1 Corinthians 3:15

15 If any one's work is burnt up, he will suffer the loss of it; yet he will himself be rescued, but only, as it were, by passing through the fire.

1 Corinthians 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 3:15

If any man's work shall be burnt
If any minister's doctrine he has preached shall be destroyed and disappear, shall be disapproved of, and rejected by the churches, not being able, to bear the light and heat of the fire of God's word:

he shall suffer loss;
of all his labour and pains he has been at, in collecting together such trifling, useless, and inconsistent things; and of all that glory and popular applause he might expect from men, on account of them, and which was the snare that drew him into such a way of preaching:

but he himself shall be saved;
with an everlasting salvation; not by his ministerial labours, much less by his wood, hay, and stubble, which will be all burnt up; but through his being, notwithstanding all the imperfections of his ministry, upon the foundation Christ:

yet so as by fire;
with much difficulty, and will be scarcely saved; see ( 1 Peter 4:17 1 Peter 4:18 ) ( Zechariah 13:9 ) with great danger, loss, and shame; as a man that is burnt out of house and home, he escapes himself with his own life, but loses all about him: so the Syriac version reads it, (arwn Nmd Kya) , "as out of the fire": see ( Zechariah 3:2 ) ( Jude 1:23 ) . Or the sense is, that he shall be tried by the fire of the word, and convinced by the light of it of the errors, irregularities, and inconsistencies of his ministry; either in his time of life and health, or on a death bed; and shall have all his wood, hay, and stubble burnt up, for nothing of this kind shall he carry with him in his judgment to heaven; only the gold, silver, and precious stones; and will find that the latter doctrines, and not the former, will only support him in the views of death and eternity.

1 Corinthians 3:15 In-Context

13 the true character of each individual's work will become manifest. For the day of Christ will disclose it, because that day is soon to come upon us clothed in fire, and as for the quality of every one's work-- the fire is the thing which will test it.

14 If any one's work--the building which he has erected--stands the test, he will be rewarded.

15 If any one's work is burnt up, he will suffer the loss of it; yet he will himself be rescued, but only, as it were, by passing through the fire.

16 Do you not know that you are God's Sanctuary, and that the Spirit of God has His home within you?

17 If any one is marring the Sanctuary of God, him will God mar; for the Sanctuary of God is holy, which you all are.