A Study of First Corinthians Chapter 3
By Phillip Harris
Prolog
A new commandment:
Jesus said: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:34-35 ESV).
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Phil. 4:8-9 ESV).
Elders and deacons:
As Paul and the other apostles established new churches, leaders (the workers who built up the church) were appointed from among the new congregation: “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23 ESV).
What defiles:
In Matthew 15:10-20, Jesus teaches that what you eat or drink—the things that go into your mouth—cannot defile a person’s body. Instead, what comes out of the mouth can defile a person, because evil thoughts arise from out of the heart.
The Problem
An Adventist pretext
According to the teaching of Adventism, their unique health message is professed to be “the right arm of the gospel”, and they quote 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 to support their claim that certain foods will defile the body. Therefore, they say, those foods must be avoided.
Is this application really what Paul is teaching in 1 Corinthians 3?
Paul’s reason for writing this epistle
In 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 Paul says he is writing “so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul is writing this letter to the saints, those whose sins have been covered by the blood Jesus shed at Calvary. His intent is to encourage them and to help them trust God and to live godly lives in their pagan culture.
The biblical context
In 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 Paul is addressing the Corinthian church as “brothers”, as “people of the flesh, as infants in Christ”. In other words, these Christian brothers have problems with sins of the flesh. Paul addresses their ‘sin of the flesh’ which is jealousy in verses 3 and 4. In Corinth some claim to be followers “of Paul” while others say they are of “Apollos”. Instead of either party placing their faith solely upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of their salvation, they claimed to follow the human teachers they preferred, and rivalry developed among them. Paul responds to this competitive situation by saying, “I planted, Apollos watered, but the life (growth) is from God” (v. 5–8). In their rivalry they had neglected Jesus’ command to have love for one another. Their favorite teachers did not give them special spiritual standing; they disrespected each other by claiming superiority.
The love they were to have for one another is not to be found in the world of the “flesh”; in fact, this love is what sets the Christian faith apart from the false religions of the world. When those of the world see this kind of love and seek to have what Christians have, they are open to receiving in faith the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Paul uses a metaphor to bring the attention of these “infants in Christ” back to the foundation of their faith.
Paul’s Solution
A metaphor
Beginning in verse nine, the Corinthian church is described as God’s field and God’s building where Paul and Apollos are simply “fellow workers” who are building upon the foundation of this building. The foundation, in fact, is the very person and work (the gospel) of Jesus Christ.
As with any building, this church “building” is only as strong as the foundation that has been laid and built upon by “skilled workers”. The current leaders (elders and deacons) were those who had received the role of the “workers” and were responsible to preach and to teach by example and in word, with godly love, never forgetting what and Who was the foundation of their faith.
An ‘infant in Christ’ who is fed “solid food” and grows spiritually will develop godly love. This love is how all people of the world will know he is Jesus’ disciple. Moreover, those that mature upon the true foundation of the Christian faith become the workers who are building up the church—the body of Christ.
Build upon a sure foundation
As we look at verses 10–12, Paul says that he, ‘a master builder’, laid a foundation which is Jesus Christ. Those who follow after him and Apollos must build upon this same foundation. In other words, the Christian faith is centered upon the gospel, the whole gospel, and nothing but the gospel: the person and work of Jesus Christ. In fact, in chapter 15 of this epistle, Paul defines this one and only “gospel” which is the sure foundation of “the building” constituted by the local body of Christians in Corinth.
Testing of fire
Those workers who build with “gold, silver or precious stones” will receive a reward for their work, whereas those who build with “wood, hay or straw” will suffer loss because all the work of the “workers” will be tested in fire. Significantly, those workers who suffer loss will be saved, but only “as through fire”, vs. 12-15. Remember, our salvation, which is centered on the gospel message of Jesus Christ, is totally a work of Jesus. Even our works that might be burned will not keep us from being saved if we are His.
The work of Paul, of the other apostles, and of all those “workers” who follow them must be built upon this same foundation. In other words, all Christians must build upon the foundational, finished work of Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life.
God’s temple is holy
Now Paul develops the metaphor further by saying this building is God’s temple. In fact, in verses 16 and 17 Paul declares that the saints in the city of Corinth are God’s temple because they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. What Paul is saying is that their jealousy (vs. 2-4) is harming them, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and if this harm leads to their destruction, God will destroy those responsible. Paul is appealing to those causing this division and jealousy within the Corinthian church to cease what they are doing and to repent of their sin because they are in serious danger of suffering from God’s wrath.
Since Jesus’ instruction on what defiles a person’s body has nothing to do with what enters in through the mouth, it becomes obvious that Paul’s warning about not defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit could not possibly include anything one eats or drinks!
Wisdom and Folly
Verses 18–22 separates worldly wisdom from true godly wisdom by saying, “Let no one boast in men”. This admonition hits close to home for us; it is a root sin of Adventism to promote the words of Ellen G. White (boasting in “man”). In fact, this deference to Ellen White opposes the clear meaning of Scripture.
“So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21-23 ESV).
Summary
Hidden in plain sight
Paul progressively develops his theme in this chapter. When we come to verses 16 and 17, Paul is still addressing the actions of those who are guilty of “the sin of the flesh which is jealousy”. What the Corinthians are doing, Paul says, must stop because God will destroy those whose actions (if left unchecked) lead to the destruction of God’s temple.
Adventism ignores the context of Paul’s confrontation when Adventist “workers” teach something that has nothing to do with the problem found within the Corinthian “temple of the Holy Spirit”. Moreover, Adventist theology also ignores Jesus’ teaching on what does and does not defile a person’s body. Remember, the “Temple of the Holy Spirit” is made up of those who are bound together by the Spirit—the individual forgiven sinners who in faith have been brought into the kingdom of God.
The sad irony is that the Seventh-day Adventist non-biblical “health message” does cause discord as Adventists attempt to meld this aberrant belief with the true foundation of the body of Christ. The church, the temple of the Holy Spirit which is also called the body of Christ, was created solely by the work of Jesus Christ here on earth at the beginning of the apostolic era, yet Adventism insists that it is the TRUE church, the remnant church bearing God’s message for the last days.
How could anyone believe that anything created by our sovereign God, such as the church, needed updating or new doctrinal “light” repackaged for our modern era? Yet Adventism has wormed its way into the world claiming to possess “present truth” for these times.
By falsely insisting that the food or drink one consumes defiles the temple of the Holy Spirit, and by using verses 16 and 17 as an out-of-context proof text, Adventism is guilty of defiling and attempting to destroy the temple of the Holy Spirit.
It is exactly this kind of divisive spirit claiming superior knowledge or doctrine that caused the apostle Paul to place a curse upon those who altered the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ in Galatians 1:1-9.
Food does not defile the temple of the Holy Spirit. Only evil thoughts and desires defile a man.
Adventism pretends to be Christian and masquerades as holy. In reality, Adventists are misusing Scripture and obscuring its profound message by applying 1 Corinthians 3:16–17 to food. The temple of the Holy Spirit is formed and held together by God. Only believers’ sins of the flesh can defile the temple; food cannot affect it at all. †
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