1. Introduction
First Corinthians 3.15, in which Paul writes that certain ‘builders’ of the Corinthian church ‘will be saved, but only as through fire’ (σωθήσɛται, οὕτως δὲ ὡς διὰ πυρός), served for centuries in the West as a proof text for purgatory.Footnote 1 This verse became a lightning rod in Catholic–Protestant debates, and until recently the rhetoric of Protestant exegetes commenting on this verse was clearly fuelled by controversies over the doctrine of purgatory.Footnote 2 While this sort of anti-papal rhetoric is thankfully absent from most modern commentaries, reticence regarding the potentially purifying function of fire persists. A few modern exegetes still maintain that this verse refers to post-mortem purification that leads to salvation;Footnote 3 however, the prevailing consensus insists that the fire of 1 Cor 3.13–15 plays no soteriological function in the purification of individuals whatsoever.
Three interrelated arguments typify the dominant position: (1) according to v. 13, the fire will test the work (τὸ ἔργον) of the builders, not the builders themselves; the fire therefore plays no role in the judgment of individuals;Footnote 4 (2) in the same verse, Paul states that the fire will test (δοκιμάσɛι), not that it will purify;Footnote 5 and (3) ‘saved, but only as through fire’ (σωθήσɛται, οὕτως δὲ ὡς διὰ πυρός) in v. 15 is a proverbial statement, meaning something akin to the expression found in Amos 4.11 and Zech 3.2: ‘you were like a brand snatched from the fire’ (cf. Jude 23).Footnote 6 The expression is frequently paraphrased as ‘saved by the skin of one's teeth’, indicating a narrow escape. A crucial assumption in this last argument is that the phrase διὰ πυρός must be taken in the local sense.Footnote 7 According to this reading, which is adopted by the majority of commentators, the fire in no way contributes to the builder's salvation.Footnote 8 Indeed, the builder is delivered despite having to pass through the danger the fire presents. On the other hand, if διὰ πυρός is taken in the instrumental sense, the verse would mean ‘the builder will be saved by means of fire’, which would attribute a purifying—indeed, salvific—function to the fire itself.
In a recent contribution to NTS, Alexander N. Kirk effectively dismantles the first of the above three presuppositions, disputing the widely held view that the building materials of v. 12 and the ‘work’ (τὸ ἔργον) of vv. 14–15 refer to the deeds or activities of the builder. Kirk argues persuasively that the building materials and the work refer rather to human persons, the Christian believers who are joined to the church and who collectively comprise the temple of God.Footnote 9 Noting that immediately preceding and following the ‘building’ metaphor are two related metaphors—‘you are God's field’ (v. 9) and ‘you are God's temple’ (v. 16)—both of which refer to the Corinthian believers, he suggests that the building metaphor and the building materials likewise allude to the Corinthians.Footnote 10 Moreover, Paul's use of the singular ‘work’ (τὸ ἔργον) in vv. 14-15 is similar to his use of the same noun in 9.11, where Paul inquires of the Corinthians ‘are you not my work [τὸ ἔργον] in the Lord?’, unambiguously equating τὸ ἔργον with those whom he has converted.Footnote 11 The temple imagery employed in this passage also recalls other NT texts that refer to Christians being built up as a temple (cf. Eph 2.20-22; 1 Pet 2.4-8), while the expectation that Paul would receive reward or loss as determined by the fate of his ‘spiritual children’ is consistent with his views regarding final rewards articulated elsewhere (cf. 1 Thess 3.5; Phil 2.16; 4.1; Gal 4.11; 2 Cor 1.14).Footnote 12 Moreover, this identification of the building materials and the work of the builder with converted persons finds support in a number of patristic exegetes.Footnote 13 Kirk also questions the consensus position that v. 15 is a proverb connoting a narrow escape, rightly pointing out how distant the purported parallels to this supposed proverb are.Footnote 14 However, he sidesteps the key argument in its favor, namely the assertion that the prepositional phrase διὰ πυρός must be taken in the local and not in the instrumental sense. Further, while he disputes the adequacy of reading v. 15 as a proverb, he offers no comment on how the fire functions if the saying is not taken proverbially. Thus, while Kirk's article presents a forceful and well-reasoned challenge to one of the basic assumptions of the dominant interpretation of this pericope, the prevailing consensus requires further criticism.
