Building on a Right Foundation with Fire-Resistant Materials

“Each one’s work will become manifest, for the day will show it up, because it will be revealed by means of fire; and the fire itself will prove what sort of work each one’s is.”—1 Cor 3:13.

1. How do fire-resistant materials put into a building, at extra cost, prove their worth?

THERE is a great safeguarding and salvaging of costly buildings by making them fireproof. This is largely done by making them of fire-resistant materials. If a local fire were started in a fireproof building, it would be hard for it to spread and finally envelop the whole building in flames and reduce it to ashes. If a general conflagration were started in the surrounding community, the fireproof building would remain, somewhat tarnished in outward appearance and smelling of the singeing fire, but standing structurally, just the same. The fire-resistant materials put into the building would thus prove their worth, and the extra cost of labor and money would have justified itself.

2. How does the classification of a fireproof building by the National Building Code emphasize the vital part played by construction materials?

² Thus it would pay for a builder to conform to the National Building Code, which classifies a fireproof building as “one in which the structural members are of non-combustible construction having a fire resistance of four hours for exterior walls, columns and wall-supporting girders and trusses; and a three hour fire resistance rating for floors and walls. All exterior and interior weight-bearing walls are of masonry and reinforced concrete.” (The Encyclopedia Americana, 1956 edition, Volume II, page 246, under “Fire Protection”) Very plainly the construction materials of a superstructure on any foundation play a vital part.

3, 4. What element destroyed Herod’s temple at Jerusalem, and how did this occur?

³ One of the grandest, costliest buildings in human history was destroyed by fire. This was the temple built by King Herod the Great on the same site where King Solomon of Jerusalem had built his magnificent temple, which likewise had been the victim of fire. Regarding the destruction of Herod’s temple nineteen hundred years ago, a Cyclopædiaa tells us:

⁴ “During the final struggle of the Jews against the Romans, A.D. 70, the Temple was the last scene of the tug of war. The Romans rushed from the Tower of Antonia into the sacred precincts, the halls of which were set on fire by the Jews themselves. It was against the will of [the Roman general] Titus that a Roman soldier threw a firebrand into the northern outbuildings of the Temple, which caused the conflagration of the whole structure, although Titus himself endeavored to extinguish the fire. . . . [The Jewish historian Flavius] Josephus remarks, ‘One cannot but wonder at the accuracy of this period thereto relating; for the same month and day [the tenth day of the fifth lunar month called Ab] were now observed, as I said before, wherein the holy house was burned formerly by the Babylonians. Now the number of years that passed from its first foundation, which was laid by King Solomon, till this its destruction, which happened in the second year of the reign of [Emperor] Vespasian, are collected to be one thousand one hundred and thirty, besides seven months and fifteen days; and from the second building of it, which was done by Haggai in the second year of Cyrus the [Persian] king, till its destruction under Vespasian there were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days.’”

5. How was King Solomon’s temple destroyed, and by whom?

⁵ As regards the destruction of Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem by the conquering king of Babylon in 607 B.C.E., the Bible historian tells us: “And he proceeded to burn the house of the true God and pull down the wall of Jerusalem; and all its dwelling towers they burned with fire and also all its desirable articles, so as to cause ruin.”—2 Chron. 36:19; Jer. 52:12-14.

6. (a) Why did no statue of Jehovah perish with the destruction of those temples of Jerusalem? (b) In behalf of Jehovah’s worship, what building is now being constructed, and according to what Building Code?

⁶ No statue or image of the God worshiped at those temples of Jerusalem perished in the flames, because the God who was there worshiped forbade any idol image to be made by His worshipers. (Ex. 20:1-6) Furthermore, the worship of the God who was adored at those temples survived the destruction of those material temples and has survived till today and is, in fact, flourishing. This God needs no material temple in which to be worshiped here on earth. Still, in behalf of his worship, he is constructing the grandest temple of all time. (Isa. 66:1; 1 Ki. 8:27-30; Acts 17:24-28) This temple will stand eternally, for it is being made of fire-resistant materials. It will pass unscathed through the fire of the world’s coming day of trouble, and it will shine with even greater glory and beauty for the experience. In its design and in the materials of its construction, this temple is being conformed to no Building Code and fire-protection regulations of any earthly nation. It is being conformed to the Building Code of the Supreme Designer, the Creator of heaven and earth. It is being built with the materials that he specifies and can supply.

7. How does the time of construction of Jehovah’s eternal temple compare with that of Herod’s temple and that of Saint Peter’s Basilica?

⁷ God the Creator has been at the building of this temple longer than the time spent on putting up any other building ever constructed. Regarding Herod’s temple, the Jews said to Jesus Christ nineteen centuries ago: “This temple was built in forty-six years.” (John 2:20) The main building of Roman Catholicism, Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, was founded by Emperor Constantine the Great in the fourth century and it was still under construction in the days of the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, in the sixteenth century. But God has been constructing his eternal temple of worship from the days of the apostles of Jesus Christ in the first century till now, and only now, more than nineteen centuries later, is it near completion.

FELLOW BUILDERS

8. (a) In the temple construction work, whom is God pleased to use? (b) How does Paul argue that point and also warn against sectarianism in the congregation?

