If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.
Parallel Translations
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If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.
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Yf eny mannes worke that he hath bylt apon byde he shall receave a rewarde.
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If any mans worke, that he hath built vpon, abide, he shall receiue wages.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 3:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 3:8 Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
- Matthew 25:21-23 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ “He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents in addition to them.’ “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
- Matthew 24:45-47 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.
- 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
- Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the expanse. Those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
- 1 Peter 5:1 Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.
- 1 Peter 5:4 When the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the crown of glory that doesn’t fade away.
- Revelation 2:8-11 “To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna write: “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things: “I know your works, oppression, and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.
- 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 14. If any man’s work remains, he will receive…
14. If any man’s work remains, he will receive a reward. His meaning is, that those are fools who depend on man’s estimation, so as to reckon it enough to be approved by men, for then only will the work have praise and recompense — when it has stood the test of the day of the Lord Hence he exhorts His true ministers to have an eye to that day. For by the word remains, he intimates that doctrines fly about as it were in an unsettled state, nay more, like empty bubbles, they glitter for the moment, until they have come to be thoroughly tested. Hence it follows, that we must reckon as nothing all the applauses of the world, the emptiness of which will in a very little be exposed by heaven’s judgment.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath…
14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
Ver. 14. If any man’s work abide] Error as glass is bright, but brittle, and cannot endure the hammer or fire, as gold can, which, though rubbed or melted, remains firm and orient.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If any preacher keeps the foundation, and the doctrine…
If any preacher keeps the foundation, and the doctrine which he hath built upon the true foundation prove consonant to the will of Christ, God will reward him for his labour: he shall hear the voice saying: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If any man's work abide,.... That is, if any…
If any man's work abide,.... That is, if any minister's doctrine will bear the test of daylight, to be looked into, and abide the fire of the word; as gold, silver, and precious stones will, or such doctrines as are comparable to them, which will shine the brighter for being tried by this fire:
which he hath built thereupon; upon the foundation Christ, in entire consistence with, and proportion to it, and highly becoming it:
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he shall receive a reward; either from the churches of Christ here, who shall honour and respect him for his faithful labours in the ministry; or from Christ hereafter, who will say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He shall receive a reward - A peculiar degree…
He shall receive a reward - A peculiar degree of glory. Some degree even the other will receive, seeing he held the foundation; though through ignorance he built thereon what would not abide the fire.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. If any man's work abide] Perhaps there…
Verse 14. If any man's work abide] Perhaps there is here an allusion to the purifying of different sorts of vessels under the law. All that could stand the fire were to be purified by the fire; and those which could not resist the action of the fire were to be purified by water, Nu 31:23. The gold, silver, and precious stones, could stand the fire; but the wood, hay, and stubble, must be necessarily consumed. So, in that great and terrible day of the Lord, all false doctrine, as well as the system that was to pass away, should be made sufficiently manifest; and God would then show that the Gospel, and that alone, was that system of doctrine which he should bless and protect, and none other.
He shall receive a reward.] He has not only preached the truth, but he has laboured in the word and doctrine. And the reward is to be according to the labour. See note on 1Co 3:8.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Co 3:14-15. If any maws work abide which he…
1Co 3:14-15. If any maws work abide which he hath built, &c. — If the superstructure which any minister of Christ raises on the true foundation, if the doctrines which he preaches can bear the test by which they shall be tried at that day, as being true, important, and adapted to the state of his hearers; and the converts which he makes by preaching these doctrines, be of the right kind, truly regenerated and holy persons, he shall receive a reward — In proportion to his labours. If any man’s work shall be burned — If the doctrines which any minister preaches cannot bear the test of the great day, as being false or trivial, or not calculated to convert and edify his hearers; or if the converts which he makes by preaching such doctrines be only converts to some particular opinion, or mode of worship, or form of church government, or to a certain sect or party, and not converts to Christ and true Christianity, to the power as well as the form of godliness, to the experience and practice, as well as to the theory of true religion, and therefore cannot stand in that awful judgment, he shall suffer loss — Shall lose his labour and expectation, and the future reward he might have received, if he had built with proper materials; as a man suffers loss who bestows his time and labour on the erection of a fabric of wood, hay, and stubble, which is afterward consumed. But he himself — That preacher himself; shall be saved — Supposing he himself be a true disciple of Christ, built up in faith and holiness on the true foundation; yet so as by fire — As narrowly as a man escapes through the fire, when his house is all in flames about him: or rather, if so be that his own religion, his personal faith and holiness, can bear both the fiery trial which he may be called to pass through on earth, whether of reproach and persecution, or of pain and affliction, or any other trouble, and also the decisive trial of the last day. Let it not be supposed by any that the apostle is here putting a case that never occurs, or can occur: such cases, there is reason to believe, have often occurred, and still do and will occur; in which ministers, who are themselves real partakers of the grace of Christ, and truly pious, yet, through error of judgment, attachment to certain opinions, or a particular party, or under the influence of peculiar prejudices, waste their time, and that of their hearers, in building wood, hay, and stubble, when they should be labouring to raise an edifice of gold, silver, and precious stones; employ themselves in inculcating unessential or unimportant, if not even false doctrines, when they ought to be testifying with sincerity, zeal, and diligence, the genuine gospel of the grace of God. Dr. Macknight, who considers the apostle as speaking in these verses, not of the foundation and superstructure of a system of doctrines, “but of the building or temple of God, consisting of all who profess to believe the gospel,” gives us the following commentary on the passage: “Other foundation of God’s temple, no teacher, if he teaches faithfully, can lay, except what is laid by me, which is Jesus, the Christ, promised in the Scriptures. Now if any teacher build on the foundation, Christ, sincere disciples, represented in this similitude by gold, silver, valuable stones; or if he buildeth hypocrites, represented by wood, hay, stubble, every teacher’s disciples shall be made manifest in their true characters; for the day of persecution, which is coming on them, will make every one’s character plain, because it is of such a nature as to be revealed by the fire of persecution: and so that fire, falling on the temple of God, will try every teacher’s disciples, of what sort they are. If the disciples, which any teacher has introduced into the church, endure persecution for the gospel without apostatizing, such a teacher shall receive the reward promised to them who turn others to righteousness, Dan 12:3. If the disciples of any teacher shall, in time of persecution, fall away, through the want of proper instruction, he will lose his reward; he himself, however, having in general acted sincerely, shall be saved; yet, with such difficulty, as one is saved who runs through a fire.” But, as by the foundation, which he says he had laid, the apostle undoubtedly meant the doctrine concerning Christ, and salvation through him, it seems more consistent with his design to interpret what refers to the superstructure attempted to be raised by different builders, of doctrines also, and not of persons introduced by them into the Christian Church: and to understand him as cautioning the Corinthians against disfiguring and destroying the beautiful edifice, by inculcating tenets which were heretical, and pernicious to the souls of men, and would not stand the test of the approaching fiery trial. Thus what follows.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain If any man’s work abide ... - If it…
If any man’s work abide ... - If it shall appear that he hast taught the true doctrines of Christianity, and inculcated right practices and views of piety, and himself cherished right feelings: if the trial of the great Day, when the real qualities of all objects shall be known, shall show this.
