “licentiousness.” The Christian Church from the beginning has always had some too “liberal” in thought and in practice.

5. Yet one party more. They owned no human teacher, indeed. They had climbed to a sublime, serene height far above where their poor, misguided brethren were rallying round, and fighting over, this man or that, Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas. Possibly hyper-conservatives, fresh from the Lord’s brother, James, in Jerusalem; at all events, they said, “We are of Christ!” A beautiful party-cry; very attractive to the unwary and simple-hearted. But when it means “Christ as we understand Him” it is not quite so beautiful.

6. So, then, to the Church at Corinth had happened on a small scale what has been happening in the Church of Christ ever since. These were all Christians as yet. The differences between them and their heathen or Jewish neighbours were far greater than those which distinguished them from each other. All acknowledged one Divine Head, and had some great doctrines connected with Him as a bond of union. But some of them were building up the Church [and Christian lives] with doctrine and practice which Paul regarded as “wood, hay, stubble”; useless at best, and sure to perish in “The Day,” when God’s judgment should “try every man’s work, of what sort it is.” Some there were, he knew, who happily were building after his own heart and judgment, “gold, silver, precious stone.” Great should be their reward! Some also there were whose work gave him only mingled satisfaction. “Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour,” partly according to how much he has done, but still more according to what kind of work he has done. Of those for whom he feared that they should find the labour of their life wasted, yet he hoped they should at least “save themselves,” if even like men snatched out of the flames which left them nothing but “their foundation” and “their lives.” [The opening words of the paragraph suggest:] “Woe to any builders whose work should really be a disturbing of the very Foundation itself, other than which none may lay a basis for faith, or life, or hope.”

7. These Church parties at Corinth were our modern “Churches” and “sects” in miniature. The causes at work at Corinth have never ceased to work wherever we have Christian men, until we have a Christianity not even outwardly at one. Yet we need to give Paul’s recognition that they are nearer to each other than to the world outside. Their unity is a more striking and deep thing than their diversities. They are one Church still. The broadest and deepest diversities at Corinth were still within the Church, insomuch as they were only surface cleavages; they did not run down into the foundation. That was one. Men weep because there is not external unity of all the Churches in one communion. As well weep that the sapling, which a thousand years ago was one simple undivided stem, has branched out into the oak with its hundred arms, many of them really big trees themselves. The branching is an inevitable consequence of life. And the tree is one at stock and root. Minds will always differ in cast and capacity. Training is of endless diversity. Race will make a difference. No one man ever sees the whole round of a truth; hardly any one Church or age does; no two ever see the same phase of presentation of it. There will always be men liable to pay too great honour to Reason; always some too ready to insist upon and overvalue Ceremonial. Reasons convincing to one do not appeal to another. An order of service not to the taste of one suits another and helps him. And so on, in endless diversity. What then? Recognise the fact that the diversity is a necessity. It has often become an evil; it need not be, and will not be, when men become broad as Paul, and recognise other patterns of doctrine and life and church order as all fairly to be included in the One Church. 8. It were a good thing for some to be as narrow as Paul about the “One Foundation.” It is unreal “liberality” to attempt to include within the “Christian” Church both those whose Christ is God-man, the Father’s equal and man’s fellow, Messiah of the Jews, Mediator for the Race, and, on the other side, those whose Jesus is at the highest a creature whom His Creator could annihilate, and who was perhaps a mere man, who might or even did make mistakes, a man not superior to Paul, and to whom Christianity owes not more than it does to Paul. Their status and acceptance before God depend on other considerations, but they are not on the Foundation in Paul’s sense. The lesson of the paragraph is not indifference to what a man believes, or what his neighbour believes, or how he works or worships. Each should be honest and earnest in accepting and living and defending that special aspect or portion of The Truth, which he or his Church sees. Experience shows that, as a rule, they do most for the broad work of Christ who work with a fixed creed and with a definite Church attachment. Each should give and claim equal recognition. The paragraph teaches charity, since experience also teaches that perfectly honest church-and creed-builders have built in what others saw clearly was “wood, hay, stubble,” and have rejected what some saw was “precious stone,” if not “gold” or “silver,” of system and doctrine. Probably no uninspired teacher ever built upon the One Foundation nothing but what would endure the fire.

III. A personal application of the words lies not far from this.—

1. If a man is to be saved in “The Day” of God’s judgment, Christ must be the foundation of his life. “Saved” and “perishing” (2Co_2:15) mingle together it the closest intercourse of life, with closest similarity of outward course and bearing. Indeed, sometimes the balance of amiability or of strict probity seems to be on the side of the “perishing.” What is there to make Paul’s classification so sharply definite?

2. Dig down to the foundations of the two lives.—In the man really “being saved” this is the starting-point: Time was when he felt himself a sinner, guilty before God, and his heart full of sin. He cast himself on God’s mercy in Christ; he was forgiven; ever since, the Spirit has dwelt in him, doing something towards cleansing the heart, and putting there a new motive for all he does and feels—love to God who gave him Christ. If not, he is not a Christian. Others are “perishing,” because, go back far as we will, dig down deeply as we may, we cannot find that. There never was the fundamental experience of “sin” and of “faith in Christ” as the “spiritual man” understands them. Reform may only be throwing the arch of a culvert over the sin of the past and the sin of the heart; the man covered up his past and began to build the new life over it. But there, lowest of all, are the past and the sin, not Christ and His atonement. The other foundation and beginning of all life-building is Rock! [Turning over a new leaf is a good thing if it do not mean simply fastening down the old, without having first the record “blotted out.”] The superstructure of Eddystone Lighthouse was good enough when it was removed a few years ago; but the sea was undermining the foundation. A good superstructure upon a good foundation: lesson the first.

3. Then build something upon the foundation.—See in the suburbs of growing towns unfinished property. Walls of a certain height, but left unfinished; perhaps hardly more than the foundations got in when the money failed. Ground lies waste; weeds grow, rubbish accumulates, till it becomes difficult to see without some search whether there are any foundations at all. Like some lives. The true foundation was made right some years ago, but scarcely anything has been put upon it since. The accumulations of a worldly life have gathered, until an observer—and perhaps the man himself—hardly knows whether the foundations are still there. Rear a Christian character; build a superstructure of work for Christ. No better evidence that the foundation is there, and is sound, than the growing, fair superstructure. Build something. Some builders never get very far. What they build is good—stone, if not gold or silver, but it never amounts to much. A day’s unfaithfulness pulls down a week’s building. “Sinning and repenting.” “Ever learning, never coming to the knowledge of the truth.”

4. Build something every day.—“How did Michael Angelo accomplish so much?” “Nulla dies sine linea!” he replied. No day without something which will endure the testing fire: this will be the secret of some very unobtrusive, little-noticed lives which by-and-by are crowned with large reward when the reward is according to the work—in amount as well as quality (cf. supra).

5. Test all employments by this.—“Will they stand ‘the fire’? Do they now help towards an abiding, thorough Christian character? Or are the things I have done to-day mere ‘wood, hay, stubble,’ sure to perish?”

6. Build something to-day; at least, find the foundation to-day.—If to lay the one and only foundation [so far as we can be said to lay it at all] were the last act of a wasted life, the builder should escape “saved as by fire.” But it would be a very unworthy use to make of Christ and His salvation. “To-day.”

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:10-17 All people are accountable to God for the way they serve Christ.

