And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 3:1 Go To 1 Corinthians 3
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
s12,13.—Now if any man build . . . the fire shall try every man"s work of what sort it is. This is a metaphor drawn from a house on fire, which if constructed of gold or precious stones receives no damage, but if of wood or stubble is consumed.
Notice in passing that by "previous stones" we must here understand marble, porphyry, and the like, not diamonds or other gems; for the houses of wealthy men are built of the former, not of the latter. Such was the boast of Augustus: "I received the city built of brick, I leave it built of marble." The Apostle"s meaning, then, is that, if a fire occur, a house built of marble and gold is not injured by it, but rather shines the more brightly. But the next house, being built of wood and stubble, will burn, and its tenant will escape indeed, but he will be scorched. So if any Christian, and especially any teacher or preacher of the Gospel (for such are primarily referred to here, as appears from vers4 , 6 , and10), build upon the faith of Christ gold and silver, that Isaiah , according to Theodore and Theophylact, holy works, and especially sound, edifying, and holy doctrine, he shall receive his reward. So Ambrose and S. Anselm. S. Thomas says: "Gold is charity; silver, contemplative wisdom; precious stones are the other virtues." On the other hand, wood, hay, stubble are sins, not deadly sins, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Gregory (contra. Magd. lib. iv. c13) think (for these are lead and brass, as is pointed out by Anselm and S. Thomas and S. Augustine (Enchirid. c68), nor are they built upon, but they overturn and destroy the building, viz, that living faith which alone wins a reward from Christ); but they represent venial sins, which make the mind cling to vanities, to worldly advantages, to vain-glory. But strictly speaking the Apostle is referring, when he speaks of wood, hay, stubble, to doctrine that is fluid, frivolous, showy, ornamental, wire-drawn, and useless. So say Ambrose, S. Thomas, Theodoret, Anselm. For he that builds these things on the foundation of faith in Christ shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
The Apostle in verses leaves the Corinthians to give a warning to Apollos and their other teachers and preachers, especially those gifted with eloquence, to beware of their great danger, vain-glory, and to be teachers of the truth in its purity, lest if they do otherwise they have to expiate their sin by fire. That there were some such at Corinth who had been the cause or the occasion of strife and division is pretty plainly hinted here and in the next chapter in vers6 , 10 , 15 , 18 , and19.
For the day shall declare it. This day is the day of the Lord, to be marked with a white or black stone, the day of judgment, especially of the universal judgment, which shall be revealed in fire. For that day of the Lord is now our day, as Anselm, Theodoret, Ambrose, and S. Thomas say. Cf. also 2 Timothy 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:12; and c15. In these and other places we are evidently to understand "that day" to be as it were a technical name for the famous day of universal judgment.
But notice that the day of particular judgment is also to be included under this day of universal judgment. For the judgment of both is one and the same, as is also their sentence.
It shall be revealed by fire. What is this fire? To answer this we must notice that the Apostle speaks of three things: (1.) that the day of the Lord shall be revealed in fire; (2.) that it shall try each man"s; (3.) that those who build wood, hay, stubble shall pass through it, and shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
1. Many of the ancients, as Origen (in Lucam, hom14), Ambrose (in Psalm 37), Lactantius (lib. vii. c21), Basil (in Isaiah 14.), Rupert (in Gen. lib. ii. c32), take the fire to be literal fire, which they think all souls, even those of Peter and Paul, must pass through on their way to heaven, to have their impurities purged away, whether it be the general conflagration at the end of the world, or the purgatorial fire beneath the earth, or some other fire in the upper ther. For Bede says (hist. lib. iii. xix.) that S. Fursey saw huge fires on the road which led to heaven, through which the traveller must pass. But this opinion, though it has not been condemned, and though Bellarmine (de Purg. lib. ii1) has not ventured to condemn it, yet lacks foundation. For this passage of the Apostle"s, on which alone those who uphold this view rely, has a different meaning. That vision of Fursey"s, too, was merely a representation, under the image of literal fire, of God"s spiritual judgment and the punishments awaiting carnal men, as I will show presently.
