3:1-4:2. Discover and summarize all that this section has to teach concerning the place and tasks of Christian worker. What is, or should be, their relationship to: a) God, b) each other, and c) those among whom they work? Answer: Each person has a place as determined by God. Some are planters, some water. It is only God who can make it grow by opening the eyes of the unbeliever. It is only God that can soften the heart of the unbeliever to lay the foundation for the building to be built.
4:1-21. What lessons are to be learnt from the earthly lot of the apostles? Why are men’s judgments concerning the worth of Christian ministers’ work of such little value? How and when will the real worth of a man’s work for God be made plain? Can the value of what he does affect his own salvation? Or what will it affect? See 3:13-15. Answer: Men’s judgment is of little value because it is not man who will judge, it is God. We, like Paul, must walk with a clear conscience. Not because we are holy on our own, but because it is God through Christ that makes us holy and righteous. 3:13-15 says: 13. His work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. A man’s deeds do not affect his salvation. Rather it affects his reward in heave.
Notes:
3:12-13. The different materials mentioned here can be taken to represent the teachings of those who were ministering in the church; the gold, silver, and precious stones being the doctrines of the Spirit, and the wood, hay, and stubble the wisdom of the world.
4:6. ‘Do not go beyond what is written.’ This was probably a familiar catchphrase of the day. AV supplies verb ‘to think’, which gives a more pointed sense in context than RSV ‘to live.’
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