1Cor 3:10-11 - Grace and Means

10-11 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Did I go too far in commenting on the last section? Then why does Paul mention that he laboured according to the grace given to Him? What is grace? What is it in this context? Grace is unmerited favour. In this context Paul is saying that all of his labours and works and skills - all of his applied wisdom - was given to Him by God. Note - his wisdom, his calling, his direction, his purpose, his desire and even his will to enter into the work was from God by grace alone.

But he had received the grace. And, being a recipient of it, he applied himself diligently to the task assigned. God was not the secondary agent, but the Primary. Paul was still accountable to God and God would not do for Paul what He had assigned Paul to do. Paul was not a robot, but a man - a redeemed man. He was called to lay down the foundation of the church among the Gentiles. This he did with all his might - but he did it knowing that apart from God he could accomplish nothing. And so all his labours were bathed in both supplication and thanksgiving. Supplication kept him in the place of utter dependency for the future, and thanksgiving kept him in the place of remembrance of his utter dependency in the past.

This is how the church of Jesus Christ is built. It is built by Christ through the obedience of our faith in Him - a faith which is a gift of His grace. That is how the foundation was laid by Paul. That is how we are to continue until Christ comes again. And whenever we are tempted to speed things along, to boost numbers, to give Christ a helping hand, to go ahead of the cloud - then we are found wanting and, though God will still be at work, we ourselves shall miss the glory of seeing Him working. We must not do God’s work in the energy of the flesh and out of mere human rationality. To do so is to fight spiritual battles with worldly weapons.

No wonder, then, that Paul warns all who follow to take care how they build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ that he laid down. Whether that building is teaching, whether it is evangelism, or whether it is good works - all must be laid in the same fashion as Paul’s original slab. That is - according to the grace given to us. Not according to the grace given to others, nor going beyond what grace we have received - but measured and diligently worked out from the supply that God in His wisdom has allocated to us. We may seek more grace. We may pray for it. But if we aren’t sure we have it then we ought to wait on the Lord, and not rush on ahead in what can only be the flesh. God supplied the manna sufficient for the day that He has sent. Will we build according to His ways, His plan and His timetable?

And we ought to remember that we are building on a foundation already laid down. No improvements to the foundation are needed. No expansion or additions. No revisions. It was skillfully laid by a master builder under the direct inspiration of God Himself. The gospel of Jesus Christ was systematized and put into a theological framework by Paul, for the church, under the supervision of God Himself. Therefore we should build upon it not in the sense that we add to the foundation, but in the sense that what we do and teach and preach rests upon the foundation already laid. And so, theologically at least, what is new is not true and what is true is not new.