We are requested to give an explanation of 1 Cor. 3:12-15, with especial reference to verse 15: "If any man's works shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." In order to arrive at a proper understanding of this scripture, it will be necessary to know the subject of the apostle's discourse. Referring to verse 3, we learn that there was a division among the Corinthians, and in this division the apostle saw an evidence of carnality. He says: "For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." The conclusion reached is that, "Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." And further, that those who labor, labor together with God, and that those who are converted under their labors are God's husbandry. Says the apostle: "Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." The apostle then states that Christ is the foundation upon which all must be built, and that "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." It is expressly stated in verse 9, that those who are built upon this foundation "are God's building." The apostle Peter also uses the same figure (1 Peter 2:5, 6): "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious." From this it is evident that that which was to be built upon Christ, the foundation, was those who accepted the gospel through the labors of Christian ministers. But not all who are brought into the church are lively stones. The apostle Paul continues (verses 12, 13): "Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." The laborer in the cause of God goes forth preaching the gospel; men believe the truth, and, outwardly, obey it; they are received into the church, and so far as the work of the ministry goes, they are built upon the Lord Jesus Christ; but God alone knows the heart, and it is impossible for the minister to tell how much of his work shall abide. It may be that as he builds up a church, by far the greater part of it, instead of being stones, is simply wood, hay, and stubble. Says the apostle: "If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon [that is, upon Christ] he shall receive a reward. But if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." By referring to 1 Cor. 1:12 we learn that these Corinthians had forgotten the one proper foundation upon which they could be built, and were saying, "I am of Paul; and I am of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." In this very division Paul saw an evidence that they were not right, and he simply warned them that they were carnal; that those who were building on Paul or Apollos or Peter did not belong to Christ, but that they were simply wood, hay, and stubble; and while those who had preached the truth to them, and had brought them to the point of nominally accepting Christ, would suffer loss because of their failure to make sure work, they would not, for that reason, be themselves lost. Strange as it may seem, some profess to find in this text an argument of universal salvation, but, as we have seen, it teaches the very opposite. It teaches that those only who are built on Christ, those who form characters that may properly be compared with gold, silver, and precious stones, will be saved, while those who, though built upon Christ in the sense of being instructed in regard to him, form only such characters as can be compared to wood, hay, and stubble, will be destroyed, and those who labored for them will fail of a reward because of their salvation. All ministers have not the same gift. Some succeed in interesting people, and lead them to take the first steps in the Christian life, but have not the faculty of fully establishing them in the truth. Such may be the means of bringing out a great many people, and yet they may see but very few finally saved through their efforts. Others are enabled to do more thorough work, to establish their converts in the Christian faith; and while they may be instrumental in adding fewer names to the church books, they may see more souls saved through their instrumentality. This, we believe to be the teaching of this scripture. C. P. B.