Chapter 3
Starts with this:
2021 - 1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. [1Co 3:1 ESV] So this is at the root of all the problems in the Corinthian church. They are infants in Christ. They are not well grounded, they are still on milk and not meat. When a church has rampant problems it is because of immaturity as Christians. Deeper teaching is needed, and as each individual is more informed about doctrine, these problems begin to melt away. I would say that the first thing that begins to go is "rugged individualism", pride of place, and so on. MacA's book on Spiritual gifts leans this way also. The more "standout" people in a church, the less mature it is. So what's needed is not a different church, but investment in "growing up" the present church. And our gifts can be exercised to do just that.
2022 - He continues this way:
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, [1Co 3:2 ESV]. This is pretty direct. Paul tells them that despite the work he did while there, despite the time they have had to mature in Christ, in doctrine, and in unity, they are still not there. They are just splashing around keeping their heads above water, not swimming towards the goal. It is likely that the immature will go defensive about this, and lash out at Paul, his authority, his "standing" to say such things. But there is a group of people in Corinth who "follow Paul". Will they see that even they are doing it wrong, or will they seize upon this as a "promotion" for them in relation to the other groups?
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. [1Co 3:6-7 ESV] Paul is addressing a big problem in the Corinthian church. They have separated themselves into "cliques" based on who baptized them into the church. The brag about how much "better" the guy who baptized them is than the guy who baptized everyone else. Their pride, then, is in men. To try and correct this thinking, Paul gives them an agricultural analogy. He says that Paul, Apollos, and Peter - all of whom are being held up as the better man - are like laborers on a farm, working for a master. They are just the hands. One might sow, another water, another weed, but it is God who owns the land. The laborers will receive wages, but all are working that God may produce - they work for the benefit of the master, not for their own benefit. So those who covet recognition and claim honor based on who baptized them, are honoring not the master but the worker. They have missed the whole point. If we aren't careful, we too can get attached to a particular Sunday School teacher, a TV preacher, or even a whole denomination. But these are all laborers, and should be seen as our partners rather than masters. The objective of each is to proclaim the gospel so that there will be a harvest to benefit Christ. We can apply this "test" as a measure of our own maturity by noting whether we got to hear a preacher, or to hear the word. We can also test church leaders by noting whether they are promoting themselves or whether they are also working to produce a good harvest.
Possible FB post here.
2025 - This year, reading vss 1-9, I do get the idea that the leading Corinthians in the church were preaching/promoting what Paul had taught them, or what Apollos had taught them. And perhaps there were some differences in either content or method or both. But they seem to have been consumed with these men and now with the teachings of God. So the idea would be that if you built a whole course of study based on the teachings of Apollos, and advertising your class as a deeper study of Apollos and his writings and teachings, and you invited people to church to hear about Apollos...then you are building the church on the wrong foundation. There was already a foundation there - Jesus - so you don't need to build a whole new foundation. Because it isn't going to last. It is going to fade away because Apollos is still milk and Jesus is meat. So this great class you've built that knows all about Apollos does not mature. It does not last, because Apollos is just a man.
2025 - This idea continues on through 15. You have to build with materials that cannot be burned up. That leaves out flesh. Gold, silver, precious stones...these survive fire. Again, it may be that this is about how we as Christians build up the church. The church is already there, already has a foundation. We are to add to the church, promote it, sanctify it with our teaching, serving, contributing, promoting. What if we only teach about John MacArthur? We use only his books, and we teach his biography and have a little bust of him in the classroom. We make JMA the big deal, and not the word, not Jesus. We follow John MacArthur. Sooner or later, that class will fall apart. Maybe this is what was going on.
Another analogy. Paul says he is a master builder, and he laid a foundation in Corinth. Others now build on that foundation. And they should take care how they build, because all will be tried in fire. If the fire destroys what was built, it's builder will suffer loss - not of his own soul but of his reward. Rewards are given only for what survives the fire. MSB note confirms this. This is about the judgment seat of Christ, when the saved are rewarded for their works. We need to be careful how we build, if we want any reward. Because the way this is worded "...but only as through fire", seems to indicate that we'll have burn scars for the things we messed up and crowns for what we got right. Now there is a scary way to look at it. It motivates a deeper look.
2022 - This is in 1Cor 3.10-15. Is it really about the judgment? Or is this just part of Paul's analogy? I just don't see anything here that, in context, is about a judgment. Paul is introducing another analogy, another metaphor, to make THE SAME POINT about the disunity in the Corinthian church. The first metaphor was the field. God-laborers (Paul, Peter, Apollos) - field (the members of the Corinthian church). This relationship, this hierarchy is also represented by a master builder (God), who has his laborers (Paul, Peter, Apollos) lay a foundation upon which others (the members of the Cori can build. God has the plan, others execute the plan, and then still others build upon it.
