Precious or Worthless ?
First Corinthians 3 is about supplying life to produce God’s building. Ultimately the supply of life released to man in Christ’s resurrection wil bring forth New Jerusalem.
In 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 Paul warns us, “if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is.”
The precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones are in contrast to the worthless materials of wood, grass, and stubble. Wood, grass, and stubble cannot stand the test of the fire of the Lord’s judgment (1 Cor. 3:12-13). Wood in contrast to gold signifies the fallen nature of the natural man. Grass in contrast to silver signifies our unredeemed flesh (1 Peter 1:24; Isa. 40:6-7). Stubble in contrast to precious stones signifies the untransformed, lifeless element of our natural man. In our work for the Lord, what matters in His eyes is not mainly the quantity of our work but the quality of our work.*
The warning about the test of fire in verse 3:13 is for anyone (v. 12), for all of us. The source and nature of gold, silver, and precious stones is the Triune God. For our work to be constituted with these materials requires that we receive, experience, and express the life of our Triune God, the life which is the path to New Jerusalem. Lord, keep me with You today and grant me more experiences of You as my living.
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* From page 32 of Ed Marks, The New Jerusalem—A Corporate Person, Affirmation & Critique Monograph, A&C Press, © Living Stream Ministry (2025).
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Bible verses quoted in these posts are from The Holy Bible, Recovery Version, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim CA, 2003. The text of this Bible is at text.recoveryversion.bible; this too is © by LSM. A New Testament of this Bible, with an outline for each book, 9000 footnotes, and 13,000 cross references, is available in multiple languages for free from Bibles for America, Bibles for Canada, Bibles for Europe, Bibles for Australia, Bibles for New Zealand.