3:10 Paul laid the foundation when he first began the church in Corinth. Now others were building on it by what they were teaching the young Christians.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 3:10. Χάριν, grace) By this word he takes anticipatory precaution [προθεραπείαν], not to appear arrogantly to pronounce himself wise.—δοθεῖσαν, given) it was therefore a something habitual in Paul.[27]—σοφὸς) [wise] skilful. The knowledge of Jesus Christ makes men so.—θεμέλιον, foundation) The foundation is the first beginning.—ἄλλος) another, whoever he is. He elegantly avoids mentioning the proper name. The predecessor does not see his successor, and Paul has regard to the dignity of Apollos; so immediately after, every man; for there were also others, 1Co 4:15.—βλεπέτω, let him see [take heed]) I, says Paul, have done my part; let them see to theirs, who follow me in this work.—πως) how, how far wisely, how far in builder-like style.

[27] Which is the force of the article, τὴν χάριν τὴν δοθεῖσαν.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_3:10. The former of these images (γεώργ.) has been the underlying thought in what has hitherto been said (1Co_3:6-8); the second and new figure (οἰκοδ.) is now retained in what follows up to 1Co_3:15, the course of thought being this, that Paul, first of all, states the difference between his own work and that of others at this building, and then passes on to the responsibility which he who would build after him takes upon himself.

The χάρις is not the apostolic office, with which Paul was graced (Rom_12:3; Rom_15:15; Gal_1:15, al[499]), for it was not exclusively an apostle who was required for the founder of a church (Rome, Colossae), but the special endowment of grace, which he had received from God to fit him for his calling; and he was conscious in himself that he was qualified and destined just for the right laying of the foundation, Rom_15:20.

The significant weight of the words κατὰ … δοθ. μοι is to express humility in making the utterance which follows. Comp Chrysostom and Theophylact.

ὡς σοφὸς ἀρχιτ.] proceeding as such an one would, going to work in this capacity. To it belongs the right laying of the foundation in strict accordance with the design of the building, the reverse of which would be the part of an unskilful architect. Without a foundation no man builds; without a proper foundation no σοφός, i.e. no one who understands the art (Exo_35:10). Comp Plato, Phil. p. 17 C, de virt. p. 376 A; Pind. Pyth. iii. 115, v. 115; Soph. Ant. 362. But Paul by the grace of God was a σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων.

What he understands by such a foundation, he himself tells us in 1Co_3:11, namely, Jesus Christ, without whom (both in an objective sense: without whose appearing and work, and in a subjective: without appropriating whom in conscious faith; see 1Co_3:11) a Christian society could not come into existence at all. This foundation Paul had laid, inasmuch as he had made Christ to be possessed by the conscious faith of the Corinthian church. Comp on Eph_2:20.

θεμέλιον] The masculine ὁ θεμέλιος (see 1Co_3:11; hence wrongly held by Ewald to be neuter here), attributed by the old grammarians to the κοινή (see Wetstein on 1Co_3:11), is commonly found only in the plural, and that as early as Thuc. i. 93. 1. In the singular, 2Ti_2:19; Rev_21:19; Machon in Athen. viii. p. 346 A; 3 Esdr. 6:20.

ἄλλος δὲ ἐποικοδ.] By this is meant not merely Apollos, but any later teacher of the Corinthians whatever (comp ἕκαστος): Not my task, however, but that of another, is the building up, the carrying on the building.

πῶς] i.e. here: with what materials.[504] See 1Co_3:12-13. Without figurative language: Let each take heed what sort of doctrine (as regards substance and form) he applies, in order to advance and develope more fully the church, founded upon Jesus Christ, in its saving knowledge and frame of life. See on 1Co_3:12. The figure is not changed, as has been often thought (Ante fideles dixerat aedificium Dei, nunc aedificium vocat ea, quae in ecclesia Christiana a doctoribus docentur, Grotius; comp Rosenmüller); but the οἰκοδομή is, as before, the church, which, being founded upon Christ (see above), is further built up, i.e. developed in the Christian faith and life (which may take place in a right or a wrong way, see 1Co_3:12-13), by the teachings of the later teachers. In like manner is a house built up by the different building-materials upon the foundation laid for it.

[499] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[504] According to de Wette, the force of the πῶς consists primarily in this, that they simply carry on the building, and do not alter the foundation (which was probably done by the opponents of the apostle). But the carrying on of the building, so far as that is concerned, is presupposed in πῶς ἐποικοδομεῖ.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 3:10-17 . § 10. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HUMAN BUILDERS. After the long digression on Wisdom (1Co 1:17 to 1Co 3:2 ), occasioned by the Hellenic misconception of the Gospel underlying the Cor [527] divisions, the Ap. returned in 1Co 3:3 ff. to the divisions themselves, dealing particularly with the rent between Apollonians and Paulinists. His first business was to reduce the Church leaders to their subordinate place, as fellow-servants of the one Divine cause (§ 9). They are temple-workmen not himself and Apollos alone, but all who are labouring on the foundation which he has laid down and must therefore take heed to the quality of their individual work, which will undergo a searching and fiery test.

[527] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

1Co 3:10 . Κατὰ τὴν χάριν κ . τ . λ .: while “the grace of God” has been given to all Christians, constituting them such (see 1Co 1:4 ), to the Ap. a special and singular “grace was given,” “according to” which he “laid a foundation,” whereon the Church at Cor [528] rests: see the like contrast in Eph 3:2-9 ; Eph 4:7-16 ; and for Paul’s specific gift as founder, 1Co 15:10 , 2Co 3:5 ff., Rom 1:1-5 ; Rom 15:15 ff. The office of the founder is his own, and incommunicable: “you have not many fathers” (1Co 4:15 ).

[528] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

σοφὸς is a correct attributive to ἀρχιτέκτων : see σοφία ( τ . ἀρχόντων ), 1Co 2:6 , and note; so in the LXX, Exo 35:31 , Isa 3:3 , it characterizes the craftsman’s skill; in Arist., Eth. Nic. , σοφία is the ἀρετὴ τέχνης indeed this was its primitive sense (see Ed [529] ). The Church architect ( Christ , in the first instance, Mat 16:18 ) is endowed with the σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ , the νοῦς Χριστοῦ (1Co 2:6-16 ; cf. 2Co 3:4-6 , Rom 15:16-20 ). The Gr [530] ἀρχιτέκτων was not a designer of plans on paper; he was like the old cathedral builders, the master-mason , developing his ideas in the material. “As a wise master-builder, I laid a foundation ( θεμέλιον ἔθηκα ), but another builds thereupon” ( ἄλλος δὲ ἐποικοδομεῖ ): P. knew that by God’s grace his part was done wisely; let his successors see to theirs. Not “ the foundation” that will be defined immediately (1Co 3:11 b ): P. contrasts himself as foundation-layer with later workmen; hence the vbs. are respectively past and pr [531] The θεμέλιον , laid out once for all by the ἀρχιτέκτων , determines the site and ground-plan of the edifice ( cf. Eph 2:20 ). With the distributive ἄλλος cf. ἕκαστος (1Co 3:11 ): if Apollos, by himself, were intended, ἐποικοδομεῖ would have to be read as impf [532] (for ἐπῳκ ., was building cf. aor [533] , 1Co 3:14 ), since he is not now at Cor [534] Many Christian teachers are busy there (1Co 4:15 ). For this indef. ἄλλος , cf. 1Co 12:8 ff., 1Co 15:39 ; and for ἐγώ … ἄλλος δέ , Luk 9:19 , Joh 4:37 ; Joh 14:16 ; Joh 21:18 . For the compound vb [535] , see parls.; ἐπ - points to the basis , which gives the standard and measure to all subsequent work. Hence the warning, ἕκαστος δὲ βλεπέτω πῶς κ . τ . λ .: “But let each man see (to it) how he is building thereupon!” Working upon the foundation, he must follow the lines laid down; he must use fit material. Not “how he is to build ” (as in 1Co 7:32 , aor [536] sbj [537] ), but “how he is a-building ” (pr [538] ind [539] ) the work is going on. For the moods of the Indirect Question, see Wr [540] , pp. 373 ff., Bn [541] , §§ 341 356.

