the work of each shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare [it], because it is revealed in fire; and the fire shall try the work of each what it is.
Paul writes here about builders working on a foundation already laid. A day is coming that will show what each builder produced, and the test will be fire.
The word "day" here does not mean the future in general. Commentators tie it to the moment Christ is revealed, and they call its character judicial.
The "day" (v. 13) always has to do with judgment. It is the day that tries the work; it is simply and entirely judgment. The day will be revealed in fire, and that fire will test people's work. No doubt this will happen when Christ is revealed... The work might be tested any day. But when that day comes, God will bring to light the purposes of their hearts, for they are stewards of the mystery of Christ.
Fire destroys whatever only looked solid. That includes teaching that holds people together for a while.
The day of trial will test the work of each one... Anything built with wood, hay or stubble will not stand the fire of judgment. Souls may be held together for a time with false doctrine, as we see on every hand in Christendom, but such work will not stand the fire.
Paul later says that being judged by others is a very small thing to him. One writer links that to this verse.
In 1 Corinthians 3:13 he had told us that "each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it." Here we have THE DAY when God's opinion will be heard. This is MAN'S DAY, when people insist on making their opinion heard. That day is completely against the Apostle and everyone who thinks like him. The opinion of "man's day" was a very small thing with Paul.
The verse asks what sort of work each one has done. That phrase decides what the fire measures.
At the judgment seat of Christ, the fire of infinite holiness will test everything. It will destroy all that was not the fruit of the Spirit. Notice, that "the fire will test what sort of work each one has done." It does not say "how much it is." The question is quality, not quantity. That day will destroy a vast amount of so-called Christian work, but all that has truly been for Christ will stand the test.
Every builder's work goes into the fire. The good work goes in too, and so does the apostle's own. This rules out reading the passage as a punishment or cleansing of the soul after death.
Rome has famously built one of its main proofs of purgatory on this passage. But that idea is itself a sample of the rubbish the apostle warns against... a day of sifting judgment is meant and not some intermediate state now after death. Fire is a picture of His judicial action, which burns up all dross. It is not punishment for the spirit or soul separated from the body, and it is not a process of purifying it... Besides, the fire tests the work of each one. It tests the apostle's work as surely as the work of his critics. Gold, silver, and precious stones go into the fire just as much as the material that burns.
The fire falls on what a believer built, not on the believer.
No doubt we will review our whole path here in the light of that judgment seat. All that has been of the flesh will be loss then... Fire signifies the trial of the judgment of God. "Our God is a consuming fire." "Everyone will be salted with fire." But this applies to the Christian's ways and work, not to the Christian himself.
If the day discloses it, today's verdicts cannot.
Whatever is "of faith" will both stand and be unerringly appreciated in the coming day. All that is not of faith, though acceptable in the eyes of men, will surely disappear before the face of Him who is as a consuming fire to the flesh. But until that day comes, no one can settle the quality of much that is done, day after day, in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the claimed interest of truth... Christian opinion is not fire; nor is popularity an unerring proof of worth.
- The Day judges. "The day" is not a date on a calendar. It is judgment itself, arriving when Christ is revealed, and it discloses the work, not the man.
- The Day silences man's day. Now is man's day, when everyone airs an opinion. Paul treated it as the smallest of matters, because a better verdict was coming.
- The Day tests sort, not size. The question is what kind of work it is, never how much of it there was.
- The Day burns work, not workers. Fire here pictures God's judicial action burning up dross. It is not punishment for the soul after death, and not a cleansing of it either.
- The Day, therefore, waits. Popularity proves nothing. Criticism settles nothing. Most Christian work waits for fire, not opinion, to declare what it is.
If the work of any one which he has built upon [the foundation] shall abide, he shall receive a reward.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
If the work of any one shall be consumed, he shall suffer loss, but *he* shall be saved, but so as through [the] fire.
Paul has just set Christ as the one foundation, and warned that fire will test what each servant builds on it. Verse 15 takes the worst case. The building burns down, yet the builder walks out alive. Two questions follow: what is lost, and what is the fire?
The material that burns is not a record of a believer's failures. One writer keeps the passage tied to its subject — teaching and labour:
In 1 Corinthians 3, the wood, hay and stubble are not sins. He is speaking of preaching and teaching. A man may be a real Christian on the foundation, and yet all his labour may be bad labour, because he taught nonsense and empty ideas — even if it was not heresy. When trial tests it, it all goes. He is not lost, but his work is, and he is badly shaken. Paul is speaking of his own work, or the work of Apollos or others — not of their sins.
This verse is the middle of three cases. Verses 14, 15 and 17 give three outcomes:
First, if a man's work survives, he will receive a reward (v. 14). The man is saved, and his work stands... Second, if a man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, only as through fire (v. 15). The man is saved, but his work is all lost. There is no reward. Suppose I have been busy building something up, and in the day of the Lord I find it was all a mistake. What loss I will suffer!... Third, if anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him (v. 17). The man is lost, and his work is lost.
Some have long used this verse to argue for a place of cleansing after death. One writer answers that, and explains what the fire pictures:
It is well known that Rome has built on this passage one of its chief proofs of purgatory... But clearly the faithful in general and their ways are not in question here. Ministers and their teaching are. And the day meant is a day of sifting judgment, not some in-between state after death. Fire is the picture of God's judicial action, which burns up all the dross. It is not punishment for the spirit or soul on its own, and it is not a process of purifying it. "Saved, but only as through fire" marks how hard the escape is... Besides, God tests each man's work this way — the apostle's work as surely as the work of the men who ran him down. The fire tests gold, silver and precious stones no less than the material that burns... The real danger is bringing rubbish in where the true foundation is owned — not fundamental error or teaching against Christ, but airy notions and loose rules about practice, which the day of trial would expose and destroy.
One writer compares the builder to Lot, who escaped from Sodom as the city burned:
They will be saved, but only as through fire. Think of Lot, who escaped out of Sodom. His righteous soul was tormented there, and everything he had built up in Sodom burned. But a believer's salvation does not depend on his service and work.
Commentators differ over what "saved" means here. Some take it as final salvation. One writer draws a different line:
The believer is saved because the foundation under him cannot be destroyed. But how sad that so much of what filled his time should be destroyed in judgment, and that fire should be his salvation. The question here is not eternal salvation through the atoning work of the cross. It is salvation under God's government — rescue from the tangles that would keep the soul out of its inheritance.
Being saved and being rewarded are not the same thing:
The work of some stands, and they receive a reward straight from the hand of the Lord who was once pierced for their sins at Calvary. Others will see their work burned up. They "suffer loss," which means they lose the promised crown. They are saved, but only as through fire. They just get into heaven, and that is all. There is no rich welcome for them. It was the rock under their feet that saved them.
People misuse this verse in two ways. Some blunt its edge. Others turn it into a threat against a believer's confidence:
We should seek to make a holy use of these verses by keeping pressure on our nature in all its vanities, lusts and tempers. That is how the Lord meant us to use them. He never meant us to use them in a legal way, to shake our confidence in Christ and His full salvation... The deepest sense of grace, and the clearest grasp of our perfect justification as sinners, will never weaken our sense of how solemn the judgment seat of Christ is.
- Foundation — The man stands because Christ is under him, not because his building held. The rock under his feet saved him.
- Fire — It is God's judicial action in a coming day of sifting. It tests every servant's work alike. It is not a punishment or a cleansing of the soul after death.
- Work — What burns is bad building, not sins. It is worthless teaching and empty labour.
- Loss — He keeps salvation and loses the reward; he gets in, and that is all.
- Response — The right use is watchfulness now, never a weakened confidence in Christ.