"And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of the flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not able. For you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not mere men?
"What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
"According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (NASB).
Reading the Text Properly
First Corinthians is one of the more practical books of the NT, addressed to a fledgling church fraught with conflicts and spiritual hazards. The Apostle Paul basically tackles the issues one by one. The problem of divisions is paramount, and the first addressed in the letter. Paul counters the Corinthians' petty bickering, personality cults and faction-forming in the first two chapters by exalting the cross of Christ above the wisdom men. Chapter 3 continues this theme with a comparison of men with God as pertains to spiritual and congregational growth, and a portrayal of Christ as the only foundation for spiritual life and eternal hope. Chapter 4 builds further on the same themes, redefining apostles as weak and foolish servants of Christ rather than strong leaders or spiritual superstars. Paul then addresses in succession through chapters 5-16 the issues of sexual immorality, pagan lawsuits, marriage, conscience, leadership, sin and idolatry, general order in the church, spiritual gifts, love, prophecy, bodily resurrection, and financial support for the saints in the churches.
As a complete unit, the first 15 verses of chapter 3 lend support to two major themes of 1 Corinthians: First is Paul's continual placing of the apostles in perspective, not as a superior or elite group of leaders, but as servants, fellow workers, small parts of a large body, fools for Christ's sake, and even the "scum of the world." This thought is central to 1 Corinthians, addressed pointedly in chapters 1-4, 9, 11 and 12. Paul expresses the thought in our passage: "What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants throught whom you believed..." (3:6). Second is the matter of eternal perspective, the understanding that what really counts is what will never perish. The basic thought is expressed in 3:15: "If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." Paul touches on the idea again in chapter 13, in promoting love above all other virtues and gifts as an eternally abiding reality (13:8-13). He elaborates on this issue in both practical and philosophical terms in chapter 15. "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable..." (15:50).
1 Corinthians 3:1-15 is a distinct pericope marked by certain textual boundaries. Chapter 3 opens with the transitional phrase of verse one, "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men..." The "and" here is a primary article, indicating in conjunction with the remainder of verse one ("I...could not speak to you as to spiritual men...), a change of subject in sharp, ironic contrast with the preceding discussion of the hidden wisdom of Christ granted to the apostles. Paul assesses the Corinthians' central problem as one of spiritual immaturity, which he identifies through the evidence of one of its main manifestations, personality-worship. He then demonstrates the superiority of the work of God to that of the apostles, via the metaphors of planting and building, both of which elevate God himself as the driving center of any eternally meaningful spiritual enterprise (vv. 5-11). This leads into the thought of building for eternity, and Paul's concluding statement on the matter: "If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (v. 15). Verses 16-17 introduce a closely related but separate topic, that of the believer(s) as the temple of God, another "work" subject to being destroyed if not built on the foundation of Christ alone (v. 11). These verses seem to warn of the possibility of eternal loss of the very souls of those "believers" who by their self-destructive behavior demonstrate that they may not in fact believe in Christ. In any case, this small section introduces a separate thought from the previous discussion of building on the right foundation, applicable to sincere but immature believers.
Difficult and significant portions of this portions of this text begin with the meanings of the main metaphors: Those pertaining to milk and sold food, planting and watering, the master builder, God's field, God's building, the foundation, and the basic construction materials of gold, silver, wood, hay, etc. Questions which may arise include how, if "no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ," the church can be referred to elsewhere as "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets..." (Eph. 2:20). And what does it mean to be saved "so as through fire"? On the face of it, this verse seems to somehow imply degrees of forgiveness or salvation. That leads in turn to the question of what exactly is meant by "work." If it means the same as does "works" in Romans 3, for instance, then Paul's words here could possibly be read as a promotion of legalism.
Exegetical Work
1 Corinthians 3:1-15 may be divided into three paragraphs. The first consists of a sharp rebuke of the "spiritual" Corinthians for their thoroughly unspiritual immaturity, as evidenced by their divisions and their infatuation with authority figures in the church. In paragraph two, Paul effectively debunks the apostle-as-superhero myth by describing the apostles' true place in the