I Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.
16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," 20 and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." 21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
I Corinthians 3:1-23 has the theme of the leadership and nurture of the church.
I Corinthians 3:10-11 has the theme of the powerful metaphor of Christ being the foundation of the church. One consistent major theme throughout I Corinthians is church unity. Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to break through the various divisions that cause factions within the church. These divisions seem to be both varied and many, and Paul spends a great deal of his letter systematically addressing each concern or division. Although the divisions are many, Paul’s solution is singular: You are the body of Christ, grounded in Christ, and therefore One.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. When one says “Christ,” one is also saying, “Christ and His own.” Christ in his fullness includes the community of people who belong to Him. Yet, the community is not just a passive object in this building up. It is not a spectator in its upbuilding. It builds itself. Christ builds it up, but through the work and life of the church. The church needs constant correction and improvement in accord with the instruction and admonition of the apostles. The church is also the subject to future judgment. Yet, in all its weakness, need, and dubious quality, it remains a provisional representation of the goal set by God in Christ. In this passage, Paul has authority to build up. Building up means integration, which is the work of God, of the apostles, and ultimately the whole community.[1] 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Theology has developed certain preliminary deliberations or preambles to faith, or today, “fundamental theology,” that is, theological reflection that lays a foundation for dogmatics. Such deliberations are fundamental only in terms of methodology. Materially, only the self-revelation in Jesus Christ is fundamental, as this passage stresses.[2]The ministries of the church are to serve the unity they have in Christ. If the unity of the church had its basis in them (such as pope and bishops), it would have been irretrievably lost in view of the fact that in the course of history the church’s higher ministers have often been the ones to contribute to its schisms. The ministries of the church can only be signs of this unity.[3]
I Corinthians 3:16-23 explores the implications of the church as the temple of God. 16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? Such a statement directly implies the deity of the Spirit. In fact, the tension between the notion of transcendence and immanence gains specificity in this passage, in which the Spirit dwells in believers.[4] The same Holy Spirit who dwells in believers is none other than the creator of all life in the whole range of natural occurrence and also in the new creation of the resurrection of the dead. Purity here is a primary concern, as is holiness. Most of all, however, God’s central and foundational role in the church is at stake.[5] The Spirit is not “gift” in the sense of becoming a possession of believers, but rather, is the one who dwells in believers in order to lift them outward toward others and toward God.[6] 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Paul now makes what seems to be an abrupt shift, even though it continues a theme he has already explored in Chapters 1-2. In these chapters, Paul has been combating the division that comes with people who consider themselves “wise” from within the church. Paul plays beautifully with the theme of “wisdom” and “foolishness.” On the one hand, he is addressing the specific divisive issue in the church, and, with incisive force, clearly states that not many were wise before they came (1:26). Moreover, Paul addresses those who think they are “wise” by furthermore insisting that God chose the foolish to shame the wise. Paul once again reiterates his theme of unity: All are one in God. Indeed, if there is a divide for Paul, it is the stark divide between those of the church and those of the outside. For the cross is a divisive line: For those who do not believe, it is folly, but to those who do believe, it is salvation and the power of God (1:18). However, because that line is so stark and bold, nothing is left but unity within it. On the outside, there is still division: Neither Jew nor Greek understand, for Christ is an obstacle to Jews and foolishness to Greeks (1:23). Nevertheless, from the inside, there is no division, neither Jew nor Greek, only unity. Chapter 3:18-21 therefore picks up these themes. He first states his paradoxical theme. 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written in Job 5:13, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," 20 and again in Psalm 94:11, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." Barth refers to Goethe, who took great offense at this passage, saying that if it were true, there would be no use in living. He raises an interesting point, for surely, a proper notion of creation suggests that we have these brains in order to enable us to make our way through life, and this includes “human wisdom.” Yet, the point Paul seems to make is in another direction. This does not mean, of course, that one should seek to be less intelligent than he or she is, but rather that one’s intelligence does not give one an advantage over others with respect to our relationship with Christ or the body of Christ.[7] Paul now completes the conversation begun in Chapter 1, in which members of the congregation created divisions by claiming a particular leader as belong to them. It is probable, therefore, that the Corinthian church members assumed their congregation would work in much the same way that society around them would. Horrified at this behavior, Paul scathingly retorts that it was not “Paul” who was crucified for them but Christ. Paul spends several verses declaring himself glad that he baptized only a very few of the church members in Corinth so they would not have cause to boast in Paul’s name even more. Paul instead urges that the risen Christ does not live as a divided self and, therefore, neither should God’s people be. Paul notes this theme of unity again in verses 21-23. Here, however, Paul adds to his earlier argument: It is not merely unity that should prevent people from dividing into factions but the realization of the riches they have in Christ. 21 So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.Paul’s argument is that if they have all these things, why would they be so eager to claim only one apostle as “theirs”? They in turn belong to Christ. Each faction would apparently vie with each other, trying to assert dominance or a position of authority based on which disciple it followed. In Greco-Roman culture, people would attach themselves to wealthy patrons. In return for flattering behavior and public attention, these patrons would give their “clients” credibility and social status they could never gain on their own. Particularly when speaking for a patron, a client would enact the authority that the patron possessed and, therefore, could wield great power. The argument of Paul is that if they have all these things, why would they be so eager to claim only one apostle as “theirs”? The apostles, in turn, belong to Christ. Christ owns and possesses them, and in this fact in a paradoxical way, they have their secure freedom, whether in relation to human teachers or to the world around them. He is letting Christians know who and what they are.[8] We can think of Paul as attacking the human tendency to snatch at that which one thinks gives honor. One can seek honor in a futile way by basking in the reflected glory of another, whether in Paul, Apollos, or another apostle. One seeks honor from the one who plants or waters rather than from the God who gives increase. Paul thinks of it as self-deception if they think they receive honor in this way. They belong to Christ alone.[9] Paul therefore emphasizes throughout the entirety of his first letter to the Corinthians the importance of unity, a theme that pervades the first three chapters. Christ is the foundation on which the church is built; indeed, each individual person, as well as the collective community, represents the temple of God. The wisdom of this age is nothing, and to become wise one must seek to be a fool. And in Christ the church has all things. Therefore, there is no cause for division but only unity.
[1] Barth (Church Dogmatics IV.2 [67.1] 634)
[2] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Vol I, 61)
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology (Vol III, 108, 391)
[4] (Systematic Theology, I, 303)
[5] (Vol. III, 2)
[6] (Vol. III, 12)
[7] Barth (Church Dogmatics IV.2, 419)
[8] (Church Dogmatics IV.3 [71.3] 537)
[9] Church Dogmatics III.4 [56.3] 667.
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