⁸ In the construction of his fire-resistant temple, God has been pleased to use fellow builders here on earth. Are you a fellow builder with God in this temple construction? The Christian apostle Paul was one; so was an eloquent Christian disciple with whom he was acquainted, Apollos, a converted Jew of Alexandria, Egypt. Concerning their working together with God, the apostle Paul wrote to the Christian congregation in ancient Corinth, Greece, and warned them against becoming sectarian followers of any religious man, saying: “When one says: ‘I belong to Paul,’ but another says: ‘I to Apollos,’ are you not simply men? What, then, is Apollos? Yes, what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, even as the Lord granted each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God kept making it grow; so that neither is he that plants anything nor is he that waters, but God who makes it grow. Now he that plants and he that waters are one, but each person will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You people are God’s field under cultivation, God’s building.”—1 Cor. 3:4-9.

9. How was Paul a planter, for instance, with reference to the Corinth congregation?

⁹ Planting comes before watering; and the apostle Paul, being likened to the planter, was doing the initial or opening work. He was doing the pioneering in behalf of Christianity. This was true with reference to the Christian congregation there in Corinth. Paul arrived there as a missionary and began preaching Jesus as the Jewish Messiah in the synagogue. Later it became necessary for Paul to transfer the believing Jews to a meeting place in a house next to the synagogue. Paul baptized Crispus, the presiding minister of the synagogue, and his family, also a believer named Gaius, and also the household of Stephanas.

10. How did Apollos come to water what Paul had planted at Corinth?

¹⁰ After his teaching Christianity there for a year and a half, conditions arose that made it advisable for Paul to go to Jerusalem. On his way there he stopped at Ephesus in Asia Minor, leaving his traveling companions Aquila and Priscilla there. (Acts 18:1-22; 1 Cor. 1:13-16) Later Apollos, partially instructed in Christianity, came to Ephesus and preached in the synagogue. Aquila and Priscilla got acquainted with him and explained Christianity more fully. As Apollos now wanted to go to Achaia (Greece), the Christian brothers in Ephesus sent along with him letters of recommendation. Thus Apollos got in contact with the congregation in Corinth and did a helpful work among them. Figuratively speaking, he watered the seed that the apostle Paul had planted. (Acts 18:24 to 19:1) Who, though, produced the growth? It was God.

11. (a) By his work at Corinth, what was Paul really planting? (b) Who caused the growth, and to whom did the field of growing products belong?

¹¹ What was the seed that Paul planted in Corinth? It was Christians, disciples of Jesus Christ. The case was like that of Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds (tares). Jesus said: “The field is the world [of mankind]; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom.” (Matt. 13:38) Paul was preaching and was planting, not just the seeds of Christian truth, but Christians, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was ‘making disciples,’ as Jesus told his followers to do. (Matt. 28:19, 20) As Paul was a fellow worker of God, it was correct for Paul to say to the congregation of believing, baptized Corinthians: “You people are God’s field under cultivation.” (1 Cor. 3:9) It was really God who made the members of that congregation grow as Christians. It was really God who brought them to life as disciples of Jesus Christ his Son. Paul was merely a fellow worker, whom God had used to bring the life-giving good news about Christ to them, which good news Paul had got from God. So that field of growing Christians did not really belong to Paul. It belonged to God as the true and rightful Owner. So unless God imparted his blessing and spirit, all the work that Paul or Apollos did would be without results.

12, 13. (a) How do these facts affect the matter of setting up religious sects? (b) How many ministers are we entitled to have, and, as disciples, whom should we follow?

¹² Hence the credit for Christian growth or existence was not to be given either to Paul or to Apollos. Also, the members of the Christian congregation in Corinth were not obligated to become followers of either Paul or Apollos, who were mere “ministers,” servants, by means of whom the Corinthians believed. Rather, they were to be followers, disciples of God, the Owner and the One with the power to make Christians come into existence and grow to maturity. How narrow-minded it was, therefore, to set up religious sects and follow prominent men! God is so much bigger than a mere man and than all men put together. Even those men whom he uses as ministers belong to God, and so in the final analysis everything belongs to God.

¹³ We do not belong to any minister, and we are entitled not to have just one minister from God. We should be enjoying the ministry of all his ministers. “Hence,” as Paul says, “let no one be boasting in men; for all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas [Peter] or the world [of mankind] or life or death or things now here or things to come, all things belong to you; in turn you belong to Christ; Christ, in turn, belongs to God.” (1 Cor. 3:21-23) So let us follow God, recognizing his ownership of us and of all who are his special ministers in our behalf.

“GOD’S BUILDING”

14. (a) Besides a farmer, to what else is God likened in his work with Christians? (b) Hence, what also are workers with God, and, besides being offspring of Adam, what else can we be today?

¹⁴ God’s work with regard to Christians may be compared not only to farming but also to building. God is a Builder, an Erector of a building; and if we are “God’s fellow workers,” then we must be builders also. This is the inescapable fact that the apostle Paul reminds us of by saying: “We are God’s fellow workers. You people are . . . God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:9) Do we grasp that thought? “People” are God’s building. It is a staggering thought for a person to realize that, aside from being a descendant of God’s first human creation Adam, he is built by God, he is part of God’s building of a particular kind. All men are offspring of God’s first human creation, but how many today are “God’s building”?

