1 Corinthians 3:11–15

There is no other way to the Father than through the salvation He gifts to believers in Jesus Christ. Without Him we are without hope!

Rest in the salvation that God provided for us!

Millions of Americans have trouble sleeping, and you may be one of them. Only one other living creature has as much trouble resting as we do. They are woolly, simple-minded, and slow – sheep! Sheep can’t sleep.

For sheep to sleep, everything must be just right. No predators, no tension in the flock. Everything just so. Sheep need help. They need a shepherd to “lead them”and help them “lie down in green pastures.” Without a shepherd, they cannot rest.

Without a shepherd, neither can we. Psalm 23:2 says, “He, (speaking of the Shepherd) makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters.” Note he makes me, he leads me. Who’s the active one? Who’s in charge? The Shepherd is. Max Lucado

1 Corinthians 3:11–15

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. The New King James Version

The six items listed here collectively represent building materials that are compatible with the foundation of the building—Jesus Christ. The old testament lists gold, silver, and precious stones as building materials of the temple. 

Fire symbolizes testing and judgment. This judgment does not refer to a person’s salvation, but to the quality of work done by those who labor on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Fire consumes combustible and worthless materials such as wood, grass, and straw. Though “fire” may purify or refine the quality of something, in this context it tests and exposes the quality of the builder’s materials. 

A builder only received payment upon the completion of a project. Although Paul does not specify the reward here, it may include greater responsibility, praise from God, and the satisfaction of having one’s work endure testing by fire. He will suffer lose implies that the builders (leaders or teachers) will not receive payment because their work was consumed. These builders didn’t use sound instruction. Instead, they used their own wisdom, which resulted in the weakening of believers rather than their strengthening and growth. While these teachers will survive “as through fire”, the superstructure they built—their teaching in the Corinthian church—will not. The nature of this fire is evaluative, not punitive. Faithlife Study Bible

Paul had established the church at Corinth on the foundation of Christ. These building materials refer to the quality of work done by the Corinthians, and possibly also to their motivations or the kinds of doctrines they taught. 

The Day speaks of the time when Christ will judge the merits of His servants’ work, not whether they receive forgiveness of sin. Likewise, fire does not refer to the “eternal fire” of damnation but to the evaluation of believers’ works. Fire proves the quality of gold, but it consumes wood, hay, and stubble. Some “good work” is actually self-centered aggrandizement. The true value of such “service” will become obvious to all in the day of God’s judgment . The NKJV Study Bible 

The apostle was a wise master-builder; but the grace of God made him such. Spiritual pride is abominable; it is using the greatest favours of God, to feed our own vanity, and make idols of ourselves. But let every man take heed; there may be bad building on a good foundation. Nothing must be laid upon it, but what the foundation will bear, and what is of a piece with it. Let us not dare to join a merely human or a carnal life with a Divine faith, the corruption of sin with the profession of Christianity. 

Christ is a firm, abiding, and immovable Rock of ages, every way able to bear all the weight that God himself or the sinner can lay upon him; neither is there salvation in any other. Leave out the doctrine of his atonement, and there is no foundation for our hopes. 

But of those who rest on this foundation, there are two sorts. Some hold nothing but the truth as it is in Jesus, and preach nothing else. Others build on the good foundation what will not abide the test, when the day of trail comes. We may be mistaken in ourselves and others; but there is a day coming that will show our actions in the true light, without covering or disguise. Those who spread true and pure religion in all its branches, and whose work will abide in the great day, shall receive a reward. And how great! how much exceeding their deserts! There are others, whose corrupt opinions and doctrines, or vain inventions and usages in the worship of God, shall be made known, disowned, and rejected, in that day. This is plainly meant of a figurative fire, not of a real one; for what real fire can consume religious rites or doctrines? And it is to try every man’s works, those of Paul and Apollos, as well as others. Let us consider the tendency of our undertakings, compare them with God’s word, and judge ourselves, that we be not judged of the Lord. Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Isaiah 28:16 

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation,

A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;

Whoever believes will not act hastily.

1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.

1 Peter 1:7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,