[529] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

[530] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[531] present tense.

[532]mpf. imperfect tense.

[533] aorist tense.

[534] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[535] verb

[536] aorist tense.

[537] subjunctive mood.

[538] present tense.

[539] indicative mood.

[540] Winer-Moulton’s Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[541] E. Burton’s Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in the N.T. (1894).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_3:10

According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

According to the grace of God given unto me. Paul often speaks of his apostolic office as a grace or favor which he had received of God, but here, as in 1Co_15:10, the reference is more general. By the grace of God he means all the gifts and influences of the Spirit, which not only qualified him for his work, but rendered him so laborious and faithful. Here, as elsewhere, he attributes to God all he was, and all that he was enabled to accomplish.

As a wise master-builder. Wise (σοφός), i.e. skillful. The word is familiarly used of artificers. Paul was not only a laborer, but an (ἀρξιτέκτων) architect. To him was revealed the whole plan of the building, and he was inspired to develop that plan, and to prescribe the way in which it should be carried out. He laid the foundation. The same idea as was expressed above by saying, I have planted, Apollos watered. He began the work in Corinth. Those who came after him were to carry on the edifice which he had commenced. The building must be erected upon the foundation and according to it. And, therefore, he adds, Let every man (i.e. every builder) take heed how he buildeth thereupon. In the whole context he is speaking of ministers, and therefore this clause must be considered as a warning addressed to them. They are to take heed how, i.e. with what materials, they carried on the building of this holy temple. Fidelity as well as diligence is required in a minister. No matter how laborious he may be, unless he employs the proper materials, he will lose his reward. Nothing but truth can be safely used in the development of Christian character, or in building up the Church. To mix the wisdom of men with the wisdom of God in this work, is, as the apostle afterwards says, like using alternate layers of straw and marble in the erection of a temple. Let no man deceive himself in this matter. He will prove himself a fool, if he attempts to substitute philosophy for the gospel in the work of saving men.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now he speaketh to the teachers themselves, who succeeded him in the Church of Corinth, and in their person, to all that were after or shall be Pastors of Congregations, seeing that they succeed into the labor of the Apostles, which were planters and chief builders. Therefore he warneth them first, that they persuade not themselves that they may build after their own fantasy, that is, that they may propound and set forth anything in the Church, either in matter, or in kind of teaching, different from the Apostles which were the chief builders.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

grace . . . given unto me--Paul puts this first, to guard against seeming to want humility, in pronouncing himself "a WISE master builder," in the clause following [CHRYSOSTOM]. The "grace" is that "given" to him in common with all Christians (Co1 3:5), only proportioned to the work which God had for him to do [ALFORD].

wise--that is, skilful. His skill is shown in his laying a foundation. The unskilful builder lays none (Luk 6:49). Christ is the foundation (Co1 3:11).

another--who ever comes after me. He does not name Apollos; for he speaks generally of all successors, whoever they be. His warning, "Let every man (every teacher) take heed how," &c., refers to other successors rather than Apollos, who doubtless did not, as they, build wood, hay, &c., on the foundation (compare Co1 4:15). "I have done my part, let them who follow me see (so the Greek for 'take heed') to theirs" [BENGEL].

how--with what material [ALFORD]. How far wisely, and in builder-like style (Pe1 4:11).

buildeth thereupon--Here the building or superstructure raised on Christ the "foundation," laid by Paul (Co1 2:2) is not, as in Eph 2:20-21, the Christian Church made up of believers, the "lively stones" (Pe1 2:5), but the doctrinal and practical teaching which the teachers who succeeded Paul, superadded to his first teaching; not that they taught what was false, but their teaching was subtle and speculative reasoning, rather than solid and simple truth.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. As a wise master builder] Ὡς σοφος αρχιτεκτων. The design or plan of the building is from God; all things must be done according to the pattern which he has exhibited; but the execution of this plan was entrusted chiefly to St. Paul; he was the wise or experienced architect which God used in order to lay the foundation; to ascertain the essential and immutable doctrines of the Gospel-those alone which came from God, and which alone he would bless to the salvation of mankind.

Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.] Let him take care that the doctrines which he preaches be answerable to those which I have preached; let him also take heed that he enjoin no other practice than that which is suitable to the doctrine, and in every sense accords with it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. As a wise master-builder It is a most apt similitude, and accordingly it is frequently met with in the Scriptures, as we shall see ere long. Here, however, the Apostle declares his fidelity with great confidence and fearlessness, as it required to be asserted in opposition not merely to the calumnies of the wicked, but also to the pride of the Corinthians, who had already begun to despise his doctrine. The more, therefore, they lowered him, so much the higher does he raise himself up, and speaking as it were from a pulpit of vast height, he declares that he had been the first master-builder of God among them in laying the foundation, and that he had with wisdom executed that department of duty, and that it remained that others should go forward in the same manner, regulating the superstructure in conformity with the rule of the foundation. Let us observe that these things are said by Paul first of all for the purpose of commending his doctrine, which he saw was despised by the Corinthians; and, secondly, for the purpose of repressing the insolence of others, who from a desire for distinction, affected a new method of teaching. These he accordingly admonishes to attempt nothing rashly in God’s building. Two things he prohibits them from doing: they must not venture to lay another foundation, and they must not raise a superstructure that will not be answerable to the foundation.

According to the grace He always takes diligent heed not to usurp to himself a single particle of the glory that belongs to God, for he refers all thing’s to God, and leaves nothing to himself, except his having been an instrument. While, however, he thus submits himself humbly to God, he indirectly reproves the arrogance of those who thought nothing of throwing the grace of God into the shade, provided only they were themselves held in estimation. He hints, too, that there was nothing of the grace of the Spirit in that empty show, for which they were held in esteem, while on the other hand he clears himself from contempt, on the ground of his having been under divine influence.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) According to the grace of God.—The Apostle being about to speak of himself as “a wise masterbuilder,” takes care by commencing his statement with these words to show that he is not indulging in self-laudation, but merely pointing out what God had given him the grace to do. (See Rom_1:5; Rom_12:3.)

Wise—i.e., skilful or judicious.

Another buildeth thereon.—The sequence of the work here is the same as in the planting and watering of the previous illustration. The use of the indefinite word “another” avoids what might be considered the invidiously frequent repetition of the name of Apollos, and also indicates that there were others also who came after Paul, as is evident from 1Co_4:15. (See Rom_15:20.)

