I am temporarily reviving an old series I did on hermeneutics called “straight outta context.” For this installment, I want to look at 1 Corinthians 3:10-17.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 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. (1 Cor 3:10-17)
I had always heard verses 10-15 used to exhort people to good works. As Christians, we need to make sure that we are doing works that will endure for eternity (gold, silver, precious stones) and for which we will receive a reward, rather than doing things that have no eternal value (wood, hay, stubble). However, in context, this is Paul’s warning to teachers to make sure that they are discipling God’s people correctly.
Starting all the way back in chapter 1, Paul addresses factions in the church caused by different allegiances to different ministers. Some claimed to follow Paul, while others claimed to follow Peter or Apollos (1:10-12). Paul resumed this topic in 3:1 – 4:21. In 3:5-9 Paul declares that all ministers are God’s servants to help God’s people, but each has a different focus. Some ministers focus on converting sinners (planting), while others focus on discipling those converts (waterers). Verses 8-9 are particularly instructive for interpreting verses 10-17: “He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” Whereas Paul had been utilizing an agricultural metaphor for how this works (planters and waterers), now he shifts to an architectural metaphor. Paul is picturing God’s people as buildings, and God’s fellow workers as laborers who construct that building.
Paul reveals his part in this process in verse 10. He is the one who laid the foundation for the Corinthians’ faith. It was through Paul that they came to believe in Jesus. Paul planted the gospel in their hearts as a foundation for their faith. However, other ministers continued his work, building on that foundation to create a holy temple for God. That Paul is referring to other ministers and not to the saints personally is evident from the fact that he said “and someone else is building on it.” If he had the Corinthian saints in mind, he would have said “and you are building on it.”
It is at this point that Paul warns those who are discipling the Corinthians to take heed as to how they go about their discipleship. If they try to build God’s building using perishable materials (wood, hay, stubble), then their work will not endure when it is tested on the day of judgment. All of that labor will have been for naught. Only if they build God’s building using imperishable materials (gold, silver, precious stones) can they expect for what they built to endure the fire of judgment. Ministers won’t be punished for their worthless labor, but will only be rewarded by God for the labor utilizing imperishable materials. Paul will receive a reward based on his foundation-laying labor, while those he deemed “waterers” will receive a reward based on their work to build a spiritual building on that foundation.
Paul never identifies the kind of labor that constitutes wood, hay, and stubble versus the kind of labor that constitutes gold, silver, and precious stones. Given what Paul says in verses 18-19 about those who follow the wisdom of this age, I think Paul has truth in mind. Those who are using the Word of God to construct these living buildings are building with gold, silver, and precious stones, while those who are instructing God’s people in the wisdom of this age are trying to construct God’s buildings with wood, hay, and stubble.
This contextual understanding for verses 10-15 also sheds light on verses 16-17. Let me quote them again: “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.” I have always heard this verse used to say that those who abuse their bodies will go to hell. This verse was appealed to in support of prohibitions on smoking, drinking, taking drugs, and even tattooing. When you consider the context, however, this interpretation is clearly ruled out. Remember, Paul said the Corinthians were buildings of God in verse 9, and then described the two ways in which ministers might build those buildings in verses 10-15 (one perishable, one imperishable). The building refers to the Corinthians’ spiritual development, not their physical bodies. The “anyone” who might destroy God’s temple is not the individual Christian, but the minister who builds on their spiritual foundation with perishable materials. In doing so, he destroys God’s temple (the individual Christian’s spiritual development). If a minister is guilty of destroying a Christian’s faith because he taught him worldly wisdom rather than divine truth, God will hold that minister accountable.
First Corinthians 3:10-17, then, is not an exhortation to Christians to do things worthy of eternity or avoid things that would hurt their bodies, but an exhortation to Christian teachers to accurately and faithfully teach God’s people God’s truth.
I think this has direct application to so many churches today. Too many pastors spend an inordinate amount of time teaching their churches about leadership, time management, managing stress, overcoming depression, and the like, and little time teaching Bible doctrine. I’m not saying that they are teaching falsehoods, but they are ignoring the Biblical teachings that will matter most for eternity.
Keep it in context….
