NOTES for Co1 3:11

¹¹For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Anyone familiar with the Gospel knows the parable of Jesus about the corner stone, with which He compares Himself, by implying by house this messianic Kingdom, which He brought to the world. And Paul speaks about Christ, as about the corner stone, on which was founded the Church. As we see, such a reminder was convenient in all the times, without excluding also the early Christian era. One could think that for every Christian this truth must be completely obvious. But all the same already in the time of Paul everything was not also simple. But why so? Maybe, because of this religiosity, which then penetrated into the life if not of the whole Church, then at least of its Jewish component? But it is not indeed even about religion and not of religiosity, but about certain disputes and conflicts in the Corinthian church, perhaps threatening its very existence.

Of course, there would have been a lot of Hebrew in the Corinthian church (the Jewish community of Corinth was one of the biggest in the Roman Empire), and the relations of the Jews, as is known, with the recent heathen were not so simple in the communities of church. However one can think that the tendency to disputes and the quarrels manifested, independently of its origin. It is difficult to say exactly which kind were these disputes and quarrels; it is only clear that the community of church divided into a certain kind of theological parties, which claimed if not for the exclusivity, then at least, for the priority. Here is, in these conditions the apostle reminds of this only foundation of the Church, which one should not look for replacement. And the problem here is not simply in the fact that to dispute for priorities moreover, Who is the real head of the Church, is at least ridiculous.

The problem is again in the fact that, what is the Church, on what depends its life. Disputes about superiority, about priorities, even on the orthodoxy of certain opinions usually begin when the disputers, at the height of their disputes forget about their Head and begin to think that the fate of the Church really depends on the outcome of their discussion, sometimes very violent. Perhaps, in certain cases such would have been the case, if the Church was an ordinary religious organization, the fate of which is defined by its leaders and recognized authorities. And it is the problem here, the fact is that the Church is not an religious organization, but the body of Christ.

And only its Head can define its fate. And the leaders and the authorities can determine, in most, only the fate of certain structures and institutes "of church", and more exactly the fringes of the church. And the apostle calls his coreligionists not to forget it. And to not transform the body of Christ into club of debates, in which each claims to the supremacy, having forgotten the real Head.

Other notes

For Co1 3:10-23

¹⁰According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

¹¹For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

¹²Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

¹³Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

¹⁴If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

¹⁵If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

¹⁶Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

¹⁷If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

¹⁸Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

²⁰And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

²¹Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;

²²Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

²³And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

Continuing the conversation about priorities, Paul notes another very important point... Read more

Continuing the conversation about priorities, Paul notes another very important point for understanding what life in the Kingdom is. He tells the Corinthian Christians: you have nothing to argue about; the whole world belongs to each of you. All are yours, everyone you meet on the spiritual path, and life and death, and the present and the future. But on one indispensable condition: you are Christ's. For Christ is God's, the apostle tells the Corinthians, and if you are Christ's, then you too are God's; and then everything that is God's is yours as well (vv. 21-23). Yet it is possible to live this way only when the one living becomes a bearer of the Kingdom. The apostle expresses this thought by reminding his readers that they themselves are that temple of God where God dwells, just as before the coming of Christ He dwelt only in those places which He Himself marked as places of His special presence, such as the Jerusalem Temple (vv. 16-17).

But the Kingdom, all of it, wholly and completely, becomes the place of God's special presence, and Christians become its living bearers. And the chief task both of the individual Christian and of the church community as a whole is precisely the preservation of the Kingdom, which is possible only if the system of priorities of neither the individual nor the community is distorted. It is no accident that Paul pays special attention to the inadmissibility for Christians of replacing the wisdom of the Kingdom with the wisdom of "this age" (vv. 18-19): for wisdom in those days was, first of all, the art of righteous living; in a certain sense it was a synonym for such a concept as spirituality. Thus in this case the apostle is essentially warning against replacing the spirituality of the Kingdom with the spirituality of this world. And on this in turn depends the quality of the ministry that each Christian carries out.

It is no accident that Paul speaks of the foundation on which one or another follower of Christ builds his work (vv. 11-15). The apostle understands perfectly well that for true servants of Christ and the Kingdom there can be only one foundation, common to all. And the quality of the building depends on what material the builder has at his disposal. Here the measure of rootedness in the Kingdom proves decisive: allegorically, the apostle distinguishes materials from diamond to straw. Of course, not one of those who share in the Kingdom will perish, but the quality of spiritual life and, accordingly, of ministry still matters. One can be saved by jumping out of one's ministry as out of a burning house, but such a version of salvation and such a ministry can hardly be called normal by anyone. And Paul calls precisely for full life in the Kingdom and true ministry, not for mere vegetation, whose consequence is collapse, ending without the final destruction of the unfortunate servant only by the mercy of God.