The church, the house of God, must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones, materials produced from Christ growing in us. However, there is much possibility that we may build with wood, grass, and stubble produced by us in the flesh. Hence, each of us, including every member of the Body, must take heed how he builds, that is, with what material he builds.
In verse 11 Paul says, “For other foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.” As the Christ and the Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus Christ is the unique foundation laid by God for the building of the church (Matt. 16:16-18). No one can lay any other foundation.
Verse 12 continues, “But if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” Here we have two groups of materials. The first group includes gold, silver, and precious stones; the second group includes wood, grass, and stubble. Since the unique foundation has been laid, the question now before us concerns what kind of materials we are using to build on this foundation. What materials are you using to build the church? Are you building with gold, silver, and precious stones or with wood, grass, and stubble?
The foundation is unique, but the building may differ due to different builders with different materials. All the Corinthian believers had accepted Christ as the foundation. However, some Jewish believers among them attempted to build the church with their Judaistic attainments, and some Greek believers attempted to use their philosophical wisdom. They were not like the apostles, who built with their excellent knowledge of Christ and rich experiences of Him. The intention of Paul in this Epistle is to warn the believers at Corinth not to build the church with the things of their natural background. They must learn to build with Christ, both in objective knowledge and subjective experience.
Two sources of trouble in the church in Corinth were Greek philosophy and the Jewish religion. To build the church with the things of Greek philosophy or Jewish religion is to build with wood, grass, and stubble, not with gold, silver, and precious stones.
Gold, silver, and precious stones signify the various experiences of Christ in the virtues and attributes of the Triune God. It is with these the apostles and all spiritual believers build the church on the unique foundation of Christ. Gold may signify the nature of the Father with all its attributes, silver may signify the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His Person and work, and precious stones may signify the transforming work of the Spirit with all its attributes. All these precious materials are the products of our participation in Christ and enjoyment of Him in our spirit through the Holy Spirit. Only these materials are good for God’s building.
Paul’s thought in 3:12 is profound. Why does he mention three precious materials instead of two or four? The reason must be that the proper materials for God’s building are related to the Triune God, to the Trinity of the Godhead—the Father’s nature, the Son’s redemptive work, and the Spirit’s transforming work.
As God’s farm with planting, watering, and growing, the church should produce plants. But the proper materials for the building up of the church are gold, silver, and precious stones, all of which are minerals. Hence, the thought of transformation is implied here. We need not only to grow in life but also to be transformed in life, as revealed in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2. This corresponds to the thought in the Lord’s parables in Matthew 13 concerning wheat, the mustard seed, and meal, all of which are of the plant life, and the treasure hidden in the field, the gold, and the precious stones, all of which are minerals. (See notes 311, 333, and 441 in Matthew 13.)
We have indicated that in Paul’s word in these verses from 1 Corinthians 3 the thought of transformation is implied. First, Paul tells us that the church is God’s farm. Since a farm produces plants, how can we have the minerals necessary for God’s building? How can the plants produced on the farm become these minerals? Plants can become minerals through the process of transformation. An illustration of this process is the transforming of wood from certain trees into petrified wood. As a result of this process, wood is transformed into stone.
We need both to grow in life and to be transformed in life. Transformation is a profound matter. Transformation is both deeper and higher than growth. What a wonder that wood can be transformed into precious stone! How marvelous!
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul writes concerning the experience of transformation: “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” When we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done. In this way we are being transformed metabolically to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence.
This transformation takes place mainly by the renewing of our mind. Concerning this renewing Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” Today we are still undergoing the process of transformation to become precious stones for God’s building.
In 3:12 Paul speaks not only of gold, silver, and precious stones, but also of wood, grass, and stubble. Wood, grass, and stubble signify the knowledge, realization, and attainments that come from the believers’ natural background (such as Judaism or other religions, philosophy, and culture) and the natural way of living (which is mostly in the soul and in the natural life). Wood may be in contrast to gold and may signify the nature of the natural man. Grass may be in contrast to silver and may signify the fallen man, the man of the flesh (1 Pet. 1:24), not redeemed by Christ. Stubble may be in contrast to precious stones and may signify the work and living which issue from an earthly source, a work and living without any transformation by the Holy Spirit. All these worthless materials are the product of the believers’ natural man together with what they have collected from their background. In God’s economy these materials are fit only to be burned (v. 13).