But he does talk about the Day. That is when it will be obvious who built well and who didn't. So yes, looking at it that way, there is a judgment in view here. The phrase "though he himself will be saved" also is indicative of evaluation, of judgment. Note also that this is a judgment of works. There's nothing about this judgment that makes you unsaved. The clear assumption is that all who are judged like this are saved, and remain so. But there will be both rewards and losses. This has to be the bema, because though the pre-millennial judgment is of works, many will be cast into hell if their works are found wanting. The phrase quoted above is Paul making it clear just which judgment he is talking about. That difference contrasts bema with Pre-Millennial.
Right after this analogy, Paul says that each person is God's temple, and that God's Spirit is within them. Then he says if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. I don't understand this, and the MSB note is no help at all. It says this is about anyone who tries to destroy that the foundation of the church is Christ. But it is talking about individuals being temples, not churches being temples. I don't think MSB is correct here...or maybe it is pretty complicated, and there wasn't room for the note. It might be more about how those who are claiming superiority because of their "worldly wisdom" and undermining the growth of the "less wise" by pointing them to Paul or Apollos, etc, instead of by pointing them to God. Maybe they are even out debating in the public square and persuading people to come into the church as disciples of Apollos and his teaching, instead of coming is as followers of Christ. Now that does make some sense. And not only in this context. If much of the church is made up of those who are there to follow men then it is no wonder there are unity problems. And no matter how wise those who are recruiting in this way think they are, they better be real careful because what they are doing is destroying the foundation. So this first part of Corinthians is perhaps more about who they are bringing into the church and the basis of their recruitment, and we will get to the problems with how the saved in the church are exercising their gifts a bit later Two big problems, not just the one.
2025 - I think I've interpreted vss 16-17 wrong in the paragraph above. Here is ESV:
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. [1Co 3:16-17 ESV]...and here is NASB95:
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. [1Co 3:16-17 NASB95].
I have interpreted this as being addressed to an individual. As in John, you are God's Temple with the Spirit inside you. If you wreck your body, God will destroy you. That's wrong. Paul is addressing the CHURCH as a whole. He is calling the church at Corinth a Temple of God, perhaps using the language of the culture, since temples were everywhere in that town. The Spirit of God is there to build the church. If you teach wrong doctrine, doctrine based on men instead of on God, then you are building on the temporal. You are doing it wrong, and if you keep doing it, the Spirit is not going to support that weak teaching, and your church is going to fizzle out and go away. Or...those who teach wrongly will fade away or be replaced. Do it right or you will not last - either as a bad teacher or as a badly built church.
2022 - Could it mean that if we abuse and neglect our physical bodies, if we expose them to idolatry, adultery, gluttony etc, then there will be consequences for that in this life? Could it mean that indulging the body in activities that are against God's commands will result in a faster "corruption" of the body, and early death, pain, and so on? I looked again at the MSB note...it just seems clearly off the mark. Wait...put vs 15 with 16. Those who build poorly on the foundation are building a poor church, a poor temple. At the judgment, the poor quality will be noted and destroyed. That's what MSB is saying this is about. I don't know though. How can we "destroy" the church, even if we build poorly on it? MSB says this is about building on the WRONG foundation, a foundation besides Jesus. But that's not what it says as I read it. At a stretch, if we ourselves, by say attaching ourselves to Paul or Apollos, and focus on promoting one of them as opposed to promoting the gospel, then this error incurs God's opposition, and He will destroy us - refuse to "grow" us? - treat us as false teachers? Yeah...that doesn't seem to quite be it either. A difficult section here.
Maybe destroying God's Temple is about tearing down each other. Maybe it means they were so aggressive in defending their chosen champion that they were stomping on their detractors, even to the point of denigrating Christ as the foundation of the church and building on Peter's preaching rather than Christ's words. Hmm...that is probably the best explanation so far. And it also explains the two metaphors about what the hierarchy really is, that the Corinthians seem to be missing.
2022 - The last few verses imply to me that the Corinthians are debating at great length who is the "best" man, who they ought to follow, who they ought to honor. And in the last few verses, Paul says the strength of your arguments is of no consequence to God. This verse:
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, [1Co 3:21 ESV]. Maybe this means that we will each be judged for OUR OWN doings, not for the accomplishments or failures of our leaders. To boast in man rather than in Christ is to miss the whole cruise. They are looking around, rather than looking up, and this means they are still flesh oriented - as Paul said in vs 1. This thought makes sense to me, but I still can't seem to tie it to the Temple analogy, and destruction of those who destroy this temple. Does it help to think of what was happening as some kind of hero worship? Or...maybe, it was akin to what modern day Catholics do with their saints. We the Corinthians offering up prayers to Paul, Peter, and Apollos? Surely if it was that, Paul would clearly tell them not to do that. Were they equating the words of these three with scripture, finding contradictions, and so elevating/arguing who was "best" according to whether they could tear him down or not? And they were so focused on that they were not getting around to "working in the field" at all? Maybe. Note the opening of the next chapter...This is how one should regard us... How does this mean anything but "You are not looking at us correctly".