Revealed By Fire

"Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is." (1 Cor.3:13)

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he," is a saying of the Wise Man. (Prov.23:7) We believe we are right in adapting and construing that to mean "As is the quality of a man’s faith, so will his response be in the day of test and trial."

Such a conclusion seems to be warranted by the words of the Apostle in writing to the Corinthians. "Fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is." Some men’s works will be destroyed; others’ work will abide, when the day comes for the flames of fire to play around their handiwork. The Apostle’s words show that a man’s characteristics in the day of stress and alarm will reveal and make manifest the constituent elements of that heart and mind. Strain will show of what elements his faith and convictions have been built. In other words, character response showing in word and act will be according to the convictions which have made that character.

Reducing this observation still further we say that "action, under stress of trial, will be according to accepted belief." What a man has believed will determine what he does, in his seasons of test and difficulty. Among Christian people, who all profess to build their faith structure alike (upon the sacrificial work of Jesus) there are great differences in conduct when the day of adversity comes. Fiery trials cause some to shrivel and shrink—pain and anguish of soul displacing and destroying faith and steady trust. Others come through the fire purified and strengthened, not only with a stronger faith, but grateful to God for having permitted the trial.

To the sect‑ridden, divided Corinthian Church the Apostle illustrates this principle by the differing work of builders, building upon a common foundation. In some of those ancient Eastern cities, excavators have found several structures built upon one prepared platform, laid at the expense of the owner of the land. One basic foundation was common to them all; the further structures erected thereon being built according to the means or taste of each individual builder. Sometimes the resulting erections presented a most grotesque appearance. Sumptuous edifices of granite and marble, ornamented with gold and silver, on the one hand; and the hovels and shacks of the poor on the other, with walls of wood, and roofs of thatch, and interstices (crevices) stuffed with hay and straw. Sometimes these extremes of structure and elegance would be found alternately placed, the shack hard by the palace, presenting at one glance all the extremes of poverty and affluence. Should the hand of some fanatic incendiary, Nero‑like, start a conflagration, the shack of the poor peasant would speedily disappear in the flames, leaving nothing but ash to cumber and litter the common foundation. The sumptuous palace, though scorched and blackened by the fire, would still remain undemolished—a tribute to the superior material built into its walls. This tragic experience was a common occurrence in those old‑time cosmopolitan cities, and constituted a vivid illustration which would be understood and appreciated by every member of the Corinthian Church.

Now what does the Apostle mean by the use of this illustration? First of all, notice that it is he, who as a wise architect, has laid the common foundation. "According to the grace of God...given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation." (1 Cor.3:10) That common foundation, well and truly laid by the Apostle, was Jesus Christ. Foundation other than He could not be laid by any builder who built under God’s guidance. Let us pause to enquire what the Apostle means by that statement. In what sense did he lay Jesus Christ as the foundation? Did the Apostle claim to have given Jesus his unique place in the purposes of God? Did he cause Jesus Christ to be laid as a foundation for redemption and forgiveness of sins? Assuredly not! None but God could do that. Only by God’s invitation and favour could Jesus become the basis for reconciliation. That was God’s sole prerogative. In what sense then, had Paul laid Jesus Christ as a foundation? Obviously by being the first to preach to the Corinthians about Jesus, telling them of the Plan of Redemption already centring in him; telling them of the great privilege already offered them of becoming united with him! But on that one solid foundation, how many differing structures they were putting up? How many theories and philosophies were being added to that basic truth? Each sect and party had its theory and its acclaimed leader and exponent. We read of a Paul‑ite party; a Cephas‑ite party; an Apollos‑ite party; a no‑resurrection party; a libertine party; and so on—each with its theory and philosophy, or with its negations and doubts and denials. "Who indeed is Paul?" He asks indignantly—"or Cephas? or Apollos?"—"Mere servants only"—he answers, "through whom God sent his Truth." What if Paul had planted, and Apollos watered; only God could give the increase! How moribund and earthbound and carnal were these sects and factions therefore, to link themselves to some mere human servant, when the whole vineyard was God’s—when the whole structure was God’s!

Thus Paul brings home to these carnal Corinthian teachers the folly of their sectarian outlook. Unfortunately for them, the Paul‑ite section, while claiming Paul for their leader, were not really following Paul at all—for Paul would have none of their sectarianism. "Was Paul crucified for you?" he asks. "Were ye baptised in the name of Paul?" (1 Cor.1:13) Why then did they link themselves to the name of Paul? "Oh" they would reply "Only to become a Paul‑ite Christian—a follower of Christ through Paul." Thus they were building in the name of Paul a doctrinal structure upon the basic foundation, improperly adding the name of Paul to the honour that was Christ’s.

