1 Corinthians 3:10 Commentary and Bible Study

Then the image changes. You are God’s building. What a rapid change of figure. One minute husbandry, farm; the next minute, building. That introduces a new tack. Now we are to think, not farm, but building. Corinth is a church, but it is now a building. ‘According to the grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another man buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon.’ Take heed how you build. The Greek word is architect, which we use today as the designer of the building, but the Greek word architect – and the Latin follows it, and we get our word ‘architect’ from the Latin, which in turn got it from the Greek – the Greek word does not actually mean designer; it means chief constructor, chief builder. Our version has taken account of that: ‘a wise master builder’. That is the sense of the apostle. We don’t want architect here, although that is the Greek word, because an architect today does not lay a single brick; he does not get on site, like the site manager and supervisor. He is not in the construction business; he is the designer, and in Paul’s illustration the designer is God. So it is right that the King James Version set the trend for other translators, and ignored the word architect and translated it, ‘wise master builder’. That is exactly what it meant originally in the Greek, not a designer. Paul is the builder; he is following a design, a blueprint, given by God. He never thought up the gospel. But he has built the church at Corinth as a wise master builder. In other words, he has scrupulously followed the plan. And the foundation? Well the ground has been excavated. The foundation has been put in, like the temple foundation: huge slabs of stone, and it is a true foundation and the perfect dimensions for the building.