The present article, which dovetails with and expands upon Kirk's critique of the proverbial reading of 1 Cor 3.15, makes a case for the instrumental sense of διά in v. 15 and for the purifying and soteriological function of fire in vv. 13-15. After demonstrating Paul's use of temple imagery in this pericope's wider context, I shall argue that Paul is alluding to a specific temple text, LXX Malachi 3, where fire plays an explicitly refining function, and that Paul's allusion assumes this purificatory function of fire. I shall then proceed to a linguistic analysis of the Greek phrases διὰ πυρός and σῴζω + διά + genitive, contending that Paul employs the preposition διά instrumentally and thus assigns a soteriological function to the fire of eschatological judgment. While I have no wish to defend the view that this passage should be read as a proof text for purgatory, I do wish to argue that v. 15 is more than simply a proverb connoting a narrow escape.
2. A Refining Fire in God's Temple
First Corinthians 3.15 comes near the conclusion of a passage in which Paul has been urging upon his readers the necessity of church unity. Divisions have sprung up in Corinth, with some claiming allegiance to Apollos, others to Paul. In his appeal to unity, Paul employs two extended metaphors: one of planting (3.6-9) and one of building (3.10-15). The former analogy stresses that Paul and Apollos are ‘God's servants working together’ (v. 9). Paul planted, Apollos watered, but both are working towards a common purpose. In continuity with the planting metaphor, the Corinthians are compared to ‘God's field’ (v. 9). From here Paul transitions to another metaphor in which the Corinthians are compared to ‘God's building’ (v. 9). It is in this context that he introduces the motif of fire:
Κατὰ τὴν χάριν τοῦ θɛοῦ τὴν δοθɛῖσάν μοι ὡς σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων θɛμέλιον ἔθηκα, ἄλλος δὲ ἐποικοδομɛῖ. ἕκαστος δὲ βλɛπέτω πῶς ἐποικοδομɛῖ. θɛμέλιον γὰρ ἄλλον οὐδɛὶς δύναται θɛῖναι παρὰ τὸν κɛίμɛνον, ὅς ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. ɛἰ δέ τις ἐποικοδομɛῖ ἐπὶ τὸν θɛμέλιον χρυσόν, ἄργυρον, λίθους τιμίους, ξύλα, χόρτον, καλάμην, ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον φανɛρὸν γɛνήσɛται, ἡ γὰρ ἡμέρα δηλώσɛι, ὅτι ἐν πυρὶ ἀποκαλύπτɛται· καὶ ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστιν τὸ πῦρ [αὐτὸ] δοκιμάσɛι. ɛἴ τινος τὸ ἔργον μɛνɛῖ ὃ ἐποικοδόμησɛν, μισθὸν λήμψɛται· ɛἴ τινος τὸ ἔργον κατακαήσɛται, ζημιωθήσɛται, αὐτὸς δὲ σωθήσɛται, οὕτως δὲ ὡς διὰ πυρός. (1 Cor 3.10-15)
In this pericope, Paul has in mind the construction of a specific building—the temple. However, even those who detect this temple imagery rarely grasp its significance, particularly the importance of fire imagery in the temple. A fuller appreciation of this metaphor and its implications will contribute to our understanding of 1 Cor 3.15.
