TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

The third chapter of 1 Corinthians says believers will face judgment when Christ returns, and that a person whose work is burned up will suffer loss. Some readers take this as a reference to purgatory. The text gives no support to that idea, and neither does any other part of the Bible. Purgatory was invented by the Roman Catholic Church and has no foundation in Scripture.

The Bible describes two destinations at death. People go either straight into torment in hell or straight into the presence of God. The account of the rich man and Lazarus shows this. The rich man died and found himself in torment, while Lazarus died and was carried to Abraham’s bosom, an Old Testament expression for a place of blessing in God’s presence.

What Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 3 is a loss of reward. Believers will be rewarded for what they have done that proves useful to the kingdom. Some of what people do will turn out to be worthless, and 2 Corinthians 5 refers to such things using a Greek word that means useless. First Corinthians 3 pictures them as wood, hay and stubble. These materials are neither bad nor evil; they simply carry no eternal value, and they will be burned up.

Whatever advanced the kingdom and honoured God will be rewarded. Sins do not come into question at that point, because the death of Christ has already paid for them in full.

If anyone’s work which 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 only so as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:14-15