“According to the grace of God which has been given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, but another builds on it. Now let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no one can lay another foundation than that which was laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, each one’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done.” 1 Cor. 3:10-13 (read 1 Corinthians 3)
The well-known hymn verse by Samuel Stone reads: “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; She is His new creation by water and the word. From heav’n He came and sought her to be His holy bride; With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.”
The church of Jesus Christ is built upon no other foundation than Jesus Christ and His cross. He gathered His church by dying on the cross and making atonement for the sins of all and then sending out His disciples with the good news of forgiveness of sins and life eternal through faith in His name.
As believers in Christ and members of His church, we are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). The “foundation of the apostles and prophets” is none other than their teaching, which is recorded for us in the Holy Bible, the Word of God.
And what is their teaching? It is Christ and His cross! It is the teaching that we are sinners who have come short of God’s holy demands, but that we have been redeemed by the shed blood of Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. It is the teaching that through faith in the crucified and risen Christ, we sinners obtain forgiveness for all our sins and everlasting life in heaven.
In John 3:14-16, Jesus said: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Are other foundations ever laid? Most certainly! But, when other foundations are laid, and Christ and His cross are no longer the foundation and chief cornerstone, those who are built upon those other foundations are not Christian; their assemblies are not the church of Jesus Christ in that place. Rather, their assemblies are cults — man-made organizations which, sadly, lead only to eternal destruction!
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And, the Bible also says, “There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Apart from Christ and His blood, shed on the cross for the sins of the world, there is no salvation for sinners like you and me! No works which we can do, no religious acts or ceremonies of man, nothing but the holy life and innocent sufferings and death of Jesus Christ in our stead can save us from the wrath of God that we deserve on account of our sins. That is why it is so foolish for man to build upon any other foundation but Christ Jesus and His Word.
This is why St. Paul says to the church in Corinth: “According to the grace of God which has been given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, but another builds on it. Now let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no one can lay another foundation than that which was laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10-11).
St. Paul preached “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2; cf. 1:23-24). He taught that all of us “have sinned and come short of the glory of God” but that all who believe are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24; Cf. v. 19-28).
St. Paul taught that we receive this salvation through faith in Christ and not by any merit or work of our own. When we trust in Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness, God justifies us and gives us eternal life in heaven (cf. Rom. 3:28; 5:1-2; Gal. 2:16).
This is the foundation which Paul, by the gracious working of God, has laid. And, this is the only foundation upon which the church of Jesus Christ can be built and upon which we can rest securely and be saved!
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, grant us Your Holy Spirit that we might trust in You alone for our salvation and build upon You and Your cross as the chief cornerstone of all our teaching. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, Modern English Version, Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.]