Thinking to Believe 
May 20, 2021 at 6:16 am
“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.”
Jason, thank you for this thoughtful exegesis on these verses. You have an interesting take on it and I’m mulling over your interpretation.
I certainly agree with you that verse 17 does not mean that God will destroy His own people. This is a gross misinterpretation that is rampant in the church and mars the face of God. Actually this is an identity verse and a comfort verse showing that we are the temple of God and that God will exact revenge on those that destroy us. Go figure, God is on our side 🙂
The question is what the word “destroy” means in this context. From the Greek it appears this word can refer to “defile” or “corrupt” which would give credence to your interpretation that ministers are corrupting the spiritual development of Christians. However, the previous verses mentions the word “fire” several times and my thought on is that “fire” could represent difficulty or persecution of some type. In light of that, I see verse 17 referring to God exacting revenge ultimately on those that persecute or kill God’s people. Admittedly I feel this may be out of context to some degree and not in step with your exegesis.
Verse 17 uses strong language, whether the word is “defile” or “destroy” it is still strong language indicating what God will do to those, who in your view, destroy a Christian’s spiritual development. I would be curious to know what you think this means. You mentioned that the ministers will be held accountable. Do you think these ministers would lose their ministry or something more ?
We see in verse 15 that those same minister’s works are burned up but they are still saved, only the works are lost. How do you reconcile verse 17 with verse 15 ? It’s not clear to me what “saved” means in the context of verse 15. Whether it’s eternal or not, it still refers to a place a safety for the bad minister. Is the destruction of those ministers another way of saying that God burns up their works ?
Anyway, as you can see I am not sure as to the exact interpretation of these verses as a whole. Some things are clear with regards to the foundation of Christ and how to build upon it etc… but I am having trouble with applying verse 17 to the rest of the chapter. I am open for discussion and would appreciate input.
Naz
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May 24, 2021 at 12:29 pm
@Brother Jason
I must take issue with your interpretation. I addressed this very thing in your Tempted to works righteousness thread. I reproduce it here:
Naz, you attempt to reply to my comments on 1 Cor. 6 first by repeating your previous argument about identity while failing to address my proximate contextual comments relative to Chapters 5 and 6. And this of course does nothing to clarify your stance nor to undermine mine.
You do, however, attempt to blunt the force of my argument relative to defiling or destroying the temple of God by attempting to contextualize 1 Cor. 3:16-17. You aver that the work of every Christian will be tested with various results depending on the kind of work that it is, but since a Christian is built upon Christ, he will be saved regardless what happens to his work. From this, you draw the conclusion that if anybody “destroys” God’s temple, God will destroy that person (not the temple, but the person who destroys the temple). That this is a logical leap is seen if we format your argument in a more organized manner:
1) Jesus Christ is our foundation (implying that we are built upon Him).
2) What is built on the foundation (wood, hay, straw, gold, silver, etc.) will be tested.
3) Whatever survives the test will be a man’s reward.
4) Whatever doesn’t survive will be a man’s loss.
5) Therefore, whoever destroys God’s temple will be destroyed of God.
It is thus clear that 5 does not logically follow 1-4. Paul is teaching that a minister’s work is distinct from the man himself:
1 Corinthians 3
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
And since Paul is describing a man’s work and not the man himself, except in reference to his personal salvation, there is no proximate logical connection between the work and the minister. If you had gone back a few more verses, you would have been able to avoid your exegetical error:
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.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
It is then clear that Paul is describing the work of the ministry. He chastises Corinth for behaving carnally in boasting about who preached to them the gospel and whom they were following. He then shows that they are merely ministers of the Lord working for a harvest. And as verse 9 clearly states, CONVERTS, or those responding to the message, are God’s field and building. Thus, the gold, silver, wood, etc. are the converts resulting from the work of the ministry. The fiery trying of faith will test everybody on the foundation. Many will be destroyed or burnt up whereas others, due to the kind of material they are, will survive. And since the “work” represents converts, the test will destroy some converts and will not destroy others. Thus, what is burnt is not the minister (who may be good but unwise in some areas of evangelism), but rather those from his field of labor who did not survive.