15, 16. (a) In his building operation whom on earth is God pleased to use? (b) Do all have the same assignment of work, and how did Paul illuminate this fact in 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11?

¹⁵ In this building work, God is pleased to use human “fellow workers.” What part of the work does a human fellow worker do? Not all fellow workers have the same part or same type of work to perform in the building activity. Some may have a more prominent or important part, according to the undeserved kindness of God granted to them. The apostle Paul saw and appreciated his own special assignment of work. He tried to shoulder the responsibility of it, not sidestepping the extra calls, the continual calls, that it made upon him. So, describing his own special work, particularly in connection with the Corinth congregation, Paul wrote:

¹⁶ “According to the undeserved kindness of God that was given to me, as a wise director of works I laid a foundation, but someone else is building on it. But let each one keep watching how he is building on it. For no man can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”—1 Cor. 3:10, 11.

17. In what part of the building was Paul, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, especially interested, and how does Revelation 21:9-14 show the fitness of this?

¹⁷ Having been made an “apostle of Jesus Christ through God’s will,” Paul had a part in God’s building program like that of a “director of works” or master builder or chief artificer. As such, Paul would be interested in the building from the bottom up, for, as a wise director of works, he knew how important the foundation of a building is. Christian apostles had to do with the foundation work of the congregation, for, in Revelation 21:9-14, the congregation under Christ is likened to a city, New Jerusalem, and the foundations of this symbolic heavenly city are said to be apostles, “the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (1 Cor. 1:1, 2) It was very fitting that Paul always tried to be in on the groundwork of the Christian building program. He made it his special effort to do pioneering in new, unworked territory. Thus he could say:

18. With regard to his working territory with the good news, what did Paul write to the Romans?

¹⁸ “I will not venture to tell one thing if it is not of those things which Christ worked through me for the nations to be obedient, by my word and deed, with the power of signs and portents, with the power of holy spirit; so that from Jerusalem and in a circuit as far as Illyricum [part of what is today Yugoslavia] I have thoroughly preached the good news about the Christ. In this way, indeed, I made it my aim not to declare the good news where Christ had already been named, in order that I might not be building on another man’s foundation; but, just as it is written: ‘Those to whom no announcement has been made about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’ Therefore also I was many times hindered from getting to you [Romans]. But now that I no longer have untouched territory in these regions, and for some years having had a longing to get to you whenever I am on my way to Spain, I hope, above all, when I am on the journey there, to get a look at you and to be escorted part way there by you after I have first in some measure been satisfied with your company.”—Rom. 15:18-24.

19. In his appreciation of the vital part of a building, how did Paul show he had the spirit of God and of Christ?

¹⁹ In this way Paul had, not only the hard work, but also the pleasure of getting things started and then seeing them grow. He knew that a builder could get things started off in a wrong direction, or on an improper footing. He appreciated so much the importance of a right and good foundation for things. In this regard he had the spirit of God and of Christ. God, the great Builder of all things, emphasized the importance of a foundation when he said to the God-fearing Job: “Where did you happen to be when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you do know understanding. Who set its measurements, in case you know, or who stretched out upon it the measuring line? Into what have its socket pedestals been sunk down, or who laid its cornerstone?” (Job 38:4-6) Jesus Christ illustrated the importance of a firm foundation when he said: “He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock-mass. Consequently, when a flood arose, the river dashed against that house, but was not strong enough to shake it, because of its being well built.”—Luke 6:47, 48.

THE FOUNDATION

20. (a) To be a fellow worker of God, to whose specifications must one give regard? (b) Why could a fellow worker of God not lay a foundation other than the one that Paul laid?

²⁰ A person could not be a fellow worker of God and at the same time disregard the specifications of God, who is the Main Builder and to whom the building is to belong. With regard to the base on which the building rests, God approves of only one foundation for it. The apostle Paul knew what that foundation was. When he founded the Corinth congregation, this was the foundation that he laid in order to work in harmony with God and have God’s approval upon his work. Every other fellow worker of God had to recognize that foundation that Paul had laid and then build upon it rather than try to lay some other foundation and transfer the superstructure to that other foundation. That was why Paul warned: “No man can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:11) This was the rock-mass to which the Lord Jesus referred when he said to the apostle Peter: “On this rock-mass I will build my congregation, and the gates of Haʹdes will not overpower it.”—Matt. 16:18.

21. As regards baptism in water, how did Paul lay Jesus Christ as the foundation?

²¹ Pioneering Paul said with regard to the Corinth congregation: “I laid a foundation.” (1 Cor. 3:10) Now, in what way did Paul lay Jesus Christ as the foundation? Well, when Paul first came to Corinth to preach, he did not preach Simon Peter or Cephas, nor the eloquent Apollos, nor even himself; nor did he baptize anybody there in his own name. In a challenge he could say to them: “No one may say that you were baptized in my name.” (1 Cor. 1:15) Shortly after having left Corinth, Paul was reported as being in Ephesus and there baptizing in Jesus’ name. (Acts 19:1-7) So he baptized in the same name in Corinth.

22, 23. (a) When working with the Jews in Corinth, how did Paul lay Jesus Christ as the foundation? (b) Because of his being the Foundation, Jesus Christ was made by God to be what to his disciples?

