1Cor 3:10-17 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for 1Cor 3:10-17: 3:10-17 All people are accountable to God for the way they serve Christ. 3:10 Paul laid the foundation when he first began the church in Corinth. Now others were building on it by what they were teaching the young Christians.

Summary for 1Cor 3:10-17: 3:10-17 ^a All people are accountable to God for the way they serve Christ. 3:10 ^b Paul laid the foundation when he first began the church in Corinth. Now others were building on it by what they were teaching the young Christians.
3:11 ^c There can never be any other foundation for the church than Jesus Christ himself (see Isa 28:16 ^d; 1 Pet 2:4-8 ^e; cp. Rom 9:33 ^f), but the Corinthians were in danger of treating a human teacher as their foundation.
Summary for 1Cor 3:12-15: 3:12-15 ^g Some of the things that people build on the foundation of Christ will endure; other things will burn up in the fire of judgment (cp. Mal 4:1 ^h). On judgment day, the work of each builder who instructs the church will be assessed (cp. Jas 3:1 ⁱ; see also Rom 14:10-12 ^j; 2 Cor 5:10 ^k). Those whose teachings are faithful and true will receive a reward; the others will suffer great loss, not of their salvation but of their reward. They themselves will be saved, but just barely, like someone pulled to safety through a wall of flames (cp. Amos 4:11 ^l; Zech 3:2 ^m; Jude 1:23 ⁿ).
Summary for 1Cor 3:16-17: 3:16-17 ^o Christians must be very careful, both in what they teach and in how they relate to one another, because the body of believers is the temple of God, the home of the Spirit of God who lives in them (cp. Eph 2:21-22 ^p), and God’s temple is holy (see 1 Cor 1:2 ^q). There are terrible consequences for anyone who destroys God’s temple by such things as jealousy, argumentativeness, and divisiveness (see 3:3-4 ^r).