2. S. Chrysostom and Theophylact, who were followed by the Greek Fathers at the Council of Florence, reply that it is hell-fire, in which the sinner will remain safely, i.e, undestroyed and undying, so as to undergo punishment everlastingly. But this is a perversion of the meaning: for salvation everywhere stands in Scripture for a state of freedom from pain and sorrow, never for an eternal existence in torments. And so all other interpreters understand it, as well as the Latin Fathers at that same Council.
But we should notice that though S. Chrysostom understands this verse of hell, yet he does not deny that it may refer to purgatory, as was falsely asserted by Mark , Archbishop of Ephesus, at the Council. He even expressly admits it (in Matt. Hom32 , in Philipp. Hom3 , Heb. Hom4 , and elsewhere). In these places he exhorts the faithful to pray for the faithful departed in purgatory; for we may not pray for those in hell, since there there is no redemption.
Heretics reply that this fire is the fire of the tribulation of this life; and this is even implied by Anselm and Gregory (Dial. iv39) and Augustine (in Ps. xxxviii), all of whom, however, understand it of purgatory, or that it is the fire of confusion, which they feign that the Holy Spirit sends upon the Saints in life, or else at their death, as, e.g, they say He did in the case of SS. Bernard, Francis, and Dominic, to show them their errors about the monastic life, the Mass, and Confession, that so they might have their eyes opened and be led to retract. But all this is a gratuitous invention, nor does there exist any such retractation made by these Saints or by others on their death-beds: they rather gave with constancy an exhortation to their followers to persist and go forward in the monastic life.
Add to this that many have died suddenly, and still die suddenly, or die in their sleep, and that they depart with the stain of venial sins. Where are they purged? Not in heaven, for there nothing that defiles shall enter ( Revelation 21:27); not in hell, for that is the place of the lost; therefore, it must be in purgatory. For after this life there is no place for the wonted mercy and pardon of God, but only for justice and for just making amends, or rather suffering amends, so that no one may say that God freely forgives all sin to the dead, i.e, all pain and guilt. Lastly, the day of death is not called the day of the Lord, but the day of judgment; nor does fire denote the confusion that happens then, but literal fire.
Calvin objects that wood, hay, stubble are used figuratively, so therefore is fire. I reply by denying that it follows; for it appears that the day of the Lord is to be revealed by fire properly so called, and I shall show this directly.
4. Sedulius, Cajetan, Theodoret, Ambrose understand this fire of the strict and severe examination of the judgment of God, punishing sin after death by fire; or, as Bellarmine suggests, it is the fire partly of judgment, partly of purgatory. In other words, as the works of sinners shall have their fiery examination, so too shall they that work them have their fire, the fire of vengeance, in purgatory. By way of analogy that judgment is called by the name of fire, because, like fire, it will be most purifying, most searching, most rapid, and most efficacious ( Malachi 2:2; Heb. xii29). But since the words of the Apostle speak of nothing but fire, and repeat it twice and three times, they seem plainly and properly to mean what they say, and to denote literal fire throughout, with no figure, double meaning, or variation.
I say, then, 1. that it is certain that this place is understood of the fire of purgatory. So it is taken by the Council of Florence, by Ambrose, Theodoret, S. Thomas, Anselm, here, and in innumerable places by the Greek and Latin Fathers, cited at length by Bellarmine and Salmeron. This is the tradition and common opinion of the Church and of doctors, although they may sometimes explain the details differently, or apply them to purgatory in a different way.
It may be objected: If the Council of Florence understands this passage of purgatorial fire, it is therefore a matter de fide, and must be understood of it by all, and therefore also it is de fide, not only that there is a purgatory, but that souls are purged in it by fire.
I answer by denying that it follows. For although the Latin Fathers in the Council of Trent so understand it, and though consequently it is certain that there is a purgatorial fire, yet they were unwilling to define it to be a matter of faith that it is fire, but only that it is purgatorial. They did this, too, so as not to offend the Greeks, who admitted indeed a purgatory, but denied the existence of fire in it, saying merely that it was a dark place and full of suffering.
