1 Corinthians 3:14–15

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.