If Christ is our foundation, then what is built on the foundation is collectively the temple of the Lord (Eph. 2:20-22). And testing purges or refines the temple of that which is carnal. So, if OSAS is true, how is it that the destruction of the wood, hay and straw constitutes the destruction of God’s temple? If testing purges the church of those who were never really part of the church, how is that a bad thing? Though a man may suffer “loss” because he didn’t have as many as he thought he had, he is nonetheless rid of that which is corruptible. Given that, an OSAS proponent, to be consistent, would view the destruction of pretenders as a good thing.
So, Paul then addresses the saints directly and informs them that they are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And if one destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person because God’s temple is holy. Now, an OSAS proponent is locked into a dilemma. Paul just stated that some things cannot be destroyed and will survive the test, so if the previously described destruction is the same as in verse 17, why would that incur God’s wrath? “Saints” that are burned were never part of the church, so they don’t qualify as “God’s temple.” There is therefore no cause for wrath if we’re discussing the same kind of destruction.
Since Paul is describing God’s holy temple, then he must be speaking of another kind of destruction. As I argued above, Thayer notes that φθείρω is “to corrupt, destroy — in the opinion of the Jews, the temple was corrupted or ‘destroyed’ when anyone defiled or in the slightest degree damaged anything in it, or if its guardians neglected their duties…” BDAG says the word means to cause harm in a physical manner, to cause deterioration of the inner life, ruin, corrupt, inflict punishment, and to violate rules. LSJ defines the word as miscarry, destroy, corrupt, bribe, entice, trap, seduce, ruin, spoil, perish, morally corrupt, etc. Vine states:
With the significance of destroying, it is used of marring a local church by leading it away from that condition of holiness of life and purity of doctrine in which it should abide, 1 Corinthians 3:17 (AV, “defile”), and of God’s retributive destruction of the offender who is guilty of this sin (id.); of the effects of the work of false and abominable teachers upon themselves, 2 Peter 2:12 (some texts have kataphtheiro; AV, “shall utterly perish”), and Jude 1:10 (AV, “corrupt themselves.” RV, marg., “are corrupted”). See DEFILE and DESTROY.
Clearly, then, both by the context and by the lexical range of the word in question, the “destruction” refers to defilement by sin which incurs the penalty of death. Also note, that “anyone” can be guilty of defiling God’s temple, from without or within. And it is with this in mind that Paul speaks of the defilement of the temple in Chapter 6:
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”
17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
So, not only is the church collectively the temple of the Lord, but our individual bodies are God’s temple. Note, Paul did NOT say, as many OSAS proponents imply, that so long as you get serviced by a prostitute once in a while, you’ll be shouting on the hills of glory. He said that he would NEVER join the members of Christ with a prostitute, for that would constitute a sin against the temple of God which of course defiles God’s temple. It is thus obvious that a person can defile God’s temple by personally committing sin, and Chapter 3 makes it equally obvious that God will destroy that person unless he repents. God did not hesitate to destroy the Old Testament temple when it became defiled; and He will certainly destroy our defiled temples if we do not repent. And, as noted previously, Corinth thankfully repented:
2 Corinthians 7
8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—
9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.
10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
God INTENDED to make the Corinthians sorry so that they would repent unto salvation, thus again making it very obvious that Paul wasn’t glossing over iniquity with promises of unconditional election. Indeed:
2 Corinthians 6
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
He then commands them to come out from among the world so that God would receive them. Thus God’s reception and relations with Corinth are conditioned upon their keeping the “temple” clean from defilement.
To summarize, the work of evangelism will be tested, and those purged by the test are those converts who are removed from the church. To an OSAS believer, purging is a good thing which removes hypocrites from the body. It may be bad in the sense that they never received the gospel, but if they never received it, then they were never really part of the temple. Hence, their removal cannot constitute the temple’s destruction. Given that, any attack on an unbeliever is not an attack on the church whereas vss. 16-17 of Chapter 3 speaks of a direct attack on the true church. And since it is a direct attack, it constitutes a different kind of destruction than previously described. Fiery trial refines gold, it doesn’t destroy it. OSAS believers must insist that it is a physical attack whereas Chapter 6 in both Corinthian epistles demonstrates that it is a moral attack that anybody can be guilty of. There is thus no warrant to disconnect Chapter 3 from Chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians with respect to temple defilement.