2. The fire spoken of here by the Apostle Isaiah , properly speaking, the fire of the conflagration of the world. This appears from the fact that it will be in the day of the Lord, that Isaiah , at the last judgment, which is everywhere described in Scripture "by fire which is to burn up the world." Cf. Psalm 92:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Joel 2:3; 2 Peter 3:12. For this fire will at the same time consume the world, and prove and purge those who shall then be living, as theologians everywhere lay down; it will also be the precursor, or rather the companion and lictor, of Christ, the Judge. It will, too, bring death and punishment, if not to the pure, at any rate to the impure, proportioned to their deserving. This fire shall then surround and carry off the condemned with it into hell, and so it is said that "the day of the Lord shall be revealed by fire;" which means that that day shall be revealed by fire as the day of the vengeance and judgment of the Lord.
You will ask, How does this fire purge works which have long passed away and are not? I reply that Scripture says that men"s good and evil deeds follow them; they are with them after death, inasmuch as responsibility for them still remains with men, binding them either to reward or punishment.
You may ask again, How can works be said to be burnt? I answer, in two ways: (1.) Figuratively, for they are compared to stubble, which literally burns. Works, too, burn in a figurative sense, i.e, they are punished and destroyed like wood which is consumed by fire. (2.) By metonymy the works are put for the worker, and are thus said to burn.
Notice here that the Apostle uses this figure and metonymy so as to carry on the illustration of a building which he introduced in ver9 , and also because he is referring to the conflagration which is to burn all the buildings in the world. For men"s works build for them as it were houses, just as silkworms spin little balls of silk, and enwrap themselves in them, as if they were their houses; so that if you burn these little balls you burn the silkworm, and vice vers. So here work is figuratively burnt like a house, because the worker and builder to whom the works adhere, and in whom they may be said to adhere is burnt. Moreover, the works rather than the workman are said to be burnt, because the workman is not utterly consumed, but is saved, yet so as by fire. But the guilt of his works is by this fire consumed and done away.
It may be asked in the third place, How is it that this fire is said to try gold and silver, i.e, good works? I answer, By the very fact that it does not touch them, but leaves them wholly unharmed, because they are wholly without alloy; the fire declares the perfection of the workmen and their works. But it will manifest by burning, i.e, by punishing wood, hay, stubble, when it shall attack and burn those that committed venial sin, and shall purge them so as to save them, yet so as by fire. Similarly, in olden times, until it was forbidden by the Canons as tempting God, trial by ordeal was resorted to for the purpose of deciding guilt: an accused person had to handle a red-hot iron, or walk upon it barefoot. If he was really guilty he was burnt; if innocent, uninjured. This happened to S. Cunegund, wife of the Emperor Henry, and to the three children in the Babylonian furnace. The one proved her chastity by walking barefoot over the hot iron, the others their innocence by passing uninjured through the fiery furnace.
It may be asked again, How does fire try the work of every man? For Paul, and all who are already dead, do not pass through the fire that consumes the world. I reply (1.) that S. Paul is on the habit of speaking as if the last day were close at hand, that so he may stir up every one to prepare himself for a day that is uncertain, and perhaps soon to come. (2.) Moreover, this fire will purge the whole world, and therefore if there is any stain in any of the dead that has not yet been purged away, it will be attacked and punished by that fire; and so each one"s work, whether he be living or dead, will be manifested. (3.) As the Apostle includes the day of death under the day of the Lord, and particular judgment under the general, and regards them under one aspect, so in like manner, under the fire that will accompany Christ when He comes in judgment, and that will purge whatever then remains that needs purging, he wishes us to understand that fire by which souls begin to be purges directly after death. By this fire, he means the fire of purgatory.
It is no objection to this that the fire which shall destroy the world will be before death, when it should be after death. For (1.) it will do away with the sins of the whole life and of death also. But it cannot be after death so as to purge the dead, for they that are dead then will immediately rise and be carried to judgment. (2.) If any one before death shall chance not to have been sufficiently purged, he will after death be fully dealt with by the same purgatorial fire. This is proved by this verse; for the Apostle writes it to the living, who were not to see the general conflagration, but were to have their own purgatory after death, as the others were to have theirs at death. For why should one escape this fire more than the other, if their merits were the same? (3.) The Greek word is in the present tense, "is being revealed:" in other words, the "day of the Lord" is revealed at death. (4.) The work of every one will be tried by this purgatorial fire, and yet the work of those alive at the general conflagration will alone be tried by it. (5.) All the Catholic Fathers, the Latin doctors, and the Council of Florence, at its beginning, understood this passage of the fire of purgatory, and it has the unanimous tradition of the Church. (6.) To try by purging is in the strictest sense the work of purgatory, and of it we can most truly say that it shall save, yet so as by fire. For from the moment of death a man will be saved, and when he has been thoroughly purged he will fly from purgatory to heaven, before the great day of the Lord.
