1st Corinthians Chapter 3 verse 12 Holy Bible
But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble;
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But on the base a man may put gold, silver, stones of great price, wood, dry grass, cut stems;
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Now if any one build upon [this] foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, straw,
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Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
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But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble;
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and if any one doth build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw --
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1st Corinthians 3 : 12 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - Gold, silver. Perhaps St. Paul thought for a moment of the gorgeous metals . rod rich marbles used in the Corinthian temples, as well as in the temple at Jerusalem. But it is surely fantastic to suggest that his reference is an historical reminiscence of the melting of gold and silver in the burning of Corinth by Mummius, nearly two hundred years before. Costly stones; i.e. costly marble from Paros, Phrygia, etc. Wood, hay, stubble. These words seem to symbolize erroneous or imperfect doctrines, which would not stand the test, and which led to evil practices. Such were the" philosophy and vain deceit," "the weak and beggarly dements," "the rudiments of the world," of which he speaks in Galatians 4:9; Colossians 2:8. So in the Midrash Tehillin, the words of false teachers are compared to hay. The doctrines to which he alludes are not and christian, but imperfect and human - such, for instance, as, "Humanas constitutiunculas de cultu, de victo, de frigidis ceremoniis" (Erasmus).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) Now if any man . . .--Better, But if any man.Precious stones.--Not gems, but grand and costly stones, such as marble. "Hay," dried grass used to fill up chinks in the walls. "Stubble," stalks with the ears of corn cut off, and used for making a roof of thatch.Many ingenious attempts have been made to apply the imagery of this passage in detail to various doctrines or Christian virtues, but it seems best to regard it as broadly and in outline bringing before the reader the two great ideas of permanent and ephemeral work, and the striking contrast between them. The truth brought forward is primarily, if not exclusively, for teachers. The image is taken from what would have met the eye of a traveller in Ephesus where St. Paul now was, or in Corinth where his letter was to be first read. It is such a contrast as may be seen (though not in precisely the same striking form of difference) in London in our own day. The stately palaces of marble and of granite, with roof and column glittering with gold and silver decorations, and close by these the wretched hovels of the poor and outcast, the walls made of laths of wood, with the interstices stuffed with straw, and a thatched roof above. Then arose before the Apostle's vision the thought of a city being visited by a mighty conflagration, such as desolated Corinth itself in the time of Mummius. The mean structures of perishable wood and straw would be utterly consumed, while, as was actually the case in Corinth, the mighty palaces and temples would stand after the fire had exhausted itself. Thus, says St. Paul, it will be with the work of Christian teachers when the "day of the Lord is revealed in fire." The fire of that day will prove and test the quality of each work.
