Transcript

ANNOUNCER: According to 1 Corinthians 3:15, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, will all believers have at least some good works. Will some have zero good works to show? Let’s discuss this question today here on Grace and Focus, and we are so glad that you are joining us today. Grace and Focus is a radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We’re located in North Texas, and our website is faithalone.org. We also produce short YouTube videos. Our channel is YouTube, Grace Evangelical Society. We’re hoping that you will subscribe to them and like them. And also, upcoming, we have our national annual Grace Evangelical Society conference. The dates are May 18th through the 21st, 2026. We ask you to go through the registration process and get ready to be with us. Our upcoming theme is “Believe in Jesus for Life”.  All the details at faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s question and answer discussion here is Bob Wilkin, along with Sam Marr. 

SAM: All right, Bob, we’ve got a question from E.C. It’s regarding one of your blogs recently called “Are Some Believers Fruitless”. And he starts with a quote from your blog where you say, “Paul is not suggesting that anyone will have 100% of his work burned up. And this is in reference to 1 Corinthians 3:15. So we should read the verse first and then I’ll introduce his question. 

BOB: Yeah, before you read, let me just give you a little background to that blog. I was reading an article by Roger Fankhauser, a friend of mine. And he was discussing five passages, one of which was 1 Corinthians 3:15, which he said are commonly cited to say that there are some believers with zero good works. And he was arguing that we misunderstand all five passages. So I wrote a blog agreeing with him and suggesting I don’t even think an unbeliever goes through life without doing good works. So I think E.C., he makes some interesting points about 1 Corinthians 3:15. But I think he doesn’t get the big picture. So go ahead and read verse 15 and later on we’ll look at the bigger context. 

SAM: I’ll actually start in verse 14. He says, “If anyone’s work which he has built on it endure, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” And this is the context is building works on the foundation that no one else can lay. The foundation has already been laid and your works are being built on it. They’re tested by fire, wheat, straw, stubble are burned away, precious stones, gold, silver, not burned away. And so his question is, even though the word “all” is not used, anyone’s work implies totality, since there’s no clear indication that it is part of his work being burned up. How do you respond to that interpretation? 

BOB: Yeah, I would see it differently. I would say the context makes it very clear that this is only part of the work, but this is part of the art and science of interpretation. Or it’s also called exegesis or hermeneutics. So let me point out a few things. First of all, verses 5 through 15 are dealing with the Judgment Seat of Christ. He starts in these verses talking about Paul himself and Apollos. So he’s using them as examples and he calls them wise master builders. And then he talks about the gold, silver, precious stones, the wood, hay, straw. 

Wood, hay and straw are not bad works. They’re works that lack eternal value. So that would include bad works that were burned up, but it would also include things like hunting, fishing, golfing, playing tennis, you know, watching sports on TV, recreation, maybe skiing. But it really doesn’t have eternal value or has very small eternal value. That’s the way I would understand that. And when he gets to verse 15, he’s talking about if any of the work of Paul or Apollos or anyone like them, any master builders burned up, he will be healthy at the Judgment Seat of Christ, even though some of his work is burned up because he has all of this gold, silver and precious stones that weren’t burned up. You see, if it was all burned up, how would he be healthy at the Judgment Seat of  Christ? I assume that E.C. is interpreting saved in verse 15 to refer to getting into the kingdom. 

SAM: It’s unclear, but he’s probably not thinking in terms of you are of a healthy appearance at the Judgment Seat.

BOB: Okay, so here’s a question I have for E.C. or any of you that would agree with his interpretation. What does Ephesians 2:9 say as far as when we were saved? 

SAM: It’s already been done? 

BOB: For by grace, you have been saved. Now, what is the verb tense in 3:15? 

SAM: Future. 

BOB: Okay, so he will be saved. Isn’t he already saved? He is in one sense, but not in the sense of being spiritually healthy at the Bema. You can’t be spiritually healthy at the Bema unless you’re at the Bema, the Judgment Seat of  Christ. You can be spiritually healthy now. 1 Corinthians 15:2 talks about that as long as we hold fast to Paul’s gospel. But if we let go of the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection and our resurrection and the fact that our labor in the Lord is not in vain, 1 Corinthians 15:58, then we won’t be healthy at the Bema. Read verses 16 and 17, which a lot of people don’t realize are part of this context. 

