📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 3:14
What does 1 Corinthians 3:14 mean?
"If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward."
— 1 Corinthians 3:14 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble;
each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.
If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.
If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.
Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.
Explanation
Paul writes here about the outcome of a testing process he has just described. In plain language, the verse says that when a person's work is tested by fire and it survives that test, that person will be rewarded. It is the positive half of a contrast Paul draws — the next verse (3:15) describes what happens if the work is burned up instead. So verse 14 is the good outcome: durable, quality work results in a reward for the one who built it.
To understand this rightly, you need the surrounding context. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, a congregation he had founded but which had fallen into factionalism, with different groups claiming loyalty to Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. In chapter 3, Paul addresses this by using the image of building. He says he laid a foundation as a skilled builder — and that foundation is Jesus Christ, the only foundation anyone can rightly lay (3:11). Others, including teachers and leaders in the church, build on top of that foundation with various materials: gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. Paul says a day of testing is coming — described as fire — that will reveal the quality of each person's work. The imagery is directed specifically at those who teach, lead, and build up the church community, not at good works or ethical behavior in a general sense.
Theologically, the verse teaches that Christian ministry and service will be evaluated, not for salvation itself (
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