902 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. IIL
maker. This fact has a bearing on the authorship of the epistle. In earlier English, edify was used for weld in the lit- eral sense. Thus Piers Ploughman: “I shal overturne this temple and a-down throwe it, and in thre daies after edifie it newe.” See on Acts xx. 82. In the double metaphor of the field and the building, the former furnishes the mould of Paul’s thought in vv. 6-9, and the latter in vy. 10-17. Edwards re- inarks that the jield describes the raw material on which God works, the house the result of the work.
10. Grace. The special endowment for his apostolic work. Compare Rom. i. 5, grace and apostleship: Rom, xii. 3, 6; Eph. iii. 7, 8.
Wise (cogos). Skilful. See on Jas. ili. 13.
Master-builder (apyutéxrwv). Only here in the New Test- ament. ‘The architect does not work himself, but is the ruler of workmen” (Plato, ‘‘ Statesman,” 259).
Foundation. The importance which Paul attached to the foundation was figured by the care employed in laying the foundation of the great Ephesian temple. “To avoid the dan- ger of earthquakes, its foundations were built at vast cost on artificial foundations of skin and charcoal laid over the marsh”
(Farrar).
12. If any man build, etc. It is important to have a clear conception of Paul’s figure, which must be taken in a large and free sense, and not pressed into detail. He speaks of the body of truth and doctrine which different teachers may erect on the one true foundation—Jesus Christ. This body is the building. The reference is to @ sengle building, as is shown by ver. 16; not to a city with different buildings of different materials. The figure of Christ as the foundation of a city does not occur in the New Testament. To this structure different teachers (builders) bring contributions of more or less value, represented by gold, wood, hay, etc. These are not intended to represent specific forms of truth or of error, but none of them are to be regarded as anti-Christian, which would be inconsistent with building on the true foundation. It is plainly implied that
Cu. IL] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 203
teachers may build upon the true foundation with perishable or worthless materials. This appears in the history of the Church in the false interpretations of scripture, and the crude or fanatical preaching of sincere but ignorant men. The whole structure will be brought to a final and decisive test at the day of judgment, when the true value of each teacher’s work shall be manifested, and that which is worthless shall be destroyed. The distinction is clearly made between the teacher and the matter of his teaching. The sincere but mistaken teacher’s work will be shown to be worthless in itself, but the teacher himself will be saved and will receive the reward of personal character, and not of good building. Luther alluded to this verse in his unfortunate description of the Epistle of James as “an epistle of straw.”
Stubble (cardunv). Not the same as cddamos a reed. See Apoe. xi. 1; xxi. 15; and on 3 John 13. This word means a stalk of grain after the ears have been cut off. It was used for thatch in building. Virgil, “‘ Aeneid,” 654, alludes to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus with its roof bristling with stubble.
15. Shall suffer loss (Syui@Ijoeras). He shall be mulcted, not punished. See on Matt. xvi. 26; Luke ix. 25.
He himself shall be saved. Compare Dante of Constan- tine: *‘ The next who follows, with the laws and me,
Under the good intent that bore bad fruit
Became a Greek by ceding to the pastor ;
Now knoweth he how all the ill deduced
From his good action is not harmful to him,
Although the world thereby may be destroyed.”