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Building with the Corinthians: Human Persons as the Building Materials of 1 Corinthians 3.12 and the ‘Work’ of 3.13-15*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2012

Alexander N. Kirk
Alexander N. Kirk*
Affiliation:
Keble College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PG, England. email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The consensus interpretation of 1 Corinthians 3.12–15 assumes that the building materials of 3.12 and the ‘work’ of 3.13–15 refer to the activity of the builders, usually understood as their preaching, teaching, or evangelism. This interpretation, however, leads to severe theological problems in 3.15. An alternative reading, suggested by Adolf Schlatter but largely ignored since, views the building materials and ‘work’ as human persons. This article bolsters Schlatter's reading with contextual, linguistic, theological, and patristic support. Four potential objections to this reading are then met.

Keywords

1 Corinthians 3.10–15Paul's eschatologyjudgment dayfirebuilding metaphorheavenly reward
Type
Articles
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 549 - 570
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

I would like to acknowledge and thank Markus Bockmuehl, Roy Ciampa, and Scott Hafemann for reading earlier versions of this article and offering very helpful critique.

References

1 Bauer, Greek–English Lexicon, 390, 391; cf. Georg Bertram, ‘ἔργον’, TDNT 2.635–6.

2 As translated by the Revised Standard Version. All translations are my own unless otherwise noted.

3 Fitzmyer, Joseph A., First Corinthians (AB 32; New Haven: Yale University, 2008) 200, 201Google Scholar.

4 Cf. Fitzmyer, First Corinthians, 193.

5 Note 1 Cor 4.2 in particular: ‘it is required of estate managers that they be found faithful [at the judgment]’. Does the standard interpretation of 1 Cor 3.15 imply that Apollos need not be found faithful as a builder in order to be saved but must be found faithful as an estate manager?

6 Kent L. Yinger has offered a robust demonstration that a holistic or unitary view of human works characterized not only Paul but also the OT and the literature of Second Temple Judaism (Paul, Judaism, and Judgment according to Deeds [SNTSMS 105; Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1999])Google Scholar. As he says, ‘One's works of obedience are not viewed as merits, each to be recompensed in atomistic fashion, but instead are the observable manifestations of the covenant loyalty of the unseen heart. One's deeds are thus viewed as a unity, the way upon which one is going’ (62; italics removed). Human works are viewed ‘not so much as individual achievements or merits, but as together giving unified and visible expression to the unseen character of the person. The good person does good works, the evil person evil works’ (159).

7 Kuck, David W., Judgment and Community Conflict: Paul's Use of Apocalyptic Judgment Language in 1 Corinthians 3:5–4:5 (NovTSup 66; Leiden: Brill, 1992) 178Google Scholar; italics added.

8 Donfried, Karl Paul, ‘Justification and Last Judgment in Paul’, Int 30 (1976) 149Google Scholar; italics added.

9 Fee, Gordon F., The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987) 140Google Scholar.

10 Fee, First Corinthians, 142, 143.

11 Calvin, John, The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996) 75Google Scholar. Soards, Marion L. claims that ‘these materials [wood, hay, and straw] are the perishable stuff of human wisdom that finds the gospel foolish’ (1 Corinthians [NIBCNT 7; Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999] 73)Google Scholar. Yet those who find the gospel foolish are, according to 1 Cor 1.18, not saved but perishing!

12 Winter, Bruce W., Philo and Paul among the Sophists: Alexandrian and Corinthian Responses to a Julio-Claudian Movement (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2d ed. 2002) 237Google Scholar.

13 This reading is also adopted by Robert Gromacki in a commentary written for a more popular audience (Called to Be Saints: An Exposition of I Corinthians [The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 1977, repr. 2003] 48–9)Google Scholar. The only commentator I found who mentions Gromacki's work is Gordon Fee.

14 Schlatter, Adolf, Paulus der Bote Jesu: eine Deutung seiner Briefe an die Korinther (Stuttgart: Calwer, 1934) 133Google Scholar.

15 Schlatter, Paulus der Bote Jesu, 134.

16 Conzelmann, Hans, 1 Corinthians (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975) 76Google Scholar. Likewise, Jay Shanor notes the possibility of this interpretation before summarily dismissing it: ‘The building materials must certainly be of a doctrinal rather than of a personal nature, i.e., referring not to the spiritual quality of individuals constituting the superstructure, but to the quality of the instruction used by the spiritual labourers in their construction’ (‘Paul as Master Builder: Construction Terms in First Corinthians’, NTS 34 [1988] 467)Google Scholar.