²² The apostle Paul laid Jesus Christ as a foundation in that he taught that Jesus Christ is the basis for our salvation from sin and death. The record of Paul’s pioneer work in Corinth says plainly: “He would give a talk in the synagogue every sabbath and would persuade Jews and Greeks. When, now, both Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began to be intensely occupied with the word, witnessing to the Jews to prove that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 18:1-5) Even in that land of pagan Grecian philosophy Paul did not try to blend Jesus Christ with intellectual pagans or worldly-wise philosophy, but he preached Jesus Christ impaled on a torture stake as a human sacrifice to God. Paul says:

²³ “Christ dispatched me, not to go baptizing, but to go declaring the good news, not with wisdom of speech, that the torture stake of the Christ should not be made useless. For both the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks look for wisdom; but we preach Christ impaled, to the Jews a cause for stumbling but to the [non-Jewish] nations foolishness; however, to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because a foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and a weak thing of God is stronger than men. But it is due to him that you are in union with Christ Jesus, who has become to us wisdom from God, also righteousness and sanctification and release by ransom; that it may be just as it is written: ‘He that boasts, let him boast in Jehovah.’”—1 Cor. 1:17, 22-25, 30, 31; Jer. 9:24.

24. When coming into the stronghold of pagan philosophy such as Corinth was, whom did Paul persist in preaching, and why?

²⁴ When Paul came to Corinth to preach the good news, he was not overawed by the worldly wisdom of the pagan Greeks. He did not try to display great intellectualness in a worldly way in order to compete with Greek philosophy and to show that he was smarter than pagan philosophers and thus to win followers. He did not try to tickle the ears of men who were seeking worldly wisdom, human theories and philosophies. He came there to lay Jesus Christ as a foundation for a Christian congregation. “And so,” says he, in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, “I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come with an extravagance of speech or of wisdom declaring the sacred secret of God to you. For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him impaled. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling; and my speech and what I preached were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of spirit and power, that your faith might be, not in men’s wisdom, but in God’s power.”

25. In a situation like that of Paul in Corinth, how may a pioneering Christian feel, but what can he do?

²⁵ Thus, like Paul the apostle, a pioneering Christian today may be trembling and feeling quite weak on coming into a stronghold of worldly philosophic wisdom. Yet he can make a demonstration of God’s spirit and power and establish the faith of others in God.

26. (a) How did the Lord encourage Paul in Corinth, and so what did he do? (b) Why was the Corinth congregation found still standing years after that?

²⁶ Little wonder that it was necessary for the Lord to encourage Paul in Corinth, just as we read: “By night the Lord said to Paul through a vision: ‘Have no fear, but keep on speaking and do not keep silent, because I am with you and no man will assault you so as to do you injury; for I have many people in this city.’ So he stayed set there a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God.” (Acts 18:9-11) God’s Word was not put to rout by worldly-wise pagan philosophy. The congregation that Paul founded in Corinth was still there and flourishing years later when Paul wrote his first and second letters to the Corinthian Christians. It had been founded on a right foundation. It could stand firm.

The Need of Noninflammable Materials

1. When was the Christian congregation founded, and on what foundation, and how did Peter’s keynote speech show that fact?

THE only foundation allowed for “God’s building” is his Son Jesus Christ. The true Christian congregation, not Christendom, was founded on that foundation nineteen centuries ago, on the day of Pentecost, Sivan 6, of the year 33 C.E. at Jerusalem. Serving as ‘God’s fellow worker,’ the apostle Peter courageously announced God’s foundation for God’s building and concluded his keynote speech to the Jews there assembled, saying: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you impaled.”

2. To what foundation did Peter’s counsel to the conscience-stricken Jews point, and where do members of God’s building stand in this space age?

² Then, when conscience-stricken Jews asked what they should do according to God’s provision, Peter still held true to God’s one foundation by counseling them: “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit.” (Acts 2:1-38) That foundation there laid has withstood the raging storms of the centuries. Today, in this materialistic, modernistic, science-worshiping, nuclear, space age, the members of God’s building stand unmoved on that same imperishable foundation.

3, 4. (a) What sacrifice must we accept as lying at the basis of our salvation, and why? (b) In building, is it sufficient to build on him only as the ransom sacrifice and what did Peter’s Pentecost speech show?

³ Building on Jesus Christ as the Foundation means more than building on him as the ransom sacrifice for our sins. It is true that his human sacrifice lies at the basis of our salvation to eternal life. We must accept in their strict meaning Jesus’ words: “The Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” (Matt. 20:28) We must accept in their exact sense the apostle Paul’s words: “Our Savior, God, whose will is that all sorts of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:3-6) But we must accept him as more than our Ransomer.

⁴ We must put faith and hope in him as the resurrected Jesus Christ, exalted to glory in the heavens. This was how Peter preached him to the Jews on the day of Pentecost. He presented him as the resurrected Jesus, whom God had exalted to his own right hand and made to be the King-Priest foreshadowed by the ancient Melchizedek king of Salem and priest of the Most High God.

5. Peter s application of Psalm 110:1 calls for what application of Psalm 110:4, and so we must accept Jesus in what capacity?

