Who or What Is the Fire Burning?

[GodsGrace101]

Could you please tell us who or what you believe is being burned up in the following verses...

1 Corinthians 3:5-17


5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.
6I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
7So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
11For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
14If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
15If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

1. Are the above verses speaking about Paul and Apollos?
2. Do the works being burned up relate to building materials used by ministers?

My answer is Yes.

 

[joshua 1 9]

When our works are tested then the wood, hay, straw is burned. When the word of God is tested Psalm 12:6 "And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times." This is like refining metal where the impurities are removed.

 

[GodsGrace101]

When our works are tested then the wood, hay, straw is burned. When the word of God is tested Psalm 12:6 "And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times." This is like refining metal where the impurities are removed.

I used to think this too.
But is it speaking about OUR works or the works of ministers of God and HOW they build upon US,,,WE are the building, not the workers.

 

[HTacianas]

Could you please tell us who or what you believe is being burned up in the following verses...

1 Corinthians 3:5-17


5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.
6I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
7So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
11For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
14If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
15If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

1. Are the above verses speaking about Paul and Apollos?
2. Do the works being burned up relate to building materials used by ministers?

My answer is Yes.

The fire is burning the works of the individual. His salvation rests on the foundation that is Christ, and is then expected to do "works meet for repentance". Any man whose works are good are considered gold and silver that will survive the fire we will go through after death. Works that are not so good will burn away like straw but the foundation remains.

But those who destroy their own foundation will find themselves destroyed.

 

[joshua 1 9]

WE are the building, not the workers.

Then you are referring to the ministry gifts, because the gifts are not for us they are for everyone for the "building" of the Church. When Solomon built his temple there was no sound of a hammer or a chisel. All the stones had been hammered and chiseled in the quarry. It is amazing that they did not have to do a little touch up here and there to get them to fit better. This shows that God's work is a perfect or finished work in our lives. We seem so individual. None of us even think or believe the same way. Yet we are all a piece of the puzzle to be fit together and joined as one. We rub up against each other and grind each other down until we become a better fit in building up the temple of God.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galations 3:28 We are no long duel, we are singular. Earth is to become like Heaven. We are of one mind and one accord as we all have the Mind of Christ and the Divine Thoughts of God.

The gifts of the Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.…Ephesians 4:12

4 As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious in God’s sight, 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” 1Peter 2

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

 

[joshua 1 9]

Any man whose works are good are considered gold and silver that will survive the fire we will go through after death.

As the song says there is a power, here in this hour, burning in our soul. A mighty rushing wind calling for revival. Only this is not a revival like we have ever seen before. This is the manifest Glory of God and we can expect to see a level we have never seen before. "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." John 14:12

 

[GodsGrace101]

The fire is burning the works of the individual. His salvation rests on the foundation that is Christ, and is then expected to do "works meet for repentance". Any man whose works are good are considered gold and silver that will survive the fire we will go through after death. Works that are not so good will burn away like straw but the foundation remains.

But those who destroy their own foundation will find themselves destroyed.

The fire is burning the works of the individual...
but which individual?

1 corinthians 3:5 is speaking about two servants:
Paul and Apollos. These are the men whose works will be burned up...IOW, teachers, pastors, ministers of God...servants of God.

If their work is good, it will be like gold, silver and precious stones...fire does not burn these.

If their work is not as good, it will be considered as wood, hay an straw and will be burned up, but not the minister.

The work that will be burned up is their building upon a foundation. Where is that foundation? In US. In believers.
Verse 9 Paul and Apollos are God's fellow workers... WE, the believers, are God's BUILDING...

and upon this foundation the ministers of God continue to build. HOW they build will be judged at the end of time and the fire will show how good their work was.

 

[martymonster]

These are the false doctrines that are being burned out of us. Christ is the embodiment of the scriptures. If you hold doctrines that are not true, then you have what Paul calls, Another Jesus.


2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

 

[GodsGrace101]

These are the false doctrines that are being burned out of us. Christ is the embodiment of the scriptures. If you hold doctrines that are not true, then you have what Paul calls, Another Jesus.


2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

What are the false doctrines on this thread?

 

[martymonster]

What are the false doctrines on this thread?

I'd have to go back and read the entire thread, but Scripture says there are are a lot of them in the Church.