17 Fee, First Corinthians, 140 n. 28.

18 Rosscup, James E., ‘A New Look at 1 Corinthians 3:12—“Gold, Silver, Precious Stones”’, MSJ 1 (1990) 33–51Google Scholar.

19 Rosscup, ‘1 Corinthians 3:12’, 41–2.

20 Yinger, Judgment according to Deeds, 217 n. 50.

21 Wolff, Christian, Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther (THKNT 7; Berlin: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1996) 72Google Scholar.

22 Schrage, Wolfgang, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (1 Kor 1,6–6,11) (EKKNT 7/1; Zürich/Braunschweig: Benziger/Neukirchen–Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1991) 299 n. 131Google Scholar.

23 C. K. Barrett renders 1 Cor 3.6a as ‘Thus, I planted, Apollos watered the plants’ but then comments, ‘the plants is not in the Greek, and must not be taken as an allegorical reference to converts’ (The First Epistle to the Corinthians [BNTC; London: Adam & Charles Black, 2d ed. 1971] 85)Google Scholar. While the reference to the Corinthians in these verses might not be ‘allegorical’, it is certainly implied that they are the objects of Paul's planting, Apollos's watering, and God's growing.

24 Ciampa, Roy E. and Rosner, Brian S., The First Letter to the Corinthians (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010) 150Google Scholar. Cf. Schrage: ‘Nicht der einzelne ist ein Bau und Objekt von Erbauung, sondern die Gemeinde, in die die einzelnen eingebaut werden (vgl. auch 1Petr 2,5)’ (Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 295); Smit: ‘Paul successively compares the local church with a field, a building and a temple’ (‘“What Is Apollos? What Is Paul?” In Search for the Coherence of First Corinthians 1:10–4:21’, NovT 44 [2002] 238); and Barrett, commenting on 1 Cor 3.9: ‘[The Corinthians are] the building which God, through his servants, is erecting… Paul goes on to describe the Corinthian church as a structure’ (First Corinthians, 86).

25 Ciampa and Rosner, First Corinthians, 154.

26 Contra Wolff, Der erste Brief des Paulus an die Korinther, 71.

27 Ciampa and Rosner, First Corinthians, 155. Cf. Lindemann, Andreas, Der Erste Korintherbrief (HNT 9/1; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000) 87Google Scholar.

28 Cf. Thiselton, Anthony C.: ‘Once the main point has been made, the metaphor cannot be pressed to imply that Paul did not follow up his evangelism (indeed, he remained in Corinth as pastor and evangelist for some eighteen months). Equally, it does not imply that Apollos never evangelized, especially since 3:5 explicitly states that people came to faith through both of their ministries’ (The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text [NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000] 302)Google Scholar. See also Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 73 n. 44. Hollander, Contra Harm W., ‘The Testing by Fire of the Builders' Works: 1 Corinthians 3.10–15’, NTS 40 (1994) 92CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

29 Cf. 1 Cor 9.1. In 1 Cor 3.10 Paul declares that someone else is presently building upon the foundation (ἐποικοδομεῖ); this need not imply that Paul never did. That Paul did not simply lay the foundation and walk away is also indicated by the phrase σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων, which refers to a role of oversight and responsibility for the entire project. See Shanor, ‘Paul as Master Builder’, 465–6; Williams, H. H. Drake III, The Wisdom of the Wise: The Presence and Function of Scripture within 1 Cor. 1:18–3:23 (AGJU 49; Leiden: Brill, 2001) 292–3Google Scholar; and Arzt-Grabner, Peter et al. : ‘Ein ἀρχιτέκτων ist also in einern viel umfassenderen Sinn für einen Bau zuständig, als dies ein modernes Verständnis von “Architekt” zum Ausdruck bringt. Eine Übertragung mit “Bauleiter” o. ä. ist deshalb vorzuziehen. Der Zuständigkeitsbereich, den Paulus damit für sich beansprucht, ist so ein sehr weiter und ein für den Weiterbau der Gemeinde um vieles bedeutenderer’ (1. Korinther [PKNT 2; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006] 148)Google Scholar.