As, then, the saying of the Apostle"s, that the day of the Lord shall be revealed by fire, exactly suits the fire at the end of the world, so also it strictly falls in with the fire of purgatory, because it shall try each man"s work, and because the righteous man who has sinned shall be saved yet so as by fire.
I must add to this that theologians of repute, as Francis Suarez (pt. iii. vol2 , disp57. sec1), hold that thus general conflagration will not slay the purge men, but that after the resurrection, at the general judgment, this fire will only be for the terror and punishment of the lost, and to burn up and renew the world after judgment. Still, they say, that we can infer that it will try and purge the good, inasmuch as it will be a witness to the acknowledgment by Christ of their innocence resulting from the purgation they have undergone in purgatory. It is therefore much more certain that the trial spoken of here will be by the fire of purgatory rather than by the conflagration at the end of the world. In short, the whole of this passage of the Apostle"s must be understood as well of the day of judgment, both particular and universal, as of purgatory and the fire that is to consume the world. It may be asked, Why does the Apostle blend these and speak indifferently of both judgments and both fires? The reason is (1.) that as the particular and general judgment will be one and the same, so will the fire of purgatory and at the end of the world be one and the same. One purges men, the other the world. The fire of purgatory is related as a part to the whole to the general fire which will be the world"s purgatory; it will give place to it, and perhaps be changed into it, and perhaps become numerically one with it. (2.) The Apostle frequently speaks of the day of judgment being close at hand, and consequently as if the passage from purgatory to the general conflagration were soon to be made; and, as was said, he does this that men may prepare themselves for it by holy and pious lives. Cf1Thess. iv15; Heb. xi40; 2Cor. v1 , 3 , 4. Similarly, the Prophets and Christ Himself often mingle type and antitype, as in S. Matt. xxiv. Christ speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the world as one destruction, and as if one were to follow closely upon the other. This is why the Apostles, when Christ said this, thought that the two would be nearly contemporaneous, though afterwards when better taught they perceived and corrected their mistake.
You may ask secondly, How can the words, "it shall be revealed by fire," be applied to the particular judgment? What fire will be Christ"s assessor at the particular judgment when each man"s works are tried and declared? I answer that the fire of purgatory is Christ"s assistant in the particular judgment of any Prayer of Manasseh , ready to His hand to try, punish, and purge each man"s work. We ought to remark that S. Paul personifies this purgatorial fire, and makes it a kind of assessor to Christ, so that, like soldiers before their captain, all the dead must pass before it, to be inspected, and, if they need it, to be corrected. The Apostle does this (1.) to carry in his figure of gold and the refiner; (2.) to keep the fitting proportion between this fire and the general conflagration, to which his reference is primarily when he says, "the day of the Lord shall be revealed by fire." Notice also that, as then the Prophets and Christ blend confusedly type and antitype, as, e.g, when they speak of Solomon and Christ, of the destruction of the city and the world, and appear to apply to both things, which have more reference to the one than to the other, so also S. Paul does here: for the words, "the day of the Lord shall be revealed by fire," refer rather to the conflagration at the end of the world; but the words that follow, "the fire shall try every man"s work," have to do rather with the fire of purgatory.
The fire of purgatory, then, is Christ"s assistant at the day of particular judgment, His precursor, lictor, jailer, and scourge; it examines each man"s work, leaves the gold of good works unharmed, but burns up as if they were its proper fuel all works of wood, hay, stubble; and so each one shall suffer loss, or punishment—in such a way, however, that the worker is saved, yet so as by fire. And so at the day of death and particular judgment this fire is revealed to each one. And this was the meaning of Fursey"s vision. For when he saw himself dead and the fire approaching him, he said to the angel, "Lord, lo! the fire is coming near me." The angel answered, "What thou didst not kindle shall not burn thee. For though the pyre seem great and terrible, yet it tries every man according to the merit of his works, for each man"s lust shall be burnt in this fore. For just as each one burns in his body with unlawful lust, so when freed from the body shall he be burnt by just punishment."