 

[miknik5]

Could you please tell us who or what you believe is being burned up in the following verses...

1 Corinthians 3:5-17


5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.
6I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.
7So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.
8Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it.
11For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.
14If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
15If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

1. Are the above verses speaking about Paul and Apollos?
2. Do the works being burned up relate to building materials used by ministers?

My answer is Yes.

I don’t agree

 

[miknik5]

It’s yeast. Manmade input added to the foundation of our faith which should be in CHRIST JESUS alone.

 

[miknik5]

Paul was very aware of progressing above the head and standing on the foundation. He is not the one who is adding to the foundation any rules or additions.

Yet he knows that he too will be judged. Just as any minister of Christ also will be


Note that these additions will be burned up but the person will be saved as one pasting through the fire

 

[miknik5]

I'd have to go back and read the entire thread, but Scripture says there are are a lot of them in the Church.

which is why preaching Christ alone and salvation in him is sufficient

Nothing else needs to be added to the story of salvation in by through Christ Jesus alone

 

[straykat]

You just stumbled on one of the subtle passages that supported early doctrines of "purgatory" (not in the Catholic sense, but in the original Orthodox sense of "purging").

There's a nice story surrounding St. Macrina who became sick, and taught her younger brother (the future St. Gregory of Nyssa) about not fearing death, about punishment, etc.. She related a person's life to a house. In that house, it could be well constructed with proper supports, without too many extraneous things (like excessive furnishings and the like). And she related death to that house crashing down on you. Or something to that effect.

Depending on what your concerns were in life, A LOT could come crashing down on you, or very little. It depended on how attached you were to an earthly life.

At death, Jesus would take someone out of this rubble, and if they had a badly built house and attached to the wrong things, it would be much more painful getting dragged out. Nails, pieces of the house, and other objects could have stabbed and immobilized you. But someone who truly built their treasures in heaven wouldn't go through any of this. The transition from this life to the next would be subtle, because in this life, it was as if they already lived in heaven.

You could use the fire metaphor as well. It's going to be painful depending on how comfortable you already were with the fire of God. For some, it will be hell.

 

[GodsGrace101]

Paul was very aware of progressing above the head and standing on the foundation. He is not the one who is adding to the foundation any rules or additions.

Yet he knows that he too will be judged. Just as any minister of Christ also will be


Note that these additions will be burned up but the person will be saved as one pasting through the fire

You have an interesting viewpoint.
1 Corinthians 3:11 does say that no man can lay a foundation other than Jesus.

So are you saying that one can ADD to that foundation christian concepts that are not correct or christian concepts which are correct?

This would be speaking to the gold, silver, and stones and the wood, hay, and straw.

It seems to me that you're saying exactly what Paul is saying but you said you do NOT agree. I'm wondering what it is I'm not understanding in your reply.

 

[GodsGrace101]

You just stumbled on one of the subtle passages that supported early doctrines of "purgatory" (not in the Catholic sense, but in the original Orthodox sense of "purging").

There's a nice story surrounding St. Macrina who became sick, and taught her younger brother (the future St. Gregory of Nyssa) about not fearing death, about punishment, etc.. She related a person's life to a house. In that house, it could be well constructed with proper supports, without too many extraneous things (like excessive furnishings and the like). And she related death to that house crashing down on you. Or something to that effect.

Depending on what your concerns were in life, A LOT could come crashing down on you, or very little. It depended on how attached you were to an earthly life.

At death, Jesus would take someone out of this rubble, and if they had a badly built house and attached to the wrong things, it would be much more painful getting dragged out. Nails, pieces of the house, and other objects could have stabbed and immobilized you. But someone who truly built their treasures in heaven wouldn't go through any of this. The transition from this life to the next would be subtle, because in this life, it was as if they already lived in heaven.

You could use the fire metaphor as well. It's going to be painful depending on how comfortable you already were with the fire of God. For some, it will be hell.

Actually, the Catholic Church DOES use 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 as a proof text for purgatory. Since it's talking about how the ministers of God teach, I've never understood how it could be used for that ... they do use it in the same sense many Protestant Christians do, but incorrectly. They use it to show that even if someone sins or lives a life of wood, hay and straw, they will go to heaven by will barely get by. I fail to understand how anyone could get this understanding from these verses.