He shall receive a reward - According to the nature of his work. See the note on 1Co 3:8. This refers, I suppose, to the proper rewards on the Day of Judgment, and not to the honors and the recompense which he may receive in this world. If all that he has taught and done shall be proved to have been genuine and pure, then his reward shall be in proportion.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain abide--abide the testing fire (Mat 3:11-12).
abide--abide the testing fire (Mat 3:11-12).
which he hath built thereupon--which he built on the foundation.
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reward--wages, as a builder, that is, teacher. His converts built on Christ the foundation, through his faithful teaching, shall be his "crown of rejoicing" (Co2 1:14; Phi 2:16; Th1 2:19).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14. Abide—Unconsumed.
14. Abide—Unconsumed.
Built thereupon—Upon Christ, the true foundation; for those who build not on Christ but reject him, will not only suffer loss but be lost.
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A reward—For him whom Christ is the foundation, good works are an investment with God. See note on Rom_3:27.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) This is the general application to Christian teachers…
(14) This is the general application to Christian teachers of what has gone before. Those who have built well shall have their reward in their work having survived the trial of the fire; those who have built otherwise shall lose everything—their work, which should have remained as their reward, will perish in the fire—and they themselves will be as men who only make good their escape by rushing through a conflagration, leaving all that was theirs to be destroyed. (See Mar_9:49.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If any man"s work shall abide. St. Paul is…
If any man"s work shall abide. St. Paul is speaking primarily of teachers, though, of course, his words apply by analogy to all believers. He shall receive a reward. One of the teacher"s rewards will be his converts, (1Th_2:19) who will be "his joy and crown of glorying"; (Php_2:16) another will be "a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1Pe_5:2, 1Pe_5:4; Dan_12:3) yet another will be fresh opportunities for higher labour. (Mat_25:23)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 14. If any man's work shall abide. Shall stand…
14. If any man's work shall abide. Shall stand the test of trial. Such a builder will be rewarded. There shall be stars in his crown.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 14. “If the work of any one which he…
14. “If the work of any one which he has built upon it abides, he shall receive a reward.” You see here that regeneration is the foundation; neither of these representative characters becomes an apostate, because in that case the foundation would be destroyed, which is not true in the transaction here described. On the contrary, the foundation of each one abides, the difference being in the superstructure built on it. The one builds a superstructure consisting of gold, silver and precious stones, which are fire-proof and competent to endure all the seventies of God’s castigatory and scrutinizing judgments, not only in this life, but at the last day. While the other having the same foundation and hence just as good substratum on which to build as his neighbor, instead of using fire-proof materials, builds a house consisting of wood, hay and stubble, all of which are not only very evanescent, but exceedingly combustible. Therefore, in times of fiery trial, he finds his superstructure utterly incompetent to resist the flames. Hence it must go down in ashes, utterly incompetent to endure the seventies of the Divine judgments.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain If any man's work shall abide which he built…
If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward .
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain God, in the N.T. Scriptures, offers to the lost,…
reward
God, in the N.T. Scriptures, offers to the lost, salvation, and, for the faithful service of the saved, rewards. The passages are easily distinguished by remembering that salvation is invariably spoken of as a free gift (e.g.) Joh 4:10; Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8; Eph 2:9 while rewards are earned by works; Mat 10:42; Luk 19:17; 1Co 9:24; 1Co 9:25; 2Ti 4:7; 2Ti 4:8; Rev 2:10; Rev 22:12.
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A further distinction is that salvation is a present possession Luk 7:50; Joh 3:36; Joh 5:24; Joh 6:47, while rewards are a future attainment, to be given at the coming of the Lord; Mat 16:27; 2Ti 4:8; Rev 22:12.
reward 1Co 9:17; Dan 12:3; 1Co 3:14
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The terms "a person" and "anyone's" and "he" and "himself" refer to believers.
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work remains
"work lasts" or "work survives"
if anyone's work is burned up
This can be stated in active form. AT: "if the fire destroys anyone's work" or "if the fire ruins anyone's work" (See: Active or Passive)
he will suffer loss
The abstract noun "loss" can be expressed with the verb "lose." AT: "he will lose his reward" (See: Abstract Nouns)
but he himself will be saved
This can be stated in active form. AT: "but God will save him" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
works
reward
suffer
save
fire
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.