The church is not only God’s farm, but also God’s building. As we grow on the farm, we produce precious materials for the building of God’s habitation on earth. God’s eternal goal is the building, the temple built with precious materials on Christ as the unique foundation. The work of building is accomplished not only through those such as Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, but also through every member of the Body, as revealed in Ephesians 4:16.
Concerning the building, Paul says in 3:11 and 12, “For other foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” The foundation of the building 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 and rich experiences of Christ. The intention of the apostle in this Epistle is to warn the believers 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, as Paul did.
We have pointed out that in verse 16 a temple refers to the believers collectively in a certain locality, but in verse 17 the temple refers to all the believers universally. The unique spiritual temple of God in the universe has its expressions in various localities on earth. Each expression is a temple of God in that locality. Furthermore, the temple in verse 16 is the explanation of God’s building in verse 9. God’s building is the sanctuary of God, the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells.
The philosophical Greek believers at Corinth did not have the proper realization that God’s eternal goal is to have a temple. Instead of caring for this goal, they cared for their philosophy, culture, and wisdom. They also cared for their personal interests, preferences, choices, and tastes. This is proved by the fact that in 1:12 Paul points out that “each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.” This indicates that for some, Paul was their preference; for others, Apollos was their choice; and for still others, Cephas was according to their taste. The believers at Corinth cared for various personal and individual matters, but neglected God’s building as His eternal goal.
In chapter three Paul was endeavoring to show the Corinthians that God’s eternal goal is the building. This means that God does not want the believers to be individualistic. He definitely does not want the saints to have personal, individualistic preferences for Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or even for a limited Christ. God cares for the building, and He desires that all the believers in a locality be built together as His temple. Moreover, if we would be built up together to become God’s dwelling place, we need to grow, and in order to grow, we need the watering. Thus, the planting, the watering, and the growth are all for God’s goal, the building.
Paul had a clear understanding of God’s goal. He also realized clearly that the Greek believers at Corinth were too individualistic in their concept and practice. It is not God’s goal merely to have many individual believers. His goal is to have a farm that will grow materials for the building up of the holy temple as His dwelling place.
We need to consider the background of this Epistle to understand Paul’s use of the expressions God’s farm and God’s building. The Greek believers at Corinth did not care for the corporate church life, but cared instead for their personal and individual interests. This produced division. Whenever there are divisions there cannot be the temple of God. Therefore, after covering certain crucial matters in chapters one and two, Paul indicates in chapter three that the Corinthians are completely wrong in caring for their individual interests and not for God’s temple, God’s corporate building.
In 3:17 Paul specifically points out that God’s building, the temple, is holy. It is not secular, worldly, or Greek. Actually, the word holy in this verse stands in contrast to anything Greek. God’s holy temple is separate from anything human, secular, and worldly; in particular, it is separated from anything Greek.
If we consider the context of the first three chapters of this book, we shall realize that Paul’s intention was to impress the believers at Corinth that God’s building is separate from anything Greek. The Greek believers still valued their wisdom, philosophy, culture, and way of living. They regarded Greek culture as the best. But Paul says that God’s temple is holy, separate from anything worldly and particularly from anything Greek.
In verse 16 Paul emphasizes the fact that the Spirit of God dwells in the believers as His corporate temple. But as long as the believers at Corinth were individualistic and as long as they cared for their personal interests, especially for their Greek philosophy and way of living, they were neither holy nor corporate. Then they could not experience very much of the indwelling of the Spirit or enjoy the Spirit’s indwelling. If we do not have a proper corporate church life, we cannot have much enjoyment of the indwelling of the Spirit. Yes, the Spirit dwells within our spirit. But the Spirit’s indwelling in the church corporately is much richer and is more prevailing than His indwelling in the believers individually.
If we consider all these matters, we shall realize that Paul’s concept is deep. His thought is to convince all the individualistic Greek believers that they must care for the corporate church life and not for their individualistic interests, preferences, and choices.
We know from 3:11 that Christ is the unique foundation for the church as God’s building. No one can lay any other foundation. Nevertheless, certain of the believers at Corinth were taking Paul, Apollos, or Cephas as their foundation. When they were declaring that they were of Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, they were saying that these were their foundation and standing. In 1:13 Paul asks them, “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?” By asking these questions Paul was pointing out that he is not the unique foundation. On the contrary, Paul says in 3:10, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation.” The unique foundation is not Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or anyone other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The problem among the Corinthians is that they were trying to lay many other foundations. We see in chapter fourteen that for some, speaking in tongues was a foundation. This indicates that it is possible for a particular practice to become a foundation. Therefore, Paul wanted the believers at Corinth to realize that he had already laid the unique foundation, Jesus Christ.
First Corinthians 3:10 says, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, but another builds upon it. But let each one take heed how he builds upon it.” This verse indicates that the church is built not only by ministers of Christ such as Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, but by every member of the Body. Every one of us must be a builder.
We should realize not only that we are builders, but also that we must take heed how we build upon Christ as the unique foundation. As we shall see, the church, the house of God, must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones, materials produced from Christ’s growing in us. Yet, as verse 12 indicates, there is the possibility that we may build with wood, grass, and stubble, materials produced by us in the flesh and in the natural life. Hence, each of us, every member of the Body, must take heed how we build; that is, we must take heed with what material we build. We must build with gold, silver, and precious stones, not with wood, grass, and stubble.