Читать книгу 1 Corinthians - Luise Schottroff - Страница 39

12 Whoever builds upon the foundation, with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, straw, reeds—13 the share of all individuals will become visible. The day will bring it to light. For it will be revealed in the fire. The fire will test the quality of the work of all. 14 For the part that you have added on, you will receive a reward, if it remains standing. 15 For the part that burns up, you will bear the consequences, but you will nevertheless be saved, as out of a burning house.

16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells within you? 17 Whoever destroys God’s temple, will him- or herself experience destruction. For the temple of God is holy, and that temple is you.

All those who are involved in the building of the congregation must give an account before God. God tests the quality of the building—Paul is speaking parabolically here. The building catches fire. From God’s perspective, that is a moment of truth for those who are doing the building. Paul takes this image from the reality of fires in the large Hellenistic-Roman cities. He calls this test by fire the »Day« (3:13). The concept of the Day of God and of the fire of judgment is part of the biblical tradition. Paul is thinking here of a testing by fire—being put to the test by God. But it should not be equated with God’s judgment at the end time (see 3:15; cf. 11:32). Rather, he envisions a test by God that instructs those who have failed. In his image of the congregation as a building, Paul has in view the work of building a temple, as he had presumably seen, for example, in the ongoing construction of the Herodian temple in Jerusalem.¹⁷⁰ He shows that he has knowledge of the topic he is discussing as 3:12 and other verses show. Here he enumerates building materials in the awareness that the builders must take their flammability into account. So, what is built on the foundation also requires competence in those who direct the construction, for only such builders can make those kinds of decisions. From this we learn that he, as the architect (3:10), has no desire to set himself above the other builders. He names the following materials: gold and silver—they were, for example, used for temples.¹⁷¹ Then he mentions »costly stones.« The Septuagint speaks of the use of »great costly stones« for a foundation or superstructure of a temple and a royal palace (3 Kings 6:2; 7:46–50).¹⁷² Therefore, it seems natural, with reference to the »costly stones,« not to think of precious stones. Also favoring this view is the fact that Paul speaks so knowledgably about his images. Finally, stone is the crucial building material for each building. The process of working on the great blocks of stone before their use is elaborate,¹⁷³ so that the word »costly« for the blocks of stone is appropriate. The precious stones used to adorn the Jerusalem that is to come, as in Rev 21:19–21, are, to be sure, also to be taken into consideration for determining the interpretation of the stones in 3:12. However, Paul is speaking here of large buildings he has seen with his own eyes; therefore, the interpretation that settles on blocks of stone is to be preferred. The last three words enumerating construction materials refer to roofing shingles,¹⁷⁴ hay and straw. In Hellenistic construction they were not used for large urban buildings but for »rural dwellings in poorer regions.«¹⁷⁵ Paul speaks about the materials and about fire safety like an ancient builder.¹⁷⁶ 3:16–17 are concluding solemn sentences about the congregation as God’s temple.

3:13 The fire of God’s judicial judgment,¹⁷⁷ a mythic notion, and the image of a building threatened by fire are combined here. With this, the reference to everyday experiences continues to be in view. The danger of fire and the burning of houses and sections of a city were daily occurrences.¹⁷⁸ In interpreting the metaphor about (temple) building (3:9b–17), on the one hand, life experience is to be taken into account as the basis of the image. On the other hand, attention must be given to the text’s explicit bridges to the issue that is to be interpreted. For 3:13, that means: The building goes up in flames, and now one sees whose work survives through their use of non-flammable building materials. It is not the point here to depict God’s judgment as a trial by fire for the congregation. What is being discussed is the builders’ accountability before God.

3:14 The builders whose contribution to the building survives in the fire receive a reward. Here the image does not square with reality, for those who work with their hands need to get their pay at the end of the workday.

3:15 Correspondingly, those whose contribution to the work goes up in flames suffer loss. But Paul doesn’t want to say by this that the people whose contribution to the building of the congregation lacks quality will for that reason be consigned to eternal death at the last judgment. They are compared with people who were barely saved from a burning building (cf. Jude 23: similarly, Amos 4:11). It is not spelled out what the loss is; it’s not important. In 11:32 there is a similar thought: God disciplines people but has no desire to annihilate them.

3:16 Now Paul explicitly states the theological basis for his metaphor about the building: the congregation is God’s temple. Paul provides assurance: »Do you not know?« The temple image signifies: This is where God/God’s Spirit dwells (cf. 2 Cor 6:16). Here the issue is not about a claim of contrasting the true temple, the congregation,¹⁷⁹ with the temple in Jerusalem, as was assumed in earlier interpretation. The issue is the incorporation of the messianic congregation in Corinth into the people of Israel’s relationship to God and God’s relationship to Israel. The people from the nations also belong to the God of Israel. Something similar happens, for example, with the designation of the congregation as »holy« and »assembly of God« (see on 1:2). An image like the one here is found at Qumran: the community is called a »holy house« for Israel.¹⁸⁰

The notion that the congregation as a community is the place where God is present ascribes to the community an incomparable dignity and power.

The sharp tone of 3:17, compared with 3:15, has repeatedly led to a certain puzzlement and to questions about what horrible internal threat through »opponents« could be meant. It is more likely that Paul is thinking about the destruction of the messianic community by Roman authorities, or officials in the city of Corinth, thus about a threat from outside. In the historical situation the congregation faces, that is not a remote possibility. The congregation could be driven out of the city, members could be accused and convicted, or the congregation could dissolve because the members are too afraid (see above on 1:18). Paul then puts the destruction of the congregation as God’s temple in the context of the history of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Of course, as Paul wrote the second temple was still standing, but there were gloomy fears and prophecies of its destruction through foreign rulers, for example Dan 9:26 LXX, where the verb phtheirein/destroy is also used. This temple of the God of Israel in Corinth is also threatened, and God will avenge its destruction. The sentence uses the lex talionis form (see, for example, Exod 21:24), a law according to which the punishment fits the crime. 3:17 stands in the prophetic tradition of the book of Daniel (see, for example, 7:11–12). The »destruction« of the destroyer that is announced should not primarily be interpreted to apply to an individual person but to the downfall of an unjust regime at the hand of God.

3:17b summarizes once again the thoughts about God’s presence. The brief concluding phrase, »… and that temple is you,« makes the following clear: The people in the congregation are holy (cf. 1:2; Lev 19:2); they are the place where God is present. Every day these people who live in Corinth pass magnificent temples dedicated primarily to Roman gods. Paul assures them: Not these marble temples, but you yourselves, in the fellowship of your fragile bodies, are a temple in which the one God of Israel dwells.