Building Blocks
My last post talked about the building blocks mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3 and what those are based on the immediate context.
From a broader context and even some things mentioned in the comment by NJ, you might beg the question:
“But wait, isn’t Paul talking about building into the church, not individuals?”
Yes and no.
Two Paradigms
I’ve been looking at 1 Corinthians 3 through two different views.
The first idea expands from what I mentioned before about wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, and precious stones, and uses this premise to determine the rest of the context.
The second idea is based on actual people being our work, not what we put into those people. In other passages people are our work, but is this what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 3?
Looking at context will help you see where these views are coming from—and where they end up.
Understanding the Context
After talking about the differences between what he and Apollos have done, Paul picks up in verse nine to transition from an illustration of a vineyard to that of a building.
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
(1 Corinthians 3:9)
This is the first building enveloping verses 10 through 15. The second building is actually a temple found in verse 16.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
(1 Corinthians 3:16)
This middle section of chapter three is all about a building—the building of God.
Now what are these materials?
…Into Individuals
When the first view is expanded to include the context of the building, the fact that the materials (wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, precious stones) are poured into individual lives can still remain true. The work is poured into an individual’s life that is within the building of God. While the work goes specifically into someone’s life, it also is going into the building.
Here’s what it looks like:
While this is still the view I lean toward, I only have one reservation. Does this view take the passage for what it says, or is it using an assertion—the works being works into individual lives—to then interpret the rest of the passage?
Individuals into…
The second view backs out of the passage entirely to look at the bigger picture. Taking this approach shows how Paul is continually talking about the Corinthian church as a whole starting even in chapter one. When Paul begins talking about the building in chapter three verse nine, he again is referring to the church. Paul laid the foundation of the church in Corinth, and others built upon that foundation.
The materials—people.
Other places mention people as our work, why would this not be what Paul is saying here?
Here is what it looks like:
After over a week and half of looking at this passage, I do not think this is what Paul is saying.
While I understand where this approach is coming from, my initial concern with this is simply that wood, hay, and stubble burn.
Not only do they burn, these kind of materials conflagrate fires.
Someone was responsible for adding me into the building of God, but will I burn if he added me as wood instead of gold? Can I change from wood to gold? If so, the person who added in wood won’t actually suffer loss for the wood he added because now I won’t burn?
From the broad context, this view makes sense, but when carried through to the end, I don’t see this matching up with other scripture or what Paul is trying to say here.
We have all received are share of garbage from others—wood, hay, stubble—that doesn’t necessarily turn us into those materials.