But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.—Better, But let each one see in what manner he buildeth thereon. The argument in this and the following verse is that there can be only one foundation in the spiritual building—namely, the personal Jesus Christ. That foundation the Apostle has laid. None can alter it or add to it as a foundation; but there may be an immense variety in the materials with which those who come after the laying of the foundation may build up the superstructure. Therefore their own work and “how” they build (i.e., with what materials), and not the one foundation once for all and unalterably laid, should be the subject of their thought and care.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder] Rather, which was given to me, i.e. when he laid the foundation. St Paul now desires to identify himself with the teachers of the Corinthian Church, so far as they were really carrying on the work which he had begun. His object is to combat the individualism which had led the Corinthian Church astray. If their teachers be genuine ministers of Christ, it is but one work that they are carrying on. They are merely proceeding with the superstructure of that which the Apostle had founded. Comparison of their personal claims with those of St Paul, and still more an attitude of antagonism to him and to one another, are entirely out of place.

But let every man take heed] A fresh subject is here introduced. We are now told of what kind the labour of a minister of Christ is to be, and what his reward. There is, there can be, but One Foundation, but there are many ways of building on that foundation.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According to the grace of God which is given unto me,.... Lest the apostle should be thought to be too much elated with the characters he had given of himself, and other ministers, or to assume too much to himself, in what he was about to say of himself, he ascribes all the gifts he had, and the usefulness he was of, as a labourer and builder in the church of God, to rich grace; by which he was called unto, and qualified for such work: as a wise master builder. This same phrase, , "a wise master builder", is used by the Septuagint interpreters, in Isa 3:3 by which they render , "the cunning artificer", or the wise man of the carpenters, or artificers. The architect of all is God the Father, Son, and Spirit; God the Father is the builder of all things; Christ builds his church on himself the rock; and the saints are built up an habitation for God, through the Spirit; ministers are builders under God, instruments he makes use of, and who would labour in vain, unless the Lord build the city: such an one was the apostle, though he calls himself a master builder with respect to inferior ministers; he being in the highest office in the church, as an apostle, and not a whit behind the chief of them; and was the chief apostle of the Gentiles, and was principally concerned in preaching the Gospel to them, and in raising churches among them. The allusion is to the Jews, who use to call the Rabbins and doctors, and the disciples of the wise men, "builders": they ask in a certain place (h), ,

"who are the builders? says R. Joehanna, these are the disciples of the wise men, who employ themselves in the building of the world all their days (i).''

That is, the law, as one (k) of their writers explains this building; hence they are sometimes called builders of the law, and which was looked upon to be an high character: it is said (l) of a certain person, that

"R. Zeira praised him, and called him, , "a builder of the law."''

But the apostle was a Gospel builder, a builder of Gospel churches in Gospel truths, and in faith and holiness; these were foolish builders, but he a wise one; and his wisdom lay in the knowledge of Christ, in preaching him, and in winning souls unto him; and particularly in that he took care in his ministry, to lay a good foundation:

I have laid the foundation; meaning not only that as at other places, so at Corinth, he first preached the Gospel to them, and was the first instrument of their conversion, and laying the foundation of a Gospel church state; but that in his preaching he laid Christ as the one and only foundation, for men to build their faith and hope upon, for everlasting life and happiness, mentioned in the following verse:

and another buildeth thereupon; which designs not a private Christian, who was directed in the apostle's ministry to build his soul upon the rock of ages, Christ the sure foundation laid in Zion; though there is a truth in this, the apostle laid Christ as a foundation, and encouraged others to build their faith and hope upon him, as to eternal salvation; and many were enabled to do so, which was the happy fruit of his ministry, and what gave him pleasure; and in this sense he also himself built upon this foundation, for this cannot be said of another, to the exclusion of himself; he would never lay a foundation, and direct others to build on it, and not build upon it himself; but another minister of the Gospel is meant, as Apollos, or any other who might follow him, and be a means of carrying on the building upon the foundation he had laid; and of edifying and establishing souls upon it; and of rearing up superstructure truths, upon the foundation one:

but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon; that he builds by line, evenly, according to the analogy of faith; that he builds in proportion to the foundation; and lays such things upon it as are becoming it, and suitable to it.

(h) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 114. 1. (i) Jarchi, Maimon. Sampson, & Bartenora in Misn. Mikvaot, c. 9. sect. 6. (k) Juchasin, fol. 81. 1. (l) T. Hieros. Gittin, fol. 48. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

Ver. 10. As a wise master builder] Artificers also have their wisdom, as Aristotle yieldeth. "For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him," Isa 28:26. As he did Bezaleel and Aholiah.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According to the grace of God - By the favor of God which is given to me. All that Paul had done had been by the mere favor of God. His appointment was from him; and all the skill which he had shown, and all the agency which he had employed, had been from him. The architectural figure is here continued with some striking additions and illustrations. By the “grace of God” here, Paul probably means his apostleship to the Gentiles, which had been conferred on him by the mere favor of God, and all the wisdom, and skill, and success which he had evinced in founding the church.

As a wise master-builder - Greek “Architect.” The word does not imply that Paul had any pre-eminence over his brethren, but that he had proceeded in his work as a skillful architect, who secures first a firm foundation. Every builder begins with the foundation; and Paul had proceeded in this manner in laying first a firm foundation on which the church could be reared. The word “wise” here means “skillful” or “judicious”; compare Mat 7:24.

I have laid the foundation - “What” this foundation was, he states in 1Co 3:11. The meaning here is, that the church at Corinth had been at first established by Paul; see Act 18:1, etc.

And another - Other teachers. I have communicated to the church the first elements of Christian knowledge. Others follow out this instruction, and edify the church. The discussion here undergoes a slight change. In the former part of the chapter, “Christians” are compared to a building; here the “doctrines” which are taught in the church are compared to various parts of a building. Grotius. See similar instances of translation in Matt. 13; Mark 4; John 10.

But let every man ... - Every man who is a professed teacher. Let him be careful what instructions he shall give to a church that has been founded by apostolic hands, and that is established on the only true foundation. This is designed to guard against false instruction and the instructions of false teachers. People should take heed what instruction they give to a church:

Because of the fact that the church belongs to God, and they should be cautious what directions they give to it; Because it is important that Christians should not only be on the true foundation, but that they should be fully instructed in the nature of their religion, and the church should be permitted to rise in its true beauty and loveliness; Because of the evils which result from false instruction.

Even when the foundation is firm, incalculable evils will result from the lack of just and discriminating instruction. Error sanctifies no one. The effect of it even on the minds of true Christians is to mar their piety; to dim its lustre; and to darken their minds. No Christian can enjoy religion except under the full-orbed shining of the word of truth; and every man, therefore, who gives false instruction, is responsible for all the darkness he causes, and for all the lack of comfort which true Christians under his teaching may experience.

