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“LET EACH SEE HOW HE BUILDS”

V. E. Wraighte

1 Corinthians 3: 9–11; Mark 13: 33–37

In Corinthians the apostle presents himself as a wise architect

who had laid the foundation. I judge that would be special to

Paul. For him it involved toil and labour. I wonder, dear

brethren, if we might not raise the question with ourselves as

to what the end is in our labours, in our activities, and in our

prayers in our localities. This matter that Paul raises here is a

local one; it has to do with the saints in Corinth. He says, “For

we are God’s fellow-workmen; ye are God’s husbandry, God’s

building”. It is what God had in Corinth; God had rights in that

place; He had property in that place; He has rights, He has

property, in Grimsby, and so He has in each locality. So what

Paul is saying would have particular bearing upon a locality.

He has in mind God’s building, of which he said he laid the

foundation.

Now this word “architect” would have been well known in

Corinth because it was a Greek city renowned for its

architecture; they would have well understood the matter of

architecture, but into that city of Corinth Paul moved in lowly

guise as a tent-maker. A tent-maker and an architect do not go

together as far as this world is concerned, but underneath that

lowly guise was the great architect of the assembly. There

were great men in Corinth at that time who classed

themselves, no doubt, as architects; they had their own

structure in mind. But it was all in their heads. Paul says the

Corinthians came behind in no gift, but the structure they had

in mind would not last, it could not last because it was not laid

on a true foundation. Paul not only had things in his mind but

he had them in his heart; he had a view of God’s building; he

had the pattern of the assembly, the building in which God’s

glory would shine, not only in time but in eternity; a temple