⁵ Thus Jesus ascended to heaven, in fulfillment of Psalm 110:1 as written by King David. Hence Peter, after telling of Jesus’ being exalted to God’s right hand, refers to Psalm 110:1 and says: “Actually David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘Jehovah said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.”’” It is therefore to the exalted Lord Jesus Christ at God’s right hand in heaven that verse four of Psalm 110 is addressed, in these words: “Jehovah has sworn (and he will feel no regret): ‘You are a priest to time indefinite according to the manner of Melchizedek!’” This fact is repeatedly confirmed later on in the inspired scriptures addressed to the Christianized Hebrews. (Acts 2:32-35; Heb. 1:1-4, 13; 5:5-10; 6:19 to 7:22; 10:12, 13) As Christians we must accept Jesus in that official position.

6. (a) By now how have conditions with regard to God and his Christ changed since those described in Peter’s speech? (b) How have the Gentile nations treated Christ, but how must we now accept him?

⁶ However, since the apostle Peter made his Pentecostal speech, circumstances have changed radically with regard to God and his Christ. Just ten days before Peter’s speech Jesus had ascended to heaven to sit down at God’s right hand, and only 638 years of the Gentile Times of 2,520 years’ length had passed. But now those Gentile Times have ended. Autumn of 1914 marked their end. Jesus’ time of waiting at God’s right hand has ended. At that time God brought him forth as his enthroned, crowned King, fully authorized to start ruling in the midst of his enemies. God then sent the rod of his installed King Jesus Christ out of the heavenly Zion, with the command to go subduing in the midst of his enemies. Since then he has reigned. He was rejected by men, by the Gentile nations who have preferred their League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations; but we must now accept him as God’s reigning King! If we put faith in him as the “precious corner of a sure foundation” laid in heavenly Zion, we shall never go panicky over world conditions or come to disappointment.—Isa. 28:16; 1 Pet. 2:6-8.

7. How has Christendom formally recognized Christ as a ransom sacrifice but how does she treat him in his present-day capacity?

⁷ Christendom, with her hundreds of millions of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant members, has seemingly made much of the sacrificed Christ. She displays crucifixes everywhere, showing Christ nailed to a cross. She has her church steeples topped with crosses to symbolize the instrument on which Christ was put to death. She celebrates her religious masses daily, her annual Good Friday, her weekly or monthly Lord’s supper. She pays formal respect to him as a ransom sacrifice, but she stumbles over him as reigning King at God’s right hand. Christendom, up to more than half her population, worships before the ruler of Vatican City as the reigning “Vicar of Christ.” At the same time, up to the whole of her population (961,112,000), Christendom rejects the reigning heavenly Christ and chooses to have no king but Caesar, the political factors of this earth with their United Nations, even Vatican City advocating this organization.

8. How are men trying to devaluate Jesus Christ today, and from what unexpected quarter does this attack come against him?

⁸ Today, in this time of modernistic thinking, men are attempting to strip Jesus Christ even of his status as the Son of God and of his value as the ransom sacrifice for saving mankind. This new attack on Jesus Christ comes from an unexpected quarter, from ordained Protestant clergymen who are on the faculties of theological seminaries and departments of religion and yet are endeavoring to introduce a “theology without God” and a religious philosophy that “God is dead.” Says an article published in the 1966 Edition Britannica Book of the Year, page 671:

9. How has this rejection of traditional belief in God been accompanied by a seemingly “deepened loyalty to the figure of Christ,” so that what does being a Christian mean?

⁹ “What do the proponents of this radical theology suggest as a substitute for the idea of God, and why do they (or should they) still claim the name ‘theologian’? It may seem paradoxical, but the repudiation of traditional theism has been accompanied by a deepened loyalty to the figure of Jesus. He is, in another of [the German pastor] Bonhoeffer’s phrases, ‘the man for others,’ who, by his utter dedication to the welfare of his fellowmen even unto death, made possible for them—and made possible for us today—a life of courage and hope. To be a Christian does not mean to recite the creed or to participate in the ritual of the Church but to be a man for others, too, and to consecrate one’s life to their service, thus both finding and manifesting the freedom of the authentic humanity disclosed in the life and death of Jesus Christ.”

10. Is that the Christ whom Paul laid as a foundation in his day, and, in that regard, how did Paul present Christ in Colossians 2:2-10?

¹⁰ Such a mere Godless, humanitarian Christ is not the one whom the apostle Paul laid as a foundation in his day. The question of who and what Jesus Christ is presents no mystery to honest Bible students today. Who the Christ was to be was long a “sacred secret of God,” but the apostle Paul goes on to say with regard to the revealed Christ: “Carefully concealed in him are all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. This I am saying that no man may delude you with persuasive arguments. . . . Therefore, as you have accepted Christ Jesus the Lord, go on walking in union with him, rooted and being built up in him and being stabilized in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with faith in thanksgiving. Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ; because it is in him that all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily. And so you are possessed of a fullness by means of him, who is the head of all government and authority.”—Col. 2:2-10.

11. This is the Biblical Christ recognized as the Foundation by what Christians today, and so of what may a person who undertakes a Bible study with them be sure?