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June 6, 2021 at 3:06 pm
“If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” another verse proving osas.
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June 7, 2021 at 5:42 am
Scalia, I don’t agree with your interpretation on a few levels.
First of all, your bias that you bring to the table is your undoing as you assume that God will destroy our temple just like he did the temples in the OT. It appears that the blood of the new covenant has no effect and that we are living under law still in your view. This is not surprising.
Also, your statement regarding OSAS proponents being “serviced’ by a prostitute once in a while is an erroneous and degrading statement. I don’t know why you continue to bring up OSAS since it was never mentioned by myself or Jason. I don’t know why you have such a problem with eternal security ? Am I to live in fear for the rest of my life ? Would that make you happy ?
I think your interpretation of the “work” being converts breaks down in verse 10.
1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
Paul stresses that the ministers should take care “how” he builds on the foundation of Jesus Christ. To me this is talking about the things a minister does and/or preaches, it’s talking about his work. Converts can be the result of his work but the context here is the work itself. Ministers do not make converts, God does, and God gives the growth or the increase. Ministers are just supposed to do the work.
As for verse 17, it still seems to me like a protection verse. Your bias always defaults to judgment and punishment, again no surprise there knowing your pedigree.
I’m not finished studying this. I would like to hear more from Jason on this. Admittedly, this is not an easy passage to decipher.
Naz
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June 8, 2021 at 12:26 pm
@Naz,
Sorry for the delay. If I got a notification of your reply, I must have deleted it inadvertently. You write:
I cannot be assuming or presupposing matters when I both define the terms and defend each inference of my argument. We’re told that God will destroy a corrupt temple, that our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:19), that fornication is a sin against one’s own body, and that one who joins with a prostitute becomes one with her, whereas we’re supposed to be one with the Lord (vss. 16-17). Ironically, you’re the one who’s guilty of assuming that I’ve assumed something.
No, it isn’t erroneous at all. I quoted Martin Luther more than once in the “Works” thread in that a Christian could commit both adultery and murder thousands of times every day and still be saved. Indeed, my “getting serviced once is a while” isn’t nearly as bad as Luther’s, so I was really being charitable.
My first paragraph states that the following text (which also contains a link to the original) is a reproduction. The rest of the post is exactly what I posted in the “Works” thread, so of course it’ll contain references to OSAS. That, however, is not the ultimate point. I’m simply highlighting out areas of disagreement with Jason.
I explained multiple times in the other thread why I have such a “problem” with it, and I repeated myself almost ad infinitum over there. I’m not going to explain it again here. Moreover, neither I nor my Apostolic community live in fear at all, so you’re barking up the wrong tree.
Except you forgot to cite verse 9:
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
Since Jesus Christ is the foundation (vs. 11), what is built on the foundation is the building. And of course, his audience, being the Corinthian church and by extension every Christian, is God’s building (each of us being “lively stones” in the church which is God’s temple). So, the context is quite clear that the converts are the result of ministerial labor for they are what is built upon the foundation.
Yes, there is a “bias” here, but it’s not mine; it’s yours. Again, I explained every inferential step, so when you get around to actually addressing what I said, I’ll be all ears. You, on the other hand, pull verses out of context and deliberately twist them to conform to your presupposed template. To you, the Bible cannot teach anything contrary to what you want to believe so you have to find a way to massage it to make it fit your preferences.
Actually, it’s quite easy to “decipher.” It’s only difficult when you’re trying to avoid what it actually says.
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June 10, 2021 at 10:44 am
Naz ………. im not concerned with this verse because it’s not a salvation issue. but the context to me clearly is about “preachers of the gospel.” the “works” are about what you preach/how you do it —- is it in God’s will or are you doing it for personal gain. so as long as you are not teaching something that goes against a salvation issue —- like the false gospel of works righteousness, a false Christ like the Catholics teach …… there’s no problem you’ll be saved because you were OS but not rewarded for those works (ie. get your crown). and although it would apply to all Christians …. killing a preacher doing God’s will w/o repentance before death dams you. as recently stated analogies can be problematic but it’s like having the death penalty for cop killers.
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