(4) Every person must give an account of the nature of his instructions; and he should therefore “take heed to himself, and his doctrine” 1Ti 4:16; and preach “such” doctrine as shall bear the test of the great Day. And from this we learn, that it is important that the church should be built on the true foundation; and that it is scarcely less important that it should be built up in the knowledge of the truth. Vast evils are constantly occurring in the church for the lack of proper instruction to young converts. Many seem to feel that provided the foundation be well laid, that is all that is needed. But the grand thing which is needed at the present time, is, that those who are converted should, as soon as possible, be instructed fully in the nature of the religion which they have embraced. What would be thought of a farmer who should plant a tree, and never water or trim it; who should plant his seed, and never cultivate the grain as it springs up; who should sow his fields, and then think that all is well, and leave it to be overrun with weeds and thorns? Piety is often stunted, its early shootings blighted, its rapid growth checked, for the lack of early culture in the church. And perhaps there is no one thing in which ministers more frequently fail than in regard to the culture which ought to be bestowed upon those who are converted - especially in early life. Our Saviour’s views on this were expressed in the admonition to Peter, “Feed my lambs,” Joh 21:15.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I have laid the foundation well, as a wise architect, not of myself, but according to the grace of God, and the gifts he bestowed upon me: and another, or several others, built upon it, continue the building. --- But let every man take heed how he buildeth, and that it be always upon the same foundation, which is Christ Jesus, his faith, and his doctrine. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

According to the grace of God which is given unto me: χαριν here signifies either the ability which God hath given Paul to preach the gospel, or the apostolical office, to which God had called him; he maketh both to proceed from God, and to be the effects of his free love and favour to him. According to this he saith: Look,

as a wise master-builder first layeth the foundation, then buildeth upon the foundation which he hath laid; so

I, being the first whom God pleased to employ in this his work at Corinth, have laid the foundation, that is, have first preached the gospel in this famous city: thus the first preaching of the gospel is called, a laying the foundation, Rom 15:20; Heb 6:1.

Another buildeth thereon; afterwards Apollos and other ministers further carried on that work of preaching the gospel amongst them.

But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon; but (saith he) whoever cometh to preach after me had need take heed what he buildeth; for, Gal 1:8, though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Wise master-builder—At the proper time Paul does not hesitate to style himself a sophos—a wise.

I laid… another—Nor does he at all abdicate his prerogative as founder.

But—From this point commences a solemn caution to ministers, even who build on Christ as their foundation, what structure of doctrine, or morals, or churchdom they build thereon. The fire of the judgment day will test whether its materials be combustible. If so, the building will be burned up; yet the builder, as having built on Christ, will escape, like a householder, through the conflagration of his home, losing all else, but saving his life. All this, and what follows to 1Co_4:6, Paul figuratively speaks as in the persons of himself and Apollos, 1Co_3:4-8; but it is equally applicable to all other preachers and to all ministers in all ages.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According to the grace of God which is given unto me; rather, which was given. Here, again, we have St. Paul"s baptismal aorist his habit of regarding his whole spiritual life as potentially summed up inthe one crisis of conversion and baptism. This phrase is a favourite one with him (1Co_15:10; Rom_15:15; Gal_2:9; Eph_3:2) As a wise master builder. "Wise" only in the sense of subordinating every pretence of human wisdom to the will of God; and here the adjective only applies to the wisdom required by a builder. In other words, "wise" is here equivalent to "skilful." Since Paul had received the grace of God for this very purpose, he was made "wise" by the knowledge of Christ. (for the metaphor of building, see Mat_7:24; Eph_2:21 1Pe_2:5) The foundation; rather, a foundation. Though in truth there is but one foundation, as he proceeds to say, St. Paul always refused to build on the foundation laid by another. (Rom_15:20) Another. Perhaps the special allusion is to Apollos.

Vers. 10-15.

The true foundation of character.

to the grace of God," etc. The words suggest certain important thoughts concerning character.

I That there is an ANALOGY BETWEEN THE FORMATION OF CHARACTER AND THE ERECTION OF A BUILDING. "If any man build," etc. It is like a building in three respects.

1. In the variety of its materials. Buildings are generally formed of a variety of materials stone, wood, iron, etc. Moral character is built up by a variety of things the impressions that are made on us, the emotions that rise in us, etc.

2. In the unity of its design. Every building is formed on some plan. One design shapes the whole. So with character. The master purpose of the soul, whatever it may be, gives unity to the whole.

3. In the function it fulfils. Buildings are generally residences of some kind or other. The soul lives in the character. It is its home. In some cases the home is the mere sty of the animal; in some, the shop of the barterer; in some, the prison of the guilty; in some, the temple of the saint.

II THAT CHRIST IS THE ONLY FOUNDATION OF A TRUE CHARACTER. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." There are sometimes splendid edifices and poor foundations, and the reverse. All characters are based upon some one idea.

1. Some are based on the sensual idea; such as that on which the prodigal son started, etc.

2. Some are based on the secular idea. On this Judas, the young lawyer, and Demas built.

3. Some are based on the ambitious idea. Absalom, Haman, Herod, are examples.

1. Some are based on the Christian idea. What is that? Supreme sympathy with God; and this requires Christ. Christ is its Foundation, for he does two things to generate this supreme sympathy in the soul.

1. Demonstrates to man the propitiableness of God.

2. Reveals to man the moral loveliness of God.

III THAT TO CHRIST, AS A FOUNDATION, MEN BRING WORTHLESS AS WELL AS VALUABLE MATERIALS. Some build edifices of "gold, silver, precious stones," and some of "wood, hay, stubble.

1. There are edifices partially formed of "wood, hay, stubble.

(1) The mere creedal character is worthless.

(2) The mere sentimental character is worthless.

(3) The mere ritualistic character is worthless.

All these characters are formed of "wood, hay, stubble things of no solidity, no value, no duration.

2. There are edifices entirely formed of valuable materials brought to Christ. They are formed of "gold, silver, precious stones." The profoundest thoughts, the strongest sympathies, the gold and silver of the soul, are connected with Christ.

IV THAT THERE IS AN ERA TO DAWN WHEN ALL THE EDIFICES BUILT ON THIS FOUNDATION SHALL RE TRIED. "Every man"s work shall be made manifest." Heaven has appointed a day for testing character. Individually, it is the day that dawns at the end of our mortal life; universally, it is the day that dawns at the end of this world"s history.

1. This day will be injurious to those who have built on this foundation with worthless materials.

(1) They will suffer loss the loss of labour, opportunity, position.

(2) Though they suffer loss, they may be saved yet so as by fire." Though his favourite theories and cherished hopes shall burn like "wood and hay," yet he himself may survive the flames.

2. This day will be advantageous to those who have built on this Foundation with right materials. "If any man"s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

Vers. 10-15.

Christian work and its testing.

I CHRISTIAN WORK:

1. Should be rightly based. Christ is the only Foundation for the spiritual building. This Foundation may have been already laid for us by others where we are called to labour: if so, we must see that we are building upon it; if it be not laid, by "the grace of God" (ver. 10) we must seek to lay it without delay. All our teaching must rest upon Christ. He is not only the Omega to be ended with, but the Alpha to be begun with. All our efforts will be fruitless unless identified with him. The well constructed house built upon the sand perishes; so the most earnest and devoted labour is thrown away where Christ is ignored. The Christian builder should look carefully to his foundation. Whilst others build upon all sorts of things, he should build only upon Christ.