¹¹ This is the Biblical Christ whom Jehovah’s witnesses of today recognize as the Foundation that Jehovah God has provided. This is the only Foundation upon whom Jehovah’s witnesses as “God’s fellow workers” can build and do build. Any seeker after God who comes in contact with Jehovah’s witnesses today and undertakes a study of the Holy Bible with them can be perfectly sure of one thing: that he will not be led away from Christ into the religious philosophies of Christendom but that he will faithfully be built up spiritually on the only Biblical foundation there is, and that is Jesus Christ the Son of Jehovah God.

HOW ARE WE BUILDING?

12. Though we are on the right Foundation, what fire warning does Paul give us in 1 Corinthians 3:12, 13?

¹² We are now absolutely sure of being on the right foundation. How, though, are we to be built up upon this Foundation? The apostle Paul sounds a note of warning in this regard, saying to “God’s fellow workers”: “Now if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood materials, hay, stubble, each one’s work will become manifest, for the day will show it up, because it will be revealed by means of fire; and the fire itself will prove what sort of work each one’s is.”—1 Cor. 3:12, 13.

13. As to one’s watching how he is building on the right Foundation, what questions arise as to what is built up?

¹³ This is why Paul said earlier: “Let each one keep watching how he is building on it.” (1 Cor. 3:10) But what is it that a fellow worker of God is building on the one foundation, Jesus Christ? Is it a doctrinal structure, a building made up of Bible teachings? And may some of these doctrines be compared to gold, silver, precious stones, wood materials, hay, stubble, according to their religious worth or importance? And is this a doctrinal structure that a person is building up within himself by his personal Bible study and by getting an understanding of Bible teaching and then exercising faith in it? And is it our doctrinal building that is to be tested by fire as to the durableness of its materials? Is it one’s personal self-instruction in knowledge, understanding and faith about which the apostle Paul is talking?

14, 15. What does Paul’s language show he is talking about building, and how does the context prove this?

¹⁴ Look again! Read Paul’s words again! He is not talking about building a doctrinal structure and developing a well-worked-out religious creed or set of beliefs. No, but he is talking about building people. He says: “You people are . . . God’s building.” (1 Cor. 3:9) This building was foreshadowed by the temples that the Jews built for the worship of God at Jerusalem. In logically following up this thought, the apostle Paul proceeds to say:

¹⁵ “Do you not know that you people are God’s temple, and that the spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you people are.”—1 Cor. 3:16, 17.

16. So this is a temple of what, and built upon what, and built for what purpose?

¹⁶ This temple of living persons, this spiritual temple, is being built up with Jesus Christ as the essential, main foundation. “You,” says Paul, in Ephesians 2:20-22, “have been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, while Christ Jesus himself is the foundation cornerstone. In union with him the whole building, being harmoniously joined together, is growing into a holy temple for Jehovah. In union with him you, too, are being built up together into a place for God to inhabit by spirit.”

17. As “God’s fellow workers,” are we creating, or just how are we building on the Foundation?

¹⁷ So, as “God’s fellow workers,” we are not creating people who did not exist before, but we are making certain persons out of people who already exist as humans. With God’s help, what sort of persons are we making out of people? We are making disciples of Christ out of them; we are making Christians in the true sense; we are building up Christian personalities in others. This is what we should be doing, if we are building on the precious Foundation that Jehovah God has laid in the heavenly Zion, namely, Jesus Christ. We desire to produce the real Christians; otherwise, our work at building will be wasted.

18. How did Jesus, in his parable of the wheat and weeds, illustrate the need for carefulness, and so how could we be working with the planter of the weeds?

¹⁸ In his parable of the wheat and the weeds (or tares) Jesus pictured that there would be many imitation Christians. Outwardly, at the start of growth, the real thing and the imitation would look quite alike so that the one could easily be mistaken for the other. That is why, when the farm laborers wanted to pull out what looked to them like weeds at an early stage of growth, the farm owner said: “No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, you uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.” (Matt. 13:29, 30) Jesus explained that, “as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one.” (Matt. 13:38) Consequently, as Paul warned, we have to watch how we are building on the Foundation Jesus Christ. If we are building imitation Christians, symbolic weeds, then we are working with the planter of the weeds, Satan the Devil.

19. As to what we build, what question arises, and what choice of materials can we make to determine the outcome?

¹⁹ Will the sort of Christians we build withstand the day of fire? Or will all our work go up in smoke? It all depends upon what we build into the Christians that we are making. We must build with fire-resistant, noninflammable materials, as it were. In our building work we can use materials that compare with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Of course, if we build with materials corresponding with woodstock, hay, stubble, we could normally expect our building to be destroyed in the fire. Gold, silver, precious stones are noninflammable. They would be expected to stand up under the fire test.

20. By what methods has Christendom been making professed Christians over sixteen centuries, and what question comes up?

²⁰ For sixteen centuries Christendom has claimed Christ as her Foundation and has produced thousands of millions of professed Christians, and today she has over 961 million of them left. In earlier centuries she has forced them into her religious organization at the point of the sword. She has baptized them into the church system as infants a few days old. She has adopted the religious philosophies and practices of pagans in order to ease their way over into the church system. She has let her religious flock remain a part of this political, commercial, social, militaristic world while at the same time giving them good standing in the church system. What sort of Christians has she produced?