Every section among them was using the common foundation of Jesus Christ, but running up a super‑structure, in the name of this or that chosen leader. Thus to the primary "truth" basis—redemption by and acceptance in Christ—they were adding their theories and speculations and vain philosophies. But would these speculative, divided theories stand the test when the day of Christ should come; for indeed that day would test their worth? The saddest feature of all this deplorable state was that their characters—the moral fibre of their hearts—were being developed and moulded by the things they were teaching and believing. A sectarian church would produce divided interests—and divided interests would gender strife and contention, even if not bitterness and hatred. And thus in general experience, as they believed, so were they. Their super‑added beliefs were the moulds in which they were being made. If they were building with gold, silver, and costly marble, then, when the stress and strain of the evil day should come, their faith structure and their heart qualities would endure; but if their building material was wood, thatch, stubble, then the day of fire would burn up their theories, and strip them of their shelter, and leave them with nothing but their foundation to stand on. No spiritual growth, no New Creature development, no enduring product of grace and experience, to carry forward into the eternal years, but just the bare elementary story concerning a Saviour, and the salvation wrought by him,—this, and this only, would be left when the fire of trial and the day of visitation had done its work.

Their attachment to and utilisation of the foundation had not brought them an eternal and abiding habitation with Christ. Their years had been wasted, their service mis‑directed; and their whole life a failure. Unlike God’s faithful ones, they would not emerge from the furnace floor without the smell of fire upon them, but if delivered at all from their vain philosophies it would be by the fire burning the fetters and shackles of their minds, leaving to them nothing but their simple foundations, as at the beginning.

How great the responsibility, then, that rests upon those who seek to serve their brethren as co‑labourers with God. Their mistaken philosophies and doctrinal blunders affect not only themselves and their own characters, but also the understanding and characters of their fellows, to whom they minister. On the other hand, if they build well and provide enduring material, they build for their friends and themselves imperishable structures, to stand the eternal years.

It is a solemn thought to realise that what we believe makes us what we are, and that we may even be building upon the basic facts of Christ’s redemption truths and yet find ourselves and our buildings in danger in the day of visitation. Obviously, it is not enough merely to hold the truths relative to the foundation only—there must be something built thereon by each believer who accepts that foundation. "Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor.2:2) is only the beginning of the Christian experience. Acceptance of those foundation truths only gives us access to the building site. These primary basic truths are given us by Paul in 1 Cor.15:1‑4. The facts regarding Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return, constitute the foundation. But an unbuilt‑on foundation is a misuse of that foundation.

Every earnest Christian will be found building his structure of doctrine and character on the portion of the "site" allotted him. Every sincere believer will be seeking to add a deeper understanding of the Word to those foundation truths. It is these additions which will be put to the test in the day of Christ. The foundation truths will remain undamaged through all the day of fire,—but what of our own buildings? Will these additions to our faith stand the day of fire and test? How very serious this thought should make us in reading and teaching! How important it is to take heed what we hear and accept. For after being granted access to the "site"—after being justified by our belief in the redemptive work of Jesus—it is by what we believe that we are being made. If any other material is used in building our faith and character than the gold, silver and precious stones of Divine promises and facts, then in the day of scrutiny and fire all these philosophies and theories will be consumed.

This situation abounds today. Thousands there are whose structures are perishing in the flames of modern difficulties. In some cases the unhoused tenant quits the foundation altogether, and wanders away into the wider world. In many other cases, the destruction of their structures leaves the tenant with nothing more than the simple truths of Redemption,—a bare foundation only—not enough for the day of trial. Happy indeed are those whose building, though put to the test, remains through it all a habitation and a resting‑place for faith and trust and peace of heart. We are living in "the day," today, when every man’s work is being revealed by fiery test. This is "the day which will declare it"—the day of the presence of him who was foretold to sit as a Refiner of gold and silver. The havoc wrought

upon men’s faith and character structure throughout the whole Christian world is proof of that refining and of that presence. Decreasing respect for all the old moral religious sanctions and the craze for pleasure are proofs that the fires of this time have been burning up some of the old erections of wood, hay, and stubble, driving the hitherto tenants as wanderers and fugitives abroad on the earth.

Take heed, beloved, how ye hear, and how ye build, for the opportunity of eternal habitation or loss is involved in it all. Pray that ye be not as a brand plucked from the burning; as one "saved…as by fire" (1 Cor.3:15) —stripped of all the labours of by‑gone years, with nothing save the foundation left. Quite the opposite, do not dismantle and demolish your own structure, throwing away this or that truth, till you have little more than the foundation truths left; for it is on the basis of what has been added thereto, that a well‑built faith, and trust, and peace, will furnish a safe abiding‑place throughout the day of fire,—and for the eternal years. If the truths which have been learned since coming on to the foundation have provided us a bulwark of safety—a place where our hearts are at rest in peace and quietness—then, hold on to those precious truths to the very end, for in very deed and truth, they are as gold and silver and marble and granite, withstanding the fire; and as our faith structure is an edifice of abiding material, so will our character structure be, and so will our salvation be, when all things are "revealed by fire."

May/June 1982