Sermon Notes

3 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Let each builder choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If the work that someone has built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a wage. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 So let no one boast about people. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, NRSVue)
24 10-15 Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely. 16-17 You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple. 18-20 Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being relevant. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture; He exposes the hype of the hipsters. The Master sees through the smoke screens of the know-it-alls. 21-23 I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God. (The Message, MSG)

In Paul’s time, Corinth was a commercial, military, and religious hub for the Roman province of Achaia in southwestern Greece. It was originally founded as a Greek city. However, the Romans destroyed it in146 BCE and reestablished the city as a Roman colony in 44 BCE, repopulating it with people from other geographical areas of the Roman empire. As the administrative seat of Achaia, Corinth enjoyed “colony status,” a designation that ensured a preferential relationship with the Roman Empire where all Roman laws were in effect.
Because it was located near the Isthmus of Corinth—a narrow land bar that connected the Peloponnesian peninsula to mainland Greece—the city functioned as a strategic crossroads for Roman military defense, commercial trade, and diverse religious worship. Archaeological evidence reveals that Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Christian, and numerous other religious traditions, maintained houses of worship. There were at least twenty temples, shrines, and altars within the city. Among its temples were those dedicated to the goddess of love (Aphrodite) and the god of healing (Asclepius) where worshippers could enjoy a common meal after offering sacrifices. Reportedly, there was even a temple “for all gods.” Not one area of Corinth was untouched by religious devotion, at every public event, athletic game, and civic function began with offerings to the gods.
Because of this religious diversity, Corinth enjoyed vigorous theological and philosophical debate between various religious traditions and their worship practices. However, these differences in theology, ideology, and liturgy caused confusion within the Corinthian church (ekklesia), which Paul founded some time before the writing of this letter in 54 CE. The term ekklesia literally means “the called out group or assembly,” coming from the Greek verb kaleo, which means “to call.” Although the Corinthians were “called out” of their former lives, they were still continually unsure about what they should believe, how they should behave, and whom they should look to for pastoral guidance. Further, because many members were spiritually immature—Paul calls them “fleshly infants” and “babes on the breast,”—they continuously fell prey to a “clique” mentality, choosing to align themselves with various competing camps in the church instead of honoring their shared allegiance to Jesus Christ.
In this week’s lesson, Paul addresses the Corinthians’ spiritual immaturity which has caused harmful divisions in the church and weakened the fabric of their Christian community. By failing to embrace their core identity as unified believers who had been changed by Jesus of Nazareth, the Corinthians would forever be plagued by costly divisions and a lack of God’s presence and infilling. As Paul reminds the Corinthians’ that they are collectively the temple of God, he seeks to nurture them from immaturity to maturity, redirecting them to Jesus Christ—the lovingly-sacrificial, Roman-crucified, God-resurrected foundation upon which to build a loving (agape), Spirit-filled, and unified ekklesia in Corinth. The lesson can be divided into three parts, verses 10-15; 16-17; and 19-23.