2. Should be wisely ordered. It is not enough to work; we must work wisely and well. Some seem to think that if they engage in Christian service, it is no matter how they engage in it; if the work be but done, it is no matter how it is done. Some of the most slipshod slatternly work under God"s sun is done in God"s Name and in connection with his kingdom. In other departments of life, care, watchfulness, anxiety, assiduity, are demanded; but in the religious sphere the thing is to get the work done somehow or other, and if it be but done somehow, all is likely to be well! Such careless builders sadly need the apostolic blast of warning: Let every man take heed how he buildeth (ver. 10). Christian work should be conformed to Christ in every particular. The superstructure should correspond to the Foundation. Epithets may go for little with us; in our teaching we should be just as "narrow" as Christ and just as "broad" as Christ. Our building will be of right dimensions if it is neither wider nor less wide than the Rock foundation upon which it rests. As to being "old fashioned," we need not greatly dread this if thereby we are more fully identified with our Lord; or "new fangled," if thus we and our work are more truly after his mind. Christian work is planned work. As the architect has a plan for his work, so the great Architect has a plan for his work, and for that part of his work which he entrusts to us to perform. If we "take heed how we build," we shall take heed that we build only according to the Divine plan. Knowledge of this is to be sought in prayer and from the Divine Word. There is one way in which our life work should be done; that way has been conceived by the Divine mind; we should seek a revelation of it. The Christian must not be his own architect.

3. In Christian work right materials should be used. It is not enough that we teach; we must teach the truth, and we must teach the truth as it is in Jesus. Our doctrine must be of Christ, and it must be sound doctrine, the "sincere milk" of the Word; the revelation of God, unedited by man. What rubbish has been and is taught by not a few! how much "wood, hay, stubble," placed in the great spiritual building! No wonder that the Christian soldier is so often worsted when he fights with gingerbread weapons. Shame upon men that, when the right material for labour is provided, they go hunting about for the wrong. The Scriptures are the great quarry and mine in which costly stones and gold and silver abound, and no zealous spiritual builder need lack who will search these mines.

II CHRISTIAN WORK WILL BE TESTED. A solemn thought. Our work will be tested! When Christian work is done, that is not the end of it. It will be tried. Well may we ask:

1. When? On "the day," says the apostle. Christian work is tested on many days. Much of it does not stand the test of these days. But on the day the day of days the judgment day all shall be tested and finally tested. "Each man"s work shall be made manifest;" its true character will then be seen. "The day shall declare it" as it is, not as it has been thought to be. Now it may look well; but then? A veil now rests upon Christian work, then the veil shall be taken away; now the scaffolding obscures the building, then it shall fall, and then shall be seen "of what sort" the building is. The final test cannot be escaped from.

2. How? By "fire." (Not by the fires of purgatory; the apostle speaks of fire applied to work, not to persons, not remedial, but testing. ) The test will be thorough, searching, perfectly efficient. The false work will stand this test when hay and wood and stubble can abide unchanged in the flame; but not till then. Our work may look well now, but how will it bear the fire test?

3. By whom? God. At the great day he will be Judge, and will try every man"s work. He will apply the fire test. He loves truth and hates lies, which we call shams. On that day he will manifest the truth concerning work done in his Name. Whatever it has seemed before, it will then seem as it really is. The careless and the false may well tremble at the thought of this ordeal; but the sincere and faithful may have confidence; for as no work then will be made to appear better than it is, none will be made to appear worse.

III THE ISSUES OF THE TESTING OF CHRISTIAN WORK.

1. As to the work tested. Some will stand. The pessimists will then be ashamed; railers and mockers will then be silenced There is some work (and who shall say that it is little?) which will approve itself to God, and stand the final and most searching trial. This, doubtless, will be the work done in Divine strength, and, whilst the doers of it will rejoice with exceeding joy, they will as assuredly cry, "Not unto us." Some work will not stand the test. As hay and wood and stubble are speedily consumed in the fire, so this work will perish in the last testing flames. To see a life work destroyed in a day! A life lived and no fruit. No "Well done" because all has been ill done. And perhaps all through carelessness, sluggishness, self reliance, inattention to the "mind of Christ." Sad, sad close of a "Christian course.

2. As to workers. Some shall "receive a reward;" their work has borne the test. Though they say truly that this reward is "unmerited," they shall have it. "Doth Job serve God for nought?" Certainly not; no man ever did or shall. We lose nothing by labouring for Christ; and note that we lose nothing by labouring thoroughly for him. We may lose by labouring half heartedly we may lose our reward. It is best every way to do our best in Christ"s service. Some receive no reward. Their work perishes and they "suffer loss," but they themselves are saved, "yet so as by fire," i.e. barely, with difficulty. The reference is to those who hold fundamental truths (for they are supposed to build on the one Foundation, ver. 12), but who mingle with their teaching the wood, hay, and stubble of human notions. Strikingly are we here taught that salvation is not of works; for the works perish, but the salvation abides. Doubtless we must suppose that in such cases there is true Christian living and a real desire to do the Master"s will; for these are necessary evidences of a saved, regenerate state; but the vital truth of salvation by faith is pointedly illustrated by the chief works of the life (upon which all would have been resting if salvation were of works)suffering ignominious rejection. Being saved "so as by fire" is in Striking contrast to "the abundant entrance." May we have the ecstatic joy of the latter, and the holy gladness which comes from seeing that we have not "lived in vain"! H.

Vers. 10-15.

The Foundation and the superstructure.

Under the figure of a building, the apostle continues to speak of the work of Christ"s ministers, and specially of his own labours at Corinth. As the first to preach the gospel there, he had laid the foundation, upon which the teachers that succeeded him were to build. The reference is primarily to doctrine, but the principles apply to work and life as well.

I THE FOUNDATION. This is Jesus Christ the Mediator. (Isa_28:16; 1Pe_2:6) He is the Foundation of truth: the system of Christian theology is built upon him. All Christian teaching and preaching must have him for their basis. The entire structure of knowledge rests upon him who is the Source of all wisdom, He is also the Foundation of life. The Church is built upon him, believers being "living stones" in the great spiritual temple. In both these respects Jesus Christ is:

1. A Divine Foundation. "Behold I lay." The Church requires a basis laid by God himself.

2. A sure Foundation. No work of God can fail. Jesus Christ is a Foundation, not of sand, but of solid rock. (Mat_7:24-27) It will bear any strain, even the weight of a world.

3. The only Foundation. This is the point emphasized here. Men build on other foundations when they rest their systems of belief on human opinion, or base their hope of heaven upon their own worlds, the merits of others, the general mercy of God, etc. But "other foundation can (dunatai) no man lay;" there is but one.

II THE SUPERSTRUCTURE. Having found the true Foundation, we must "take heed how we build thereon." The work of ministers or of believers in general is here viewed as the superstructure. Two kinds of materials may be employed: "gold, silver, costly stones the beautiful and lasting materials, suited for a temple; or "wood, hay, stubble the baser and more perishable materials, fit only for a temporary house. Apply this to:

1. Doctrine. The "gold," etc., represents pure, scriptural teaching. Take Paul"s Epistles, e.g., as a noble structure of truth built on Jesus Christ. Such doctrine is precious and abiding, like its Foundation. The "wood," etc., represents human opinions and speculations put in the place of God"s truth. In Paul"s time, Jewish tradition, Gnosticism, etc.; in ours, Popery, Ritualism, etc. Such doctrines are not truly edifying.

