‘If any man's work shall remain which he has built on it, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss. But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.'
The fire tests the work, it does not destroy the men (that is referred to later as a possibility for some - 1 Corinthians 3:17). Yet as the works stand firm and are purified, or as they are burned up, the men too experience the refining work of God. They are ‘saved as through fire'. (Note that it is ‘as through fire', an illustration, not ‘through fire' as a physical fact).
‘As through fire.' The picture may be of God's judgment in the terms regularly depicted in the Old Testament of a great city being burned as a judgment from God, with all that it has stood for being burned up, and the inhabitants escaping through the flames for their lives, ‘brands plucked from the burning' (Zechariah 3:2; Amos 4:11).
‘On it.' That is, on the foundation laid, which is Jesus Christ Himself and the basic teaching concerning Him as the crucified One, the word of the cross (1 Corinthians 3:10-11; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 2:2).
‘If any man's work shall remain.' This has in mind the building work that has stood the test of fire, the gold and silver and costly stones. For such work the teacher will ‘receive a reward'. It is not a deserved reward. Go is in debt to no man. It is the reward of grace (see Romans 4:4-5). While strictly applying to the work of teaching true doctrine and wisdom the principle can be applied more widely to all means of testimony including the shining light of a godly life (Matthew 5:16). Compare for these ideas 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10-12; 1 Peter 4:5.
It should be noted that there is nothing in the illustration suggesting that any will be lost. All thought of here will be saved. It is not salvation that they are earning. That is the gracious gift of God. It is the reward that is also the great gift of a gracious God given in recognition of their faithfulness (1 Corinthians 4:5; Romans 4:4-5).
‘If any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss.' This refers to the building work built with the wrong materials, which has not benefited the church of Christ. The teacher suffers loss because he has achieved nothing (the case is exaggerated for effect). But his salvation is not in doubt.
‘He will suffer loss.' The verb can mean ‘will be punished'. But it the New Testament it almost always refers to the suffering of loss, the destruction of what is theirs.
‘He himself shall be saved.' This is not referring to false teachers who ‘even deny the Master Who bought them' (1 Corinthians 3:17; 2 Peter 2:1), but to those who, while to some extent true to the central faith, have not taught wisely or in a spiritual way (1 Corinthians 2:13). They have allowed themselves to be esteemed more than they should be, and built up theories for man's admiration. They have turned eyes on themselves and their ideas rather than on the crucified Messiah.
‘Yet so as through fire.' The fire has removed the work that counted against them so that they can now come before the Judge without stain having come through the fire, although also sadly without reward, for they do so as those escaping from the flames but leaving all their life's work behind. They have had their reward on earth.
One purpose of the whole passage is to bring out that true servants of God can in fact be at fault in the content and method of their teaching and in the way they seek to build up the church of Christ so that, even though they hold the central truths, their labours are of little value. It is partly to make such men consider their ways, and to make the church more discerning in the teaching it accepts, that Paul speaks like this. It is to stress the need to centralise on the preaching of the cross and of Christ the Crucified One, and to recognise that it should be central in all ministry. For the lack of this latter was the besetting sin of the Corinthians.
Of course neither of the two extremes strictly apply. No man's teaching, apart from Christ's, is perfect, ever being only gold, silver and costly stones, and no man's teaching is totally useless, to be all burned up in the fire. Indeed each man shall have his praise from God (1 Corinthians 4:5). But the main lessons are brought out by vivid contrast. Each man's work will be thoroughly tested, and where necessary it will be purged, bringing reward or loss.
The thought is partially parallel with the teaching of Jesus in John 15. There the disciples are the branches which should bear fruit, and there will be varying levels of fruit. But there the branches that do not bear fruit are thrown in the fire to be burned because they are useless. They have produced nothing at all, not even spiritual life.