Vs. 16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you.” These well known passage was written for a reason and as we look at the context of this chapter, we see why. The Corinthian Christians had forgotten a foundational truth. The church is God’s temple & each of us are part of God’s temple. When we choose to create divisions by putting one on a pedestal and another we scoff at…when we judge & fight other Christians on who is right…we are destroying the very temple of God. They were still immature in their thinking…and didn’t realize that each person has his/her own gifts they bring to the church. Paul also compares & contrasts the different builders/workers in the church in the last part of the passage (Vs. 10-23).
Regarding application…Wise Builders. Vs. 15, “If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” This is one of those easily misunderstood passages. Remember the context: Paul is comparing the different church builders/leaders. There is the wise builder from Vs. 14, and then the builder who destroys in Vs. 17…and then we come to the builder who is worldy from vs. 15. There were three types of leaders/builders emerging in Corinth. And likewise, there were three types of followers who were following these three types of builders (pastors & teachers). Vs. 15 is speaking of the kind of builder that uses materials that cannot stand the test. This is the pastor who is in a hurry to build a crowd, but does not take time to build a church. The materials come from the world. These workers do not test people’s confession by the Word to see if they are truly born again; they merely take them into the church and rejoice in bigger statistics. When this ministry is tested in eternity, it will burn up. The worker will be saved, but there will be no reward. Question: Does that make sense? To expound a bit…this happens more often than we realize even today. It goes to show you that just because a church professes Christ…doesn’t mean it is a good place to go. That is why I cannot stress enough over and over again to KNOW GOD’S WORD! Then you will be able to discern not only what kind of church is truly building on Christ…but also when you serve the Lord…that you would be a builder who builds from His living Word!