2. Life. The "gold," etc., is a Christian life of the noblest kind, built out of faith, hope, love. Pure, unselfish, Christ like character. Variety may be indicated in the three materials. Gold may denote the most brilliant service rendered by consecrated genius, heroic faith, patient suffering. Silver may indicate a work less brilliant, but useful the honest doing of the Lord"s will. Costly stones marble or granite, e.g. a life of solidity and strength, on which others may lean. Each of these classes has its own place and value. All are genuine. The "wood," etc., is a Christian life of the poorest kind, Dull as wood, with little spiritual insight. Swayed by public opinion, as the grass by every breeze. Barren as stubble, bringing forth little to the glory of God. What differences in the lives of Christians! Gold or stubble: which?

III THE FIERY TRIAL. The true nature of our life and work is not always seen here. We judge wrongly of others and of ourselves. Men praise the wood as if it were gold; depreciate the gold as if it were wood. But the day shall declare itDies irae, dies illa the day of fire, when Christ comes to judge. (Mal_3:2, 3 4:1; 2Th_1:8) Time tests but partially; the thorough test is the judgment fire. Shall our work stand that?

1. The edifice of "gold," etc., shall stand. Truth will come through the fire; so will a genuine, unselfish, Christly life. Work for time perishes; work for eternity endures. The fiery ordeal will only bring out more clearly its true quality. The builder shall receive a reward in seeing his work abide, (Php_2:16) in being recognized as a good workman, (Mat_25:21) and in wearing the crown of life. (Jam_1:12) Observe, the reward is not for being on the Foundation, but for what is built thereon. Salvation is of free grace; the reward is "according as his. (Rev_22:12)

2. The structure of" wood," etc., shall be burned up. Error, falsehood, unreality; a life animated by a worldly, selfish spirit; these shall be consumed. The builder is glad to get away with his life, as one escapes from a house in flames, saved "so as through fire." Picture the consternation of the poor builder as he sees the fire doing its awful work, and hears the crash of his life structure! He himself is saved for Christ"s sake, but his labour is lost.

Lessons.

1. See to the nature of your life and work as Christians. Apply specially to Christian workers.

2. Be not satisfied with bare salvation at last. Build with materials that will endure. Have an eye to the "full reward". (2Jn_1:8)

3. If many on the true Foundation shall be saved only "so as through fire," how shall they escape that are building on a false foundation?. B. (1Pe_4:17, 1Pe_4:18)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According to the grace of God given to me - This he premises, lest he should seem to ascribe it to himself. Let every one take heed how he buildeth thereon - That all his doctrines may be consistent with the foundation.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

grace

Grace (imparted). 1Co 15:10; Rom 6:1; 2Pe 3:18

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. The character which St. Paul assumes to himself, namely, that of a master-builder, yea, of a wise master-builder.

But was it not vain-glorious in the apostle thus to describe himself? Is not Christ the great and wise master-builder of the church?

Yes, undoubtedly: but the apostles were instruments in his hand, which he honoured with success: for which reason St. Paul thus speaks.

Learn hence, That in some cases it is not vain-glory, but a necessary duty, for the ministers of Christ to magnify their work and office received from Christ.

Observe, 2. The special work performed by St. Paul, the wise master-builder: he laid the foundation; that is, he first acquainted them with the rudiments and fundamental principles of the Christian religion, which they had never heard of before.

Learn thence, That it is a special part of divine wisdom in a minister to lay at first a good foundation of scripture knowledge in the minds and understandings of his people. Unless we having a knowing people, we are not like to have a gracious people. All our sermons will be dashed to pieces upon the rock of our people’s ignorance, if they be not well catechised and instructed in the fundamentals of Christianity.

Observe, 3. How very careful our apostle is to ascribe all his strength, his assistance and success, as a master-builder, to the grace of God: According to the grace of God given to me.

Learn thence, That it is the property of every godly man, much more of every gracious minister, to attribute all that good which is either received or done by him, to the grace of God. What man ever received more grace from God, or did more service for God, than St. Paul? And so enlarged is he upon all occasions in magnifying the grace of God, that he is never satisfied in exalting of it: Not I, but the grace of God that was with me, &c.

Observe, 4. The cautionary direction by St. Paul, to all succeeding ministers of Christ, to take heed that they lay no other foundation than what was laid by him; and that they build suitably upon that foundation : Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.

Learn hence, That the ministers of Christ are to take especial care that they preach no other doctrine than what Christ and his apostles preached, and laid as the foundation of Christianity: and that they do not build upon that foundation any doctrine which may endanger their own or their people’s salvation: I have laid the foundation, and let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

DIVERSITY OF REWARDS

10. “According to the grace of God which was given unto me as a wise master builder I laid the foundation; and another buildeth thereon.” Paul had been instrumental in founding the Corinthian church. Apollos and other God-sent laborers had followed on, lending a helping hand to rear up this stupendous superstructure on the foundation laid by the great apostle to the Gentiles.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According to the grace [apostleship with its attendant gifts-- Rom_1:5 ; Gal_1:15-16 ; Eph_3:8 ] of God which was given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation [In Corinth Paul had preached Christ as the foundation of the church and of each individual Christian, and this foundation admitted no mixture of philosophy and no perversion which could produce sects ( Gal_1:9 ). All this Paul asserts without any shadow of boasting, for the skill or wisdom by which he had done it had been imparted to him by God]; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10–15. According to the grace given to me. Given when? When he was called to be an apostle. I have laid the foundation. The figure of the building is retained. Paul is a discreet master-builder. He had laid the foundation at Corinth, when he was preaching Christ, and working through faith in him (2:4, 5). Notice it is not a foundation, but the foundation, because God's spiritual temple (v. 16) can have only one. Another buildeth thereon. After Paul left Corinth, Apollos and other teachers continued to build upon the foundation that Paul had laid. Let every man take heed how, etc. Since there is only one foundation of the temple, viz: Jesus Christ, there should be most careful and conscientious building upon it (verse 12).

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

According to the grace of God that was given to me

This can be stated in active form. AT: "According to the task that God freely gave me to do" (See: Active or Passive)

I laid a foundation

Paul equates his teaching of faith and salvation in Jesus Christ to laying a foundation for a building. (See: Metaphor)

another is building on it

Paul is referring to the person or people who are teaching the Corinthians at that time as if they are carpenters who are constructing the building above the foundation. (See: Metaphor)

let each man

This refers to God's workers in general. AT: "let each person who serves God"

no one can lay a foundation other than the one that has been laid

This can be stated as active. AT: "no one can lay a foundation other than the foundation that I, Paul, have laid" or "I have already laid the only foundation that anyone can lay" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

grace

found

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

10. ἔθηκα אABC, for the rec. τέθεικα.

10. τὴν δοθεῖσάν μοι. Which was given to me, i. e. when I laid the foundation.

ὡς σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων. St Paul now desires to identify himself with the teachers of the Corinthian Church, so far as they were really carrying on the work which he had begun. His object is to combat the individualism which had led the Corinthian Church astray. If their teachers be genuine ministers of Christ, it is but one work that they are carrying on. They are merely proceeding with the superstructure of that which the Apostle had founded. Comparison of their personal claims with those of St Paul, and still more an attitude of antagonism to him and to one another, are fatal to the healthy growth of Christ’s Body.

ἔθηκα. I laid, according to the true reading. See Critical Note.

ἐποικοδομεῖ. Is building thereon. Are we to understand here any reference to a particular opponent of St Paul? Or is the ἄλλος purely general, and equivalent to ‘other people’? It is impossible to say positively.