21. When will the answer to the question be fully furnished, and what will happen to Christendom and her flock?

²¹ If the answer is not already manifest in the case of individual churchgoers of Christendom, it will shortly be manifest in the oncoming fiery day just preceding the world’s Armageddon. Then Christendom as a whole will stand exposed as not Christian. Then Christendom will be laid bare as being a part, in fact, the dominant part of Babylon the Great, the world empire of false, Babylonish religion. It will be revealed that she has built Christians in name only, using combustible ways and means like wood, hay, stubble. The climax of the spiritual harvesttime will come, and the symbolic weeds will be completely separated from the true Christians and will be burned, literally destroyed, as pictured in the parable of the wheat and the weeds. (Matt. 13:36-42) Then all Babylon the Great, including unchristian Christendom, will be brought to everlasting ruin.—Rev. 18:1 to 19:3.

GOLD, SILVER, PRECIOUS STONES

22. If building with noninflammable materials, how have we been building with gold, silver, precious stones, and how does Psalm 19 indicate this?

²² Well, then, have we been building disciples of Christ with symbolic gold, silver and precious stones? Yes, if we have been inculcating, engraving in these converts the laws, commandments and principles of God’s written Word. Yes, if we have been instilling in them the chaste, peaceable “wisdom from above.” (Jas. 3:17) In Psalm 19:7-11 we read: “The law of Jehovah is perfect, bringing back the soul. The reminder of Jehovah is trustworthy, making the inexperienced one wise. The orders from Jehovah are upright, causing the heart to rejoice; the commandment of Jehovah is clean, making the eyes shine. The fear of Jehovah is pure, standing forever. The judicial decisions of Jehovah are true; they have proved altogether righteous. They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much refined gold; and sweeter than honey and the flowing honey of the comb. Also, your own servant has been warned by them; in the keeping of them there is a large reward.”

23. How does the apostle Peter compare the quality of faith that must be built in one?

²³ Furthermore, as regards the quality of faith, conviction, confidence in God and Christ, the apostle Peter writes: “For a little while at present, if it must be, you have been grieved by various trials, in order that the tested quality of your faith, of much greater value than gold that perishes despite its being proved by fire, may be found a cause for praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”—1 Pet. 1:6, 7.

24. How did Jesus indicate to the Laodicean congregation that there is spiritual gold to be acquired?

²⁴ To the Laodicean congregation the glorified Jesus Christ mentioned gold and said: “You are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich.”—Rev. 3:14-18.

25. How do the Proverbs speak of the gold, silver and precious things that can be used as noninflammable materials?

²⁵ As respects the lasting preciousness of wisdom, discernment, understanding and thinking ability, the wise man of old was inspired to write: “If you keep seeking for it as for silver, and as for hid treasures you keep searching for it, in that case you will understand the fear of Jehovah, and you will find the very knowledge of God. For Jehovah himself gives wisdom; out of his mouth there are knowledge and discernment. And for the upright ones he will treasure up practical wisdom.” (Prov. 2:4-7) “Happy is the man that has found wisdom, and the man that gets discernment, for having it as gain is better than having silver as gain and having it as produce than gold itself. It is more precious than corals, and all other delights of yours cannot be made equal to it.”—Prov. 3:13-15.

26. What, then, does building with the noninflammable materials mean as regards the disciples whom we are making?

²⁶ To make sure of the permanence of the building work and to have divine approval upon it, we must build with these things that the inspired Bible compares with gold, silver, corals and precious stones. It means that the persons whom we are striving to make disciples of Christ we must educate, train, discipline in the godly qualities of heavenly wisdom, spiritual discernment, appreciation of integrity, devotion to Bible principles, respect for the laws, commandments, orders, reminders and judicial decisions of Jehovah God, faith in his written Word, sticking to the theocratic organization of God’s people, love of God’s “sheep” that are in the care of the Fine Shepherd Jesus Christ, unbreakable attachment to God’s Messianic kingdom and a fearless willingness to bear witness to it. We are “God’s fellow workers,” and so we need to build up in the disciples of Christ the new personality that is like that of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:20-24 tells us:

27. What does Ephesians 4:20-24 have to say about this “new personality”?

²⁷ “You did not learn the Christ to be so, provided, indeed, that you heard him and were taught by means of him, just as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old personality which conforms to your former course of conduct and which is being corrupted according to his deceptive desires; but that you should be made new in the force actuating your mind, and should put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.”

28. What must we do with the old personality, and what action must follow this up?

²⁸ Similar are these instructions in Colossians 3:9-12, 14: “Do not be lying to one another. Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all things and in all. Accordingly, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.”

29. What quality will such materials prove to have in the day of fiery test, and what kind of disciples are we trying to build in obedience to Matthew 28:19, 20?

²⁹ Building materials such as these, which are incorporated into a Christian personality, are noninflammable materials. They will prove enduring and resistant to the fire of any day of examination and testing of the genuineness of one’s Christianity. This is the type of Christian that will come through any fiery period still Christian, whereas a mere professor of Christianity would be reduced to ashes and be exposed as an imitation, a counterfeit. This is the Christian, the disciple of Christ, that we are trying to produce in obedience to Jesus’ command: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”—Matt. 28:19, 20.

30. (a) As we near the day for destruction of Babylon the Great, what questions arise as to our building work? (b) What do we not desire to suffer then, but what do we desire to receive?

