1 Corinthians chp 3: Gold, Silver, Precious Stones - Dr J Stewart Gillespie 

4 Sections in chapter 3: 

  1. Feeding on the Meat 
  2. Fruitfulness in the Field 
  3. Building on the Foundations 
  4. Worshipping in the Temple 

In each of the sections some practical lessons to learn: 

Feeding on the Meat: 

What hinders that, appetite for Christ, that ability to receive the meat is carnality manifesting itself in schism. 

So schism is not primarily a: 

Doctrinal issue 

The Corinthians had a number of doctrinal issues including the resurrection (chp 15) and yet Paul refers to them as; “ye are Christs” (3:23); as being part of the body of Christ, a body which no on had the liberty to do violence to (1:13; 12:12ff) 

Moral issue 

Schism was not primarily a moral issue; the Corinthians had plenty of these (chps 5 + 6) and yet Paul refers to them as; “ye are Christs” (3:23); as being part of the body of Christ, a body which no one had the liberty to do violence to (1:13; 12:12ff) 

What is surprising to see and maybe helpful to remember when we are dealing with schism is that from 1 Corinthians 3 we can be confident / adamant that schism does not have as its cause: 

moral problems in the object 
doctrinal problems in the object 

of that schism, ie in those who are cut off, for the apostle recognises these as part of the body of Christ (3:23); rather the cause of schism is a deep rooted spiritual malady in the heart of those who pronounce, endorse and encourage that schism (3:3); “envy, strife and divisions.” 

The true heart of Christ towards His body is a heart which will not: 

Cause schism 
Countenance schism 

 

The problem in dealing with the problem of schism is that you may well find yourself trying to appeal to a heart and to a love for the body of Christ which isn't there. 

You may find yourself attempting to feed meat to babes. 

So in the 1st section: 

Feeding on the meat 

We take the practical lesson of the: 

Cause of the schism 

Content of the meat 

That content is defined in 2:6-7 

This is the wisdom section: the meat is the, 'hidden wisdom of God in mystery' 

'The foreordained determinative purpose of God for His creation Christ, which has as  its goal the Glory of His Son and consequently the blessing of His people. Such Wisdom was at one time concealed, to be revealed  supernaturally at the time of its fulfilment.' 

It may never catch on quite like: “mystery” - truth once concealed and now revealed, but it is closer to the truth. 

The above definition emphasises: 

'of God' – the origin of this mystery wisdom is God rather than man 
'foreordained' – built into the foundation of the world (1Co2:7) 
'determinative' – theses are not a collection of random, disconnected secrets but rather part of one coherent plan with a purpose (Eph 1:9-10) 
'for His creation' – Gods overarching plan and purpose for the created order (1 Co2:7; Eph1:10) 
'Glory of His Son' – Eph 1:10-12 
'blessing of His people' – 1 Co 2:7,9 
'revealed at their fulfilment' – not an arbitrary hiding and revelation of Divine secrets but Divine purpose, revealed as it is worked out in time in the purpose of God (1 Co2:8; 1 Tim 3:16; Gal 4:4) 

This Mystery Wisdom of God includes: 

  • The Mystery of Israel in Unbelief (Rom 11:25) 
  • The Gospel of Gods Grace in Christ (Rom 16:25; Eph 6:19) 
  • The Mystery of the Rapture (1 Co 15:51) 
  • The Mystery of Gods Will in gathering all things together in Christ (Eph 1:9) 
  • The Mystery of Christ – bringing in of the Gentiles in one body (Eph 3:4-5, 8-11) 
  • The Mystery of the union of Christ and the Church (Eph 5:32) 
  • The Mystery of Christ in you the Hope of Glory (Col 1:26-29; 2:2) 
  • The Mystery of Christ (Col 4:3) 
  • The Mystery of the 7 Stars (Rev 1:20) 
  • The Mystery of God (Rev 10:7) 
  • The Mystery of Iniquity (2Thess 2:7) 
  • The Mystery of the Faith (1 Tim 3:9) 
  • The Mystery of Godliness (1 Tim 3:16) 
  • The Mystery of Babylon the Great (Rev 17:7) 

Fruitfulness in the Field 

Practically here we note that: 

'The blessing and spiritual growth of which they were jealous is a spiritual growth and blessing they destroy by their jealousy' 

This is one of the great parodies of 1 Corinthians. 