ἕκαστος δὲ βλεπέτω. A fresh subject is here introduced. We are now told of what kind the labour of a minister of Christ is to be, and what his reward. There is, there can be, but One Foundation, but there are many ways of building on that foundation. ἕκαστος tends to support the view that St Paul intended no special individual by ἄλλος.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10.] κατὰ τ. χάρ. &c., as an expression of humility (reff.), fitly introduces the σοφός which follows. So Chrys.: ὅρα γοῦν πῶς μετριάζει. εἰπὼν γὰρ σοφὸν ἑαυτόν, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτοῦ τοῦτο εἶναι, ἀλλʼ ὅλον ἑαυτὸν πρότερον ἀναθεὶς τῷ θεῷ τότε ἑαυτὸν οὕτως ἐκάλεσε. Hom. viii. p. 69. The χάρις is not the peculiar grace of his apostleship—for an apostle was not always required to lay the foundation, e.g. in Rome:—but that given to him in common with all Christians (ver. 5), only in a degree proportioned to the work which God had for him to do.

σοφός, skilful, see reff., and many examples in Wetstein. The proof of this skill is given, in his laying a foundation: the unskilful master-builder lays none, see Luk 6:49. The foundation (ver. 11) was and must be, Jesus Christ: the facts of redemption by Him (obj.), and the reception of Him and His work by faith (subj.).

The mascul. form ὁ θεμέλιος (sc. λίθος) is said by Thomas Mag. (in Wetst.) to belong to the κοινὴ διάλεκτος—the Attic form is θεμέλιον, or, if in the plur., οἱ θεμέλιοι:—οἱ γὰρ θεμέλιοι παντοίων λίθων ὑπόκεινται, Thucyd. i. 93.

ἄλλος, ‘whoever comes after me,’—another: not only Apollos.

ἐποικοδομεῖ, pres., as the necessary state and condition of the subsequent teacher, be he who he may. The building on, over the foundation, imports the carrying them onward in knowledge and intelligent faith.

πῶς, emphatic, = here, with what material. De Wette imagines that it also conveys a caution not to alter the foundations, and that the γάρ in ver. 11 refers to this. But the identity of the foundation is surely implied in ἐποικοδομεῖ. On the γάρ, see below.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Κατὰ τὴν χάριν κ.τ.λ. The necessary prelude to a reference to his own distinctive work (cf. 7:25). The ‘grace’ is not that of Apostleship in general, but that specially granted to St Paul, which led him to the particular work of founding new Churches, and not building on another man’s foundation (Rom 15:19, Rom 15:20).

ὡς σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων. The same expression is found in LXX of Isa 3:3, and σόφος is frequent of the skilled workmen who erected and adorned the Tabernacle (Exo 35:10, Exo 35:25, 36:1, Exo 35:4, Exo 35:8). It means peritus. Aristotle (Eth. Nic. VI. vii. 1) says that the first notion of σοφία is, that, when applied to each particular art, it is skill; Phidias is a skilled sculptor.* See Lightfoot ad loc. Ἀρχιτέκτων occurs nowhere else in N.T.

θεμέλιον ἔθηκα. The aorist, like ἐφύτενσα (v. 6), refers to the time of his visit (ἦλθον, ii. 1): θεμέλιον is an adjective (sc. λίθον), but becomes a neuter substantive in late Greek. In the plural we may have either gender; οἱ θεμέλιοι (Heb 11:10, Rev 21:14, Rev 21:19), or τὰ θεμέλια (Act 16:26 and often in LXX). No architect can build without some foundation, and no expert will build without a sure foundation. Cf. Eph 2:20.

ἄλλος δέ. The reference is not specially to Apollos: ‘The superstructure I leave to others.’ But they all must build, according to the rule that follows, thoughtfully, not according to individual caprice.

πῶς ἐποικοδομεῖ. Refers specially, although not exclusively, to the choice of materials (vv. 12, 13). The edifice, throughout, is the Church, not the fabric of doctrine; but ἐποἰοδομεῖν refers to the teaching—both form and substance—which forms the Church, or rather forms the character of its members (Gal 4:19).

ἔθηκα (א* A B C* 17) is to be preferred to τἐθεικα (א3 C3 D E) or τεθηκα (L P). D omits the second δέ. There is no need to conjecture ἐποικοδόμῃ for the second ἐποικοδομεῖ (all MSS). In 7:32 the balance of evidence is strongly in favour of πῶς ἀρέσῃ.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Grace. The special endowment for his apostolic work. Compare Rom 1:5, grace and apostleship : Rom 12:3, 6; Eph 3:7, 8.

Wise [σοφος] . Skillful. See on Jas 3:13.

Master - builder [αρχιτεκτων] . Only here in the New Testament. "The architect does not work himself, but is the ruler of workmen" (Plato, "Statesman," 259).

Foundation. The importance which Paul attached to the foundation was figured by the care employed in laying the foundation of the great Ephesian temple. "To avoid the danger of earthquakes, its foundations were built at vast cost on artificial foundations of skin and charcoal laid over the marsh" (Farrar).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 10. “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon; but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon!”

The apostle first looks backwards (I laid), in order to put himself out of the question; hence the asyndeton.

The grace given him is that of founding the Church among the Gentiles, particularly at Corinth, with the totality of gifts which he received for this mission, and the use of them which he has been enabled to make. The phrase, according to the grace..., softens the eulogy which he seems to award himself in speaking, as he does here, of his work at Corinth.

One might see in the words, as a wise master builder, nothing more than an idea analogous to that expressed in Mat 7:24-27. Paul would then simply mean: “I did not build on ground without laying a foundation; as a good architect, I provided a foundation for the building.” But the idea of prudence, or better still, of ability, contained in the term σοφός, seems rather to relate to the manner in which he laboured in laying the foundation, than to the simple act itself of laying it. He took care to avoid factitious modes of procedure, means borrowed from human eloquence and speculation; he deliberately confined himself to bearing testimony to the fact of salvation, leaving the Holy Spirit to act, and refraining from entering before the time into the domain of Christian speculation; his wisdom, as a founder, was to make no account of wisdom; comp. 1Co 2:1-5, and 1Co 3:1-4. — The master builder is not only he who draws the plan of the building,—in this sense the title would revert to God,—but also the man who directs its execution.

The perfect τέθεικα, which is read in the received text, might appear preferable to the aorist ἔθηκα of the Alexandrines; for the foundation, once laid, remains. But the aorist, which denotes the act done once for all, better contrasts Paul’s work with the subsequent labours which are still going on.

These labours are denoted by the term ἐποικοδομεῖν, “building on (the foundation laid).” The ἄλλος, another, is referred specially to Apollos. Two things should serve to set aside this idea: first, the present ἐποικοδομεῖ, builds upon; for, at the time when Paul wrote, Apollos was no longer at Corinth; then the word each which follows, and which shows that the ἄλλος, another, is a collective term. The word, in fact, denotes the whole body of individuals who, as prophets, teachers, or speaking in tongues, had laboured, since Paul’s departure, in developing the Church founded by him. Apollos was one of them, and he certainly belongs, in Paul’s view, to the number of those who had built with materials of good quality, 1Co 3:14; comp. 1Co 3:6-7. The end of the verse is an admonition addressed to all these workers, and prepared for by all that precedes from 1Co 3:8 b. The πῶς, how (that is to say: with what sort of materials), is the theme of the whole following development.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.