Works Burned in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 According to Paul
In 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, Paul discusses the nature of Christian ministry and the evaluation of one's work before God. The passage states, "If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire" [1]. This verse concludes a section where Paul describes ministers as builders constructing upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, using various materials: gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble [1]. The "fire" is presented as a test that will reveal the quality of each builder's work [4].
The "works" that are burned refer to the superstructure built upon the foundation of Christ [4]. John Gill, a Baptist/Reformed commentator, interprets these works as the doctrines a minister preaches. If these doctrines are found to be "trifling, useless, and inconsistent," they will be "destroyed and disappear," causing the minister to "suffer loss" of his labor and expected popular applause [5]. Similarly, Adam Clarke, a Methodist/Wesleyan commentator, suggests that if a preacher has taught the necessity of incorporating the law with the Gospel, or proclaimed anything not from heaven, his time and labor will be deemed useless [3].
The "fire" itself is understood in different ways. Some interpretations, such as that found in the Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Commentary, connect it to "the day of the Lord," a great and long-expected day when the Lord will reveal the quality of each person's work "in fire" [4]. John Calvin, one theologian, argues that Paul "has no idea of any other fire than the trial of the Holy Spirit" [7]. He suggests that those who build with "wood, hay, stubble" are those who, while retaining the core articles of faith, "err in minor and less perilous matters, mingling their own fictions with the word" [7].
Augustine, a Patristic writer, interprets the "wood, hay, stubble" as representing love for worldly things, the loss of which causes grief. When these works are "burned," it signifies the pain experienced when things enjoyed with desire are lost [6]. Despite the burning of these works and the suffering of loss, the individual builder "himself shall be saved, but so as through fire" [5, 2]. This indicates that salvation is not dependent on the quality of the works, but on the foundation of Christ [1, 7]. The salvation is "as through fire," implying a difficult or narrow escape, but salvation nonetheless [1].
Sources
- 1 Corinthians “If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire. -- 1 Corinthians 3:15”
- I Corinthians “I Corinthians 3:15 (YLT) — if of any the work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; and himself shall be saved, but so as through fire.”
- 1 Corinthians (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on 1 Corinthians 3:15: If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss - If he have preached the necessity of incorporating the law with the Gospel, or proclaimed as a doctrine of God any thing which did not proceed from heaven, he shall suffer loss - all his time and labor will be found to be uselessly employed and spent. Some refer the loss to the work, not to the man; and understand the passage thus: If any man's work be burned, It shall suffer loss - much shall be taken away from it; nothing shall he left but the measure of truth and uprightness which it may have contai”
- 1 Corinthians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Corinthians 3:13: Every man's work--each teacher's superstructure on the foundation. the day--of the Lord (Co1 1:8; Heb 10:25; Th1 5:4). The article is emphatic, "The day," that is, the great day of days, the long expected day. declare it--old English for "make it clear" (Co1 4:4). it shall be revealed by fire--it, that is, "every man's work." Rather, "He," the Lord, whose day it is (Th2 1:7-8). Translate literally, "is being revealed (the present in the Greek implies the certainty and nearness of the event, Rev 22:10, Rev 22:20) in fire" (Mal 3:3; Mal 4:1)”
- 1 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Corinthians 3:15: If any man's work shall be burnt,.... If any minister's doctrine he has preached shall be destroyed and disappear, shall be disapproved of, and rejected by the churches, not being able, to bear the light and heat of the fire of God's word: he shall suffer loss; of all his labour and pains he has been at, in collecting together such trifling, useless, and inconsistent things; and of all that glory and popular applause he might expect from men, on account of them, and which was the snare that drew him into such a way of preaching: but he himself shall be save”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 68.--THE TRUE SENSE OF THE PASSAGE (I COR. III. 11-15) ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE SAVED, YET SO AS BY FIRE, (part 2): stones; the other "caring for the things that are of the 260 world, how he may please his wife,"(11) that is, building upon the same foundation wood, hay, stubble,--the work of the former is not burned, because he has not given his love to things whose loss can cause him grief; but the work of the latter is burned, because things that are enjoyed with desire cannot be lost without pain. But since, by our supposition, even the latter”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 60: It has now been proved, that Paul has no idea of any other fire than the trial of the Holy Spirit. But how are those who suffer the loss of their works saved by fire? This it will not be difficult to understand, if we consider of what kind of persons he speaks. For he designates them builders of the Church, who, retaining the proper foundation, build different materials upon it; that is, who, not abandoning the principal and necessary articles of faith, err in minor and less perilous matters, mingling their own fictions with the wo”