SAM: “Do not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” 

BOB: Okay, now all this is corporate in 16 and 17, and he’s talking about the Church, the body of Christ. And he’s talking about the Church in verses 5 through 15 too. What he’s saying is, if you build up the Church, if you’re a wise master builder of the Church, then you’re going to hear well done good and faithful servant. You’re going to be healthy at the Bema, 1 Corinthians 3:15, but if you tear down the Church, if you’re up seeking to hinder the ministry of your local church and the leadership of the local church, then God’s going to judge you here and now. And you’re going to reap consequences in this life, and if you continue in that, you’ll reap negative consequences at the Judgment Seat of  Christ. All believers are eternally secure, but E.C. is acting like the passage ends in verse 15. No, verse 15 ends the discussion of the wise master builder, the overcomer, to use the language of 1 John and Revelation 2 and 3. But verses 16 and 17 is still talking about believers, and it’s talking about if a believer is defiling and hurting the local church. 

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BOB: I was talking to a pastor from Washington State, a mutual friend of ours had come down with a very serious disease, and he told me he was convinced that was because of the fact that the pastor actually helped split a church. He went out of his way actually to split the church, and I was like this could be God’s judgment, but 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 isn’t teaching that, because that’s talking about our physical bodies. That’s saying if we defile our bodies with things like smoking or excess drinking, then God’s going to destroy us. And he said, no, no, no, no, no, no, look at the context, 5 through 17. 

So I called up Zane Hodges and I said, Zane, what do you think? And he said, well, it’s true that later in 1 Corinthians, he says, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, but here he’s clearly talking about the local church in 5 through 17. And he said, you can’t divorce 16 and 17 from 5 through 15. If a person destroys God’s church, if they go out of their way to divide a church, it’s quite possible that some illness they then experience as a result of God’s discipline in their lives. 

So what’s the evidence that verse 15 is not saying all their works are burned up? Well, first of all, not all of Paul’s works are going to be burned up. I’m sure E.C. wouldn’t say that. And he’s talking about himself, not all of Apollos’ works are going to be burned up. And he’s talking about Apollos and he’s talking about any wise master builder. There’s no such thing as a wise master builder that is going to have all their works burned up. Secondly, you’ve got the issue that “saved” here doesn’t refer to getting into the kingdom. That’s already guaranteed for us. This future salvation is only guaranteed if we continue as a wise master builder as verses 16 and 17 say. If Paul later started destroying churches, well, then Paul would not be healthy at the Judgment Seat of  Christ. 

The implication here is you must continue in this until the end of your life because we know Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:12, “If we endure, we shall also reign with him.” And there are many verses like that in Scripture. So even though a person who is currently a wise master builder, they must remain that in order to be spiritually healthy at the Bema.

Another example is 1 Corinthians 5:5, where he’s turned someone over to Satan for the destruction of his fleshly inclinations that his spirit might be saved in the Day of Christ Jesus. Well, that’s being spiritually healthy at the Judgment Seat of  Christ because he had to be persevering in godliness. And the same thing in 1 Corinthians 15:2, where he says, “by which you are being saved,” present tense, present passive, “if you hold fast, the word which I preached you.” Well, obviously, we’re already saved in the sense of having eternal life, but he’s talking there about being spiritually healthy. 

So yeah, I would argue that verse 15 is talking about reward. To be saved at the Judgment Seat of Christ is to be spiritually healthy. I’m fairly sure that E.C. is taking this as referring to the Judgment Seat of Christ. If he thinks this is referring to the Great White Throne Judgment, then he’s got it all wrong because no believers are going to be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. 

SAM: Yeah, I think he’s in the right spot. I think you just didn’t have the same framework that you had that anyone there is the same anyone in 14 and 15. 

BOB: I’m very sympathetic with the fact that we’re not saved by our works, that it’s not of works unless anyone should boast. I get that. But that’s not the same as saying, we need to argue there are some believers that have absolutely zero good works. If we’re in the image of God, then even the unbeliever is going to be showing love to their children, love to their parents. Didn’t Jesus say that—even a father’s going to give his son what his son needs and what his son asks for, all fathers are going to do that. So I would expect that at the Great White Throne Judgment, unbelievers are going to have good works. It says their works are judged. There’s nothing that indicates all their works will be evil. 

So we don’t need to say there will be believers with zero good works in order to know for sure that our salvation from eternal condemnation has zero to do with us earning, or gaining, or maintaining, or lasting life. 

SAM: Hope that helped answer your question, E.C. Check out that blog by Bob on faithalone.org. It’s called Are Some Believers Fruitless? And let’s all keep grace in focus. Thanks. 

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On our next episode: how much do we need to know about Jesus to be saved? Please join us and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.