SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:15
Mas si la obra de alguno fuere quemada, ser perdida; l empero ser salvo, mas así como pasado por fuego.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 3:15
Verse 15. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss] If he have preached the necessity of incorporating the law with the Gospel, or proclaimed as a doctrine of God any thing which did not proceed from heaven, he shall suffer loss-all his time and labour will be found to be uselessly employed and spent. Some refer the loss to the work, not to the man; and understand the passage thus: If any man's work be burned, IT shall suffer loss-much shall be taken away from it; nothing shall he left but the measure of truth and uprightness which it may have contained. But he himself shall be saved] If he have sincerely and conscientiously believed what he preached, and yet preached what was wrong, not through malice or opposition to the Gospel, but through mere ignorance, he shall be saved; God in his mercy will pass by his errors; and he shall not suffer punishment because he was mistaken. Yet, as in most erroneous teachings there is generally a portion of wilful and obstinate ignorance, the salvation of such erroneous teachers is very rare; and is expressed here, yet so as by fire, i.e. with great difficulty; a mere escape; a hair's breadth deliverance; he shall be like a brand plucked out of the fire.
The apostle obviously refers to the case of a man, who, having builded a house, and begun to dwell in it, the house happens to be set on fire, and he has warning of it just in time to escape with his life, losing at the same time his house, his goods, his labour, and almost his own life. So he who, while he holds the doctrine of Christ crucified as the only foundation on which a soul can rest its hopes of salvation, builds at the same time, on that foundation, Antinomianism, or any other erroneous or destructive doctrine, he shall lose all his labour, and his own soul scarcely escape everlasting perdition; nor even this unless sheer ignorance and inveterate prejudice, connected with much sincerity, be found in his case.
The popish writers have applied what is here spoken to the fire of purgatory; and they might with equal propriety have applied it to the discovery of the longitude, the perpetual motion, or the philosopher's stone; because it speaks just as much of the former as it does of any of the latter. The fire mentioned here is to try the man's work, not to purify his soul; but the dream of purgatory refers to the purging in another state what left this impure; not the work of the man, but the man himself; but here the fire is said to try the work: ergo, purgatory is not meant even if such a place as purgatory could be proved to exist; which remains yet to be demonstrated.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 15. If any mans work shall be burnt , etc.] If any ministers 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 Gods 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 Peter 4:17,18 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 md ya , 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.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 10-15 - The apostle was a wise master-builder; but the grace of God made his such. Spiritual pride is abominable; it is using the greatest favour of God, to feed our own vanity, and make idols of ourselves. But le every man take heed; there may be bad building on a good foundation Nothing must be laid upon it, but what the foundation will bear, an what is of a piece with it. Let us not dare to join a merely human or carnal life with a Divine faith, the corruption of sin with the profession of Christianity. Christ is a firm, abiding, and immovabl Rock of ages, every way able to bear all the weight that God himself of the sinner can lay upon him; neither is there salvation in any other Leave out the doctrine of his atonement, and there is no foundation for our hopes. But of those who rest on this foundation, there are tw sorts. Some hold nothing but the truth as it is in Jesus, and preac nothing else. Others build on the good foundation what will not abid the test, when the day of trail comes. We may be mistaken in ourselve and others; but there is a day coming that will show our actions in the true light, without covering or disguise. Those who spread true an pure religion in all its branches, and whose work will abide in the great day, shall receive a reward. And how great! how much exceedin their deserts! There are others, whose corrupt opinions and doctrines or vain inventions and usages in the worship of God, shall be mad known, disowned, and rejected, in that day. This is plainly meant of figurative fire, not of a real one; for what real fire can consum religious rites or doctrines? And it is to try every man's works, thos of Paul and Apollos, as well as others. Let us consider the tendency of our undertakings, compare them with God's word, and judge ourselves that we be not judged of the Lord.
Greek Textus Receptus
ει 1487 COND τινος 5100 X-GSM το 3588 T-NSN εργον 2041 N-NSN κατακαησεται 2618 5691 V-2FPI-3S ζημιωθησεται 2210 5701 V-FPI-3S αυτος 846 P-NSM δε 1161 CONJ σωθησεται 4982 5701 V-FPI-3S ουτως 3779 ADV δε 1161 CONJ ως 5613 ADV δια 1223 PREP πυρος 4442 N-GSN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
15. Shall suffer loss (zhmiwqhsetai). He shall be mulcted, not punished. See on Matt. xvi. 26; Luke ix. 25.He himself shall be saved. Compare Dante of Constantine: "The next who follows, with the laws and me, Under the good intent that bore bad fruit Became a Greek by ceding to the pastor; Now knoweth he how all the ill deduced From his good action is not harmful to him, Although the world thereby may be destroyed." "Paradiso," xx. 55-60.
By fire (dia purov). Better, Rev., through fire. He will escape as through the fire that consumes his work, as one does through the flames which destroy his house.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:15 {Shall be burned} (katakaesetai). First-class condition again, assumed as true. Second future (late form) passive indicative of katakaiw, to burn down, old verb. Note perfective use of preposition kata, shall be burned down. We usually say "burned up," and that is true also, burned up in smoke. {He shall suffer loss} (zemiwqesetai). First future passive indicative of zemiw, old verb from zemia (damage, loss), to suffer loss. In #Mt 16:26; Mr 8:36; Lu 9:25 the loss is stated to be the man's soul (yucen) or eternal life. But here there is no such total loss as that. The man's work (ergon) is burned up (sermons, lectures, books, teaching, all dry as dust). {But he himself shall be saved} (autos de swqesetai). Eternal salvation, but not by purgatory. His work is burned up completely and hopelessly, but he himself escapes destruction because he is really a saved man a real believer in Christ. {Yet so as through fire} (houtws de hws dia puros). Clearly Paul means with his work burned down (verse #15). It is the tragedy of a fruitless life, of a minister who built so poorly on the true foundation that his work went up in smoke. His sermons were empty froth or windy words without edifying or building power. They left no mark in the lives of the hearers. It is the picture of a wasted life. The one who enters heaven by grace, as we all do who are saved, yet who brings no sheaves with him. There is no garnered grain the result of his labors in the harvest field. There are no souls in heaven as the result of his toil for Christ, no enrichment of character, no growth in grace.