³⁰ What sort of work is our building work? What sort is it proving to be today when the exposure of falsities, the modernistic thinking, the insanity of nationalism and the disregard for God’s laws are putting to the proof the genuineness and endurance of everyone’s Christianity? What sort will our building work prove to be in the day near at hand when Jehovah God destroys Babylon the Great and, with it, every imitation Christian? We do not care to suffer fire loss and have all the product of our Christian building work disappear. We prefer to receive a reward for work of the right sort done with enduring, fire-resistant, noninflammable materials. Says 1 Corinthians 3:14, 15: “If anyone’s work that he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved; yet, if so, it will be as through fire.”

“SAVED . . . AS THROUGH FIRE”

31. As a builder, why did Paul write his two letters to the Corinth congregation, and what reward did he want to have, according to his first letter to the Thessalonians?

³¹ The apostle Paul did not want to suffer any fire loss. That is why, in the case of the Corinth congregation, he wrote his two letters to the Corinthians. He said to them that he desired to “present you as a chaste virgin to the Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2) That is why Paul wrote to the persecuted Christians in Thessalonica and said: “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, seeing that you accepted the word under much tribulation with joy of holy spirit, so that you came to be an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For what is our hope or joy or crown of exultation—why, is it not in fact you?—before our Lord Jesus at his presence? You certainly are our glory and joy.” (1 Thess. 1:6, 7; 2:19, 20) What a reward for Paul to present them as a product of his work!

32, 33. (a) What can be said about a builder who suffers fire loss, as to whether he himself will be saved? (b) To snatch him out of the fire, what will his brothers, “God’s fellow workers,” have to do?

³² Will a builder who has built on Christ as the Foundation with inflammable materials himself pass through the fire and at last be saved? Possibly not! He himself may be destroyed in the fire! However, if he is saved to life eternal, then it will be because he has come through the fire that destroyed his own building work on others. To gain such a salvation after proving to be such a poor builder, he will have to incorporate in himself building materials, Christian qualities, that will make him at last fire-resistant. He will have to be snatched from the destructive fire by the loving, timely intervention of his Christian brothers.

³³ As one modern translation of 1 Corinthians 3:15 (Mo) presents the case: “If a man’s work is burnt up, he will be a loser—and though he will be saved himself, he will be snatched from the very flames.” If he chooses to remain on the one true Foundation, Jesus Christ, his brothers as “God’s fellow workers” will have to do some rebuilding in him, building into him the noninflammable, fire-resistant Christian qualities. Hence Jude 22, 23 tells us:

34. How does Jude 22, 23 speak of a similar act of rescue?

³⁴ “Also, continue showing mercy to some that have doubts; save them by snatching them out of the fire. But continue showing mercy to others, doing so with fear, while you hate even the inner garment that has been stained by the flesh.”

35. (a) What course is too dangerous to rely upon for gaining salvation? (b) Can anyone escape coming into the fire test, and how do true lovers of Christianity desire to come through the fire?

³⁵ None of us who professes to be a Christian can escape coming into the fire of the decisive test. Every lover of true Christianity will desire to come through that fire, with tested Christian qualities, to the glory of God the Great Builder, whose fellow workers we are. For anyone carelessly to rely on escaping eternal destruction by at last being barely saved with merely suffering the loss of the product of one’s activity is too dangerous a course. What real lover of life in God’s service wants to be saved from annihilation by being snatched out of the fire? Sincere, wise fellow workers of God do not care to prove themselves poor builders and suffer fire loss. They appreciate the joyful reward that God holds out to all his faithful fellow workers. This is what they desire and what they are working for!

36. As regards personal benefit, what building work should we appreciate, and what action should we take toward it, in what way, with what result?

³⁶ Let us, then, appreciate all the Christian building work that God’s constructive theocratic organization is doing on each one of us. At the same time let us do God’s approved work in cooperation with that organization, as we continue building on the one right foundation, Jesus Christ, doing so with the noninflammable, fire-resistant materials of spiritual gold, silver and precious stones. This will result in our own everlasting life and that of others on whom we do building work.

What Price Government?

IN ORDER to get rulership or power in government, men have been ready to stoop very low. World history is filled with the names of rulers who have used bribery, lies, intrigue and murder to gain power. Men have murdered their wives, and wives their husbands; sons, daughters, mothers and close relatives have been imprisoned, enslaved, poisoned, beheaded and slaughtered in a lust for governmental power. Some have been willing to betray their country to an enemy nation—a terrible price to pay.

The Bible tells us that there have been seven great world powers that have succeeded one another in ruling over humankind in the world’s political field, namely, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and finally the Anglo-American Empire system. The world’s system of political government is pictured in the Bible as a “wild beast” having “seven heads.” How did this “wild beast” and the “seven heads” thereof get their authority in government and what price did the beast and its component governments have to pay for this authority?

WHAT THE THRONE IS

The Bible speaks of the “throne” or “seat” of the “wild beast.” (Rev. 13:1, 2; AV) Would this mean the capital city of the world power that happened to rule at any period of history? We know that during the rule of the seven world powers the capital city representing the dominant world power has changed with the change of political control. From the seventeenth century up until World War II, England dominated as the world power and in the