Picking 2 of the personal object of that Schism from chapter 1: Paul and Apollos, the apostle shows that: fruitfulness came in their 

joint ministry 

because it was a: 

joint ministry of Christ. 

Building on the Foundations 

“take heed how he buildeth thereupon” (3:10) 

looking to build with: 

“gold, silver, precious stones” (3:13) 

Note in the building, issues of: 

Consistency 
Compatibility 

These are materials consistent with the foundation; “which is Jesus Christ” (v11) 

Whatever we build in to the church needs to be consistent and compatible with Christ. So for example: 

Jesus Christ is the “truth” (Jo 14:6) 

Therefore error / lies are not compatible with the foundation and would be in the category of; 'wood, hay and stubble.' 

“God is Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth” 

Materialism is thus incompatible with the foundation 

“Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.” Willow Creek Church 

Christ is “holy, harmless, undefiled” 

Immorality and sin are incompatible with the foundations 

Note not only the issue of: 

Consistency 
Compatibility 
Consequences 

The consequences of making a mistake 

It is possible to build, to build big, to build with wood, hay and stubble 

Everything may have the appearance of progress and prosperity, but ultimately it will crumble, and it may be too late to do anything about it! 

Can we be any more specific about what constitutes: 

Gold 
Silver 
Precious Stones 

Gold: 

First mentioned with possible 'moral' overtones in Gen 2:12; “the gold of that land is good” 
Many of the items of the tabernacle and later the temple were made of gold and of pure gold: 

Ark of the Covenant overlaid with pure gold (Ex 25:10ff; 37:1ff) 
Mercy Seat made of pure gold (Ex25:17; 37:6) 
Cherubim made of gold (Ex 25:18; 37:7ff) 
Table of Shewbread made of pure gold (Ex 25:24l 37:10ff) 
Lampstand made of pure gold (Ex 25:31; 37:17,22ff) 
Breastplate of judgment was held by pure gold chains (Ex 28:22ff) 
Plate for the mitre made of pure gold; “holiness to the Lord” (Ex28:34ff) 
Altar of incense – overlaid with pure gold (Ex 30:1ff; 37:25ff) 

The tabernacle and the temple in their construction bring together' 'gold, silver and precious stones,' (Ex 31:1-5; 35:32-33; 1 Chron 29:2,7-8) 
Gold was likewise used extensively in the construction of the temple: 

The oracle was overlaid with pure gold (1Kings 6:20) 
The house was covered with pure gold (1 Kings 6:21) 
Doors overlaid with gold (1Kings 6:32) 
Cherubim overlaid with gold (1Kings 6:28) 
Altar of Gold (7:48) 
Table of Gold (1 Kings 7:48) 
Lampstands of pure gold (1Kings 7:49) 

Gold was one of the substances that could abide the fire and thus could go through the fire to be purified (Num31:22ff) – not difficult to envisage a moral metaphor from it therefore. 
Gold linked to righteousness comes out in the poetic books: 

Gold is contrasted with iniquity (Job 22:23-24) 

The trials of life purify Job so that he comes forth as gold (Job 23:10) 

Psalm 19:10 - “The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold” 

Psalm 45:9 – The queen stands in gold of Ophir, cf the Righteousness of the Saints (Rev 19:7-8) - “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” 

Psalm 119:27 – “I love thy commandments above gold” 

Proverbs 8:17-20 - “Righteousness and gold” 

Gold would point to the need for RIGHTEOUSNESS; cf 1 Co chps 5 to 10 

Silver: 

Associated with Redemption: Exodus 28:35 – half shekel of the sanctuary, Lev 5:15; Numb 3:46 – all the firstborn redeemed with 5 shekels 

Precious stones – often linked with wisdom in the OT: 

Job 28:1, 12, 18: “The price of wisdom is above rubies” 
Prov 8:6: “Wisdom is better than rubies” 
Linked with Solomon; 1 Kings 10:2,10,11; 2Chron 9:1 
Present on the Crown, crowning the head of the King; 2 Sam 12:30; 1 Chron 20 
Christ – Isaiah 28:16 
Wisdom of the King of Tyrus (Lucifer): “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.” (Ezek 28:13) 

Precious stones – linked with Wisdom – consider 1 Corinthians chps 1 to 4 

Worshipping in the Temple

 

Notes from a sermon preached  as part of our systematic bible study series on 1 Corinthians. 

Free audio, mp3 downloads  available above, of these messages as we expound verse by verse through the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.

Yours by Grace in Christ

Dr J Stewart Gillespie