30 One indication of this is that gold, silver, and precious stones were used in the construction of the temple (see, e.g., 1 Chr 29.2). See de Lacey, D. R., ‘οἱτινές ἐστε ὑμεῖς: The Function of a Metaphor in St Paul’, Templum Amicitiae: Essays on the Second Temple Presented to Ernst Bammel (ed. Horbury, William; JSNTSup 48; Sheffield: JSOT, 1991) 402–5Google Scholar; Böttrich, Christfried, ‘“Ihr seid der Tempel Gottes”: Tempelmetaphorik und Gemeinde bei Paulus’, Gemeinde ohne Tempel: Zur Substituierung und Transformation des Jerusalemer Tempels und seines Kults im Alten Testament, antiken Judentum und frühen Christentum (ed. Ego, Beate et al. ; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1999) 415–16Google Scholar; and especially Ciampa and Rosner, First Corinthians, 150-1; contra Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 77; Hollander, ‘Testing by Fire’, 93 n. 19; and Becker, Jürgen, ‘Die Gemeinde als Tempel Gottes und die Tora’, Das Gesetz im frühen Judentum und im Neuen Testament: Festschrift für Christoph Burchard zum 75. Geburtstag (ed. Sänger, Dieter and Konradt, Matthias; NTOA/SUNT 57; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006) 9–10Google Scholar. Ciampa and Rosner, building on the work of Beale, G. K. (The Temple and the Church's Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God [NSBT 17; Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2004])Google Scholar, suggest that ‘in 1 Corinthians 3:5–18 Paul is comparing the Corinthians not just to any cultivated field and temple, but to nothing less than Solomon's garden temple’ (First Corinthians, 151).

31 Cf. Williams, The Wisdom of the Wise, 239. Qumran literature also seizes upon this imagery. See 1QS 8.5, where the community council will be an ‘everlasting planting’ (למטעת עולם) and ‘holy house’ (בית קודש). Note also that human persons are the objects of the verbs ἐποικοδομέω and οἰκοδομέω in 1 Cor 14.4, 17; 1 Thess 5.11; Eph 2.20; 1 Pet 2.5; and Jude 1.20.

32 Rom 14.20 and its expression ‘the work of God’ (τὸ ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ) might also be relevant here because in context it refers to Roman Christians and presents the possibility that such work may be destroyed (cf. 1 Cor 3.17). Another parallel of lesser import is the cryptic statement of 1 Cor 11.19 which reads, ‘For it is indeed necessary for there to be factions among you in order that the tested ones (οἱ δόκιμοι) might become manifest (φανεροί) among you’. This verse has puzzled interpreters, who have speculated that Paul may be speaking ironically or repeating the view of certain Corinthians. Regardless of the precise meaning, what is pertinent for our purposes is that 1 Cor 3.13 employs similar language: φανερός and the verb δοκιμάζω. If 1 Cor 11.19 and 3.13 move within the same conceptual orbit, then it may be significant that 1 Cor 11.19 refers to the testing and manifestation of human persons (cf. 2 Cor 5.10).

33 See the discussion of this notion in Schlatter, Paulus der Bote Jesu, 135–6.

34 David E. Garland notices many of these parallels and relates them to 1 Cor 3.14–15 (1 Corinthians [BECNT; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003] 118–19)Google Scholar. He does not diverge, however, from the standard interpretation of 1 Cor 3.10–15. Cf. Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 74 n. 51.

35 Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians, 75.

36 Thiselton, First Corinthians, 312.

37 Theissen, Gerd, Psychological Aspects of Pauline Theology (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1987) 66Google Scholar.

38 Thiselton, First Corinthians, 319, 341; Ciampa and Rosner, First Corinthians, 154–6.

39 Cf. Fee, First Corinthians, 686–7.

40 Thiselton, First Corinthians, 312.

41 Patrologia latina 38:1475–77, as cited in Kovacs, Judith L., ed., 1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators (The Church's Bible; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005) 57–8Google Scholar.

42 Patrologia latina 30:725c–726a, as cited in Bray, Gerald, ed., 1–2 Corinthians (ACCSNT 7; Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999) 33Google Scholar.

43 Patrologia graeca 82:250, as cited in Bray, 1–2 Corinthians, 34.

44 Patrologia graeca 61:75–80, as cited in Kovacs, 1 Corinthians, 60.

45 Cf. Schrage, Der erste Brief an die Korinther, 298.

46 See, for example, Ker, Donald, ‘Paul and Apollos—Colleagues or Rivals?’, JSNT 22 (2000) 89Google Scholar; Smit, ‘What Is Apollos? What Is Paul?’, 242; and Welborn, L. L., Paul, the Fool of Christ: A Study of 1 Corinthians 1–4 in the Comic-Philosophic Tradition (ECC/JSNTSup 293; London: T. & T. Clark, 2005) 105–8Google Scholar. Thus, I do not read this warning as directed toward Peter (contra J. P. M. Sweet, ‘A House Not Made with Hands’, Templum Amicitiae [ed. Horbury] 373) or toward all believers (contra, e.g., Blomberg, Craig, 1 Corinthians [NIVAS; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994] 79Google Scholar; Collins, Raymond, First Corinthians [SP 7; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1999] 151Google Scholar; and Garland, 1 Corinthians, 115).