10-15 Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
In the opening verse (10) of the printed lesson text, Paul asserts himself as the founder of the Church in Corinth. However, he also credits to Apollos as his fellow God-servant (“diakonos” in Greek) who built upon his work as the initial architect and Master builder. Employing both agrarian and building metaphors, Paul ultimately gives God the glory for bringing about growth within the Corinthian church. As he states in verses 5-9, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor. For we are God’s coworkers, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building,” (NRSVue). In Acts 18:24 – 19:1, Luke provides the timeline that Paul went to Corinth first, founding the church and he was followed by Apollos. Other coworkers (sunergos in Greek) like Priscilla, also assisted with “watering” the ground that Paul planted. Essentially, Paul is laying out the different functions for those whom God calls into the vineyard as apostles and ministers. Some plant, some water, but all are called to tend the garden.
In verses 11-15, Paul teaches that Christ is the singular foundation upon which the ekklesia is built. Paul then switches to eschatological language to warn about all the others will also come to build upon the foundation that Jesus initially laid. These other builders, however, should ensure they are employing the proper material, proper tools and proper methods to build. Because the Chief Architect and Builder—God—will come to inspect whether the work of building upon the Jesus foundation was carried out to specification. If the work on the Corinthian building passes its inspections—because a builder used gold, silver, precious stones, solid wood, etc.,—then it will stand.
However, if the Corinthian building was erected with deficient or shoddy materials, deficient or shoddy workmanship, and deficient or shoddy methods, and it will not pass the “trial by apocalyptic fire” inspection. It will be destroyed, razed to the ground, and the builder will have to start from scratch. Paul then says, the builder themself won’t be torn down, they will just barely make it out of the destruction by the skin of their teeth. However, all their work will have been for naught, as they will be forced to start all over again.
As 21st Century Christians reflect on this letter as 1st Century Corinthian Christians did, we must understand that as Paul makes this argument, another issue emerges leading to the question, If our work is consumed “in the fire,” will we have time to erect another building? Eschatologically speaking, these are the end times, when the Chief Architect and Builder is inspecting and evaluating the work. There might not be time to build anything else if we do not build on the firm foundation that is Jesus Christ. Recall that this is intentional occasional pastoral theology. Paul wants to make sure the Corinthians understood what he was saying about their current situation: they need to get their “stuff” in order, because God is watching.
What is applicable to the Corinthian Church is also instructive for the 21st Century Church. While Church folk are playing with divisions and competing camps in the Church—spending all their time on foolishness—if their work is destroyed, they may not have time or an opportunity to construct anything else. Their Christian living, will then have been in vain. That’s why the old hymn says, “keep your lamp trimmed and burning, the time is drawing nigh.”
16-17 You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.
In verses 16 and 17, Paul moves from employing a metaphor about the apocalyptic “fire of judgement” during the end-times to explain the work of the Corinthian Church, to employing a metaphor of a temple to explain the nature of the Corinthian Church. The “you” of this verse is a second person plural, which grammatically means “you all.” While this verse is typically interpreted to mean a singular you, the original Greek makes it clear that the unified Corinthian faith community is a unified collective temple of God. Paul says the Corinthian Church together is God’s temple—meaning they are collectively holding the Spirit of God. They are collectively enjoying the presence of God. Without unity, they can’t be the Church in which God’s presence resides. The divisions that are within them—this camp versus that camp, this ministry verses that ministry, I’m Paul versus I’m Apollos—is preventing them from being the temple of God; the place where God’s Spirit resides, delivers, and empowers. Further, anyone that tears down the unified church—which is the temple of God—will be destroyed by God.
Please do not miss what Paul is teaching. If a Christian’s work (the building) is deficient, it will be burned up by the fire. However, the Christian (who is the builder) will survive. Because of Divine Grace, God will allow them to escape destruction. However, if a Christian tears down the Church, which is God’s temple, God will not let that stand. According to Paul, that person will be destroyed because they have violated the sacral unified nature of the Church. This serves as a reminder that Christians are called to be together as one unified body of Christ. It is not possible to be a Church of one. The life of a Christian is always lived out within sacred community. As the song says, “I need you, you need me, we’re all a part of God’s body. Stand with me, agree with me. We’re all a part of God’s body…you are important to me. I need you to survive!”
18-20 Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being relevant. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture, He exposes the hype of the hipsters. The Master sees through the smoke screens of the know-it-alls. 21-23 I don’t want to hear any of you bragging about yourself or anyone else. Everything is already yours as a gift—Paul, Apollos, Peter, the world, life, death, the present, the future—all of it is yours, and you are privileged to be in union with Christ, who is in union with God.
In the final verses of the lesson text, Paul returns to a discussion of wisdom and its counterpart foolishness, intimating that the Corinthians “wisdom” is of the world because they are embroiled in division, camps, and celebrity. As the Corinthians are more concerned with loyalty to certain leaders over fidelity to Jesus, they embrace the world’s foolish pursuit of status. Paul then invokes Hebrew scriptures to warn the Corinthian Church that while worldly wisdom leads to self-deceit, Divine wisdom leads to honor. In the only direct citation of the book of Job in the New Testament, Paul utilizes Job 5:12-13 to highlight the hubris of worldly wisdom,
8 As for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause.
9 He does great things and unsearchable,
marvelous things without number.
10 He gives rain on the earth
and sends waters on the fields;
11 he sets on high those who are lowly,
and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime
and grope at noonday as in the night. (NRSVue)
Paul also lifts up similar hubris in Psalm 94:8-11,
8 Understand, O dullest of the people;
fools, when will you be wise?
9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see?
10 He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
does he not chastise?
11 The Lord knows our thoughts,
that they are but an empty breath. (NRSVue)

Both Job 5:12-13 and Psalm 94:11 illuminate similar wisdom: God is not fooled by human pretense or airs. Warning again against boasting, Paul employs a common aphorism from the Cynics, a philosophical movement during this time, to explain how worldly wisdom is wanting. The Cynics said, “The wise are friends of the gods, and friends share what they have. The gods own all things therefore, the wise have full access to all things.” However, Paul revises their words to offer, “All things are yours, all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” Essentially, Paul is saying belonging to Christ means you belong to God, and everything that God has belongs to God’s children. Human boasting shows a lack of proper perspective because human alliances pale in comparison to being aligned with God.
Ultimately, Paul’s issue with the Corinthians is grounded in their overestimation of themselves and their reliance on human alliances which have caused costly divisions within the body of Christ. To be wise is to rely on God and recognize the gift of Christian unity.