47 The Corinthians' sophistic and ‘secular’ conception of their Christian leaders has been ably elucidated by Winter, Philo and Paul, and Clarke, Andrew D., Secular and Christian Leadership in Corinth: A Socio-Historical and Exegetical Study of 1 Corinthians 1–6 (PBS; Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster, 2d ed. 2006)Google Scholar.

48 See Ker, ‘Paul and Apollos’, 83; Winter, Philo and Paul, 165.

49 Horsley, Contra Richard A., 1 Corinthians (ANTC; Nashville: Abingdon, 1998) 65Google Scholar.

50 E.g., Ciampa and Rosner, First Corinthians, 157.

51 For example, Thiselton, First Corinthians, 315 cites Fee, First Corinthians, 144 in a footnote, who in turn cites Weiss, Johannes, Der erste Korintherbrief (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1910) 83 n. 1Google Scholar in a footnote. In this chain only Weiss produces any references to primary literature.

52 Cf. Lindemann, Der Erste Korintherbrief, 87.

53 Cf. Bauckham, Richard J., Jude, 2 Peter (WBC 50; Waco, TX: Word, 1983) 114–5Google Scholar.

54 Thus it is my understanding that all builders will be saved ‘through the fire’, assuming that they are found faithful themselves (4.2). The transition from the builder's work (1 Cor 3.5–15) to the builder himself (4.1–5) is somewhat mirrored in 1 Cor 9 in which Paul discusses his work (9.19–23) and then his own salvation (9.24–27). Note that Schlatter reads 1 Cor 3.15b as a proverbial expression connoting the attainment of salvation with ‘danger and fear’ (Paulus der Bote Jesu, 136), so my particular understanding of this phrase may not be essential to my argument as a whole.

55 Cf. Hollander: ‘Fire was not only mentioned as a means of punishment but was also introduced as an instrument of testing men: all will have to go “through the fire”, the righteous will remain unhurt, sinners will be burned’ (‘Testing by Fire’, 101). In support of this motif Hollander cites Sib. Or. 2.252–55; Vis. Ezra 3–10; T. Isaac 5.21–25; and Lactantius Inst. Div. 7.21 (101–2). A footnote (102 n. 44) refers the reader to Sib. Or. 8.411 and Apoc. Pet. 6. 4Q511 frg. 35 seems to connect the fiery judgment of God and the salvation of the righteous, who are called God's sanctuary. Cf. also Williams, who, in summarizing his survey of Qumran texts, Sirach, Wisdom, 1 Enoch, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, 2 Baruch, Testament of Abraham, 2 Enoch, Revelation, and 1 Peter, writes, ‘The unrighteous are often consumed… The righteous will not be destroyed by fire’ (The Wisdom of the Wise, 291).

56 Cf. Fishburne, Charles W., ‘1 Corinthians 3.10–15 and the Testament of Abraham’, NTS 17 (1970) 109CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 Hays, Richard B., First Corinthians (IBC; Louisville: John Knox, 1997) 55Google Scholar; cf. Hollander, ‘Testing by Fire’, 103; Garland, 1 Corinthians, 118.

58 I am not convinced by Ronald Herms's argument that ‘the vision of a third group of “others” who may potentially “be saved, but without honor” in 1 En. 50 bears symbolic and rhetorical similarities with the eschatological metaphor of the testing of Christian leaders’ works in 1 Cor. 3” (‘“Being Saved with Honor”: A Conceptual Link between 1 Corinthians 3 and 1 Enoch 50?’, JSNT 29 [2006] 208). Like many others Herms simply assumes that ἔργον in 1 Cor 3 can be defined as ‘the actions and behavior of church leaders with respect to the spiritual construction of the Christian community’ (207).

59 Yinger, Judgment according to Deeds, 224; italics added.

60 Yinger, Judgment according to Deeds, 220.

61 Winter, Philo and Paul, 127.

62 Winter, Philo and Paul, 126–7.

63 Winter, Philo and Paul, 141.

64 Cf. Clarke: ‘In the world of secular leadership, the testing of a man's success in the political world was carried out by the assessment of the public. If he had a clear following and support, he was then recognised as a successful leading figure in the secular ἐκκλησία of Corinth. Paul points out, however, that it is not the judgment of men which will see the establishment of the Christian leader. It will rather be God's testing by fire’ (Leadership in Corinth, 121). In other words, it is not the present number but the final quality of his disciples that brings a Christian teacher glory.

65 Schlatter, Paulus der Bote Jesu, 135.