2.1. The Temple Metaphor
In vv. 16-17 Paul explicitly identifies the Corinthian church as the temple of God. Where he has previously stated, ‘you are God's field, God's building’ (v. 9), he now affirms, ‘you are God's temple’ (ναὸς θɛοῦ) (v. 16). While scholars occasionally suggest that Paul is mixing his metaphors here with no discernible unity between them, he is in fact employing a coherent and consistent cluster of metaphors that extend from v. 5 to v. 16. While less obvious than the explicit statement ‘you are God's temple’, the building metaphor likewise points to the temple. Paul describes the builders as making use of diverse materials: ‘gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw’ (χρυσόν, ἄργυρον, λίθους τιμίους, ξύλα, χόρτον, καλάμην). Part of Paul's purpose is to indicate that just as the first three of these materials can endure fire and the latter three are combustible, the work of some will withstand the fire of judgment while the work of others will be burned up. Additionally, however, Paul has chosen these particular materials to evoke an identifiable image. As G. K. Beale observes, ‘The only other place in Scripture where a “foundation” of a building is laid and “gold”, “silver”, and “precious stones” are “built” upon the foundation is Solomon's temple’.Footnote 15 Several texts attest to the use of individual elements, such as stones (1 Kgs 5.17), gold (1 Kgs 6.20-21, 28, 30, 35), or silver (1 Chron 22.14, 16) in the construction of the temple; however, it is to 1 Chron 29.2 in particular that Paul most clearly alludes. In this text David announces that he has provided the following materials for ‘the house of my God’ (οἶκον θɛοῦ μου): gold (χρυσίον), silver (ἀργύρον), wood (ξύλα), and precious stones (λίθον τίμιον). This allusion is reinforced by Paul's description of himself as a wise or skilled master builder (σοϕὸς ἀρχιτέκτων) in 1 Cor 3.10, which recalls the description of the builder of the tabernacle in LXX Exod 35.31-33, who is filled with the spirit in ‘skill’ or ‘wisdom’ (σοφίας) and is said ‘to be a master builder (ἀρχιτɛκτονɛῖν) according to all the works of a master builder (ἀρχιτɛκτονίας)’. Significantly, this ‘master builder’ also works with ‘gold’ (χρυσίον), ‘silver’ (ἀργύριον), ‘stone’ (λίθος) and ‘wood’ (ξύλα).Footnote 16 These intertextual links indicate that when Paul described the materials used by the builders and referred to himself as a ‘wise master builder’, he was intentionally alluding to the construction of the temple.Footnote 17
This temple metaphor, which is not made explicit until vv. 16 and 17, may extend all the way back to v. 5, where Paul compares the Corinthians to a field, for in the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish literature the temple is closely associated with garden imagery; indeed, the temple was filled with agricultural images (cf. 1 Kgs 6.18, 29, 32; 7.18-20, 22, 24-26; 7.42, 49-50).Footnote 18 Significantly, in certain texts from Qumran the community is described alternatively as a plantation and as a building in the context of referring to the community in terms of a temple.Footnote 19 1QS VIII.5-8, for instance, states that the Community will be ‘an everlasting plantation, a holy house for Israel and the foundation of the holy of holies for Aaron’.Footnote 20 Similarly, the juxtaposition of a planted vine and the temple occurs in Pseudo-Philo L.A.B. 12.8-9: after the Israelites commit idolatry through their worship of the Golden Calf, Moses prays to the LORD, saying that God has ‘planted this vine’ but that the vine ‘has not recognized its cultivator’ and so the vine has been ‘burned up’. Moses immediately shifts to a description of the temple: ‘you have adorned your house with precious stones and gold; and you have sprinkled your house with perfumes and spices and balsam wood’ before he returns to the image of the vine.Footnote 21
2.2. Malachi 3 and the Refiner's Fire
In light of these various texts that similarly juxtapose the plantation metaphor with the temple metaphor, it is apparent that in vv. 6–17, Paul is not shifting haphazardly between disconnected metaphors, but very intentionally and consistently focusing on the image of the temple.Footnote 22 Paul's deliberate use of this metaphor significantly locates the testing fire of God's judgment in the context of the temple, not simply in some ‘fantastic, possibly apocalyptic buildings’.Footnote 23 And this identification of the building as the temple is far from ‘inconsequential’, as Joseph Fitzmyer suggests it is.Footnote 24 Indeed, the allusion to the ‘temple’ (ναός) alongside the image of ‘fire’ (πῦρ) that tests ‘silver’ (χρυσόν) and ‘gold’ (ἄργυρον) and which ‘will burn’ (κατακαήσɛται) the work that is like ‘stubble’ (καλάμην) on ‘the day’ (ἡμέρα) suggests an allusion to LXX Malachi 3, according to which the LORD, who is described as a ‘refiner's fire’ (πῦρ χωνɛυτηρίου), comes into his ‘temple’ (τὸν ναόν) on ‘the day’ (ἡμέρα) of judgment and sits ‘as a refiner and purifier of silver and gold’ (ὡς τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ ὡς τὸ χρυσίον) to ‘purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver (ὡς τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ ὡς τὸ χρυσίον)’ (vv. 2-3).Footnote 25 A few verses later, Malachi describes ‘the day’ (ἡμέρα) as ‘burning (καιομένη) like an oven’ and prophesies that ‘all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble (καλάμη)’ and that the fire will ‘leave them neither root nor branch’ (v. 19).Footnote 26 The verbal similarities between these two texts are strong and suggest an intertextual link.Footnote 27
More broadly, if we accept Kirk's thesis that the building materials and work of 1 Cor 3.12-15 represent not deeds but human persons, both LXX Mal 3.3, 19 and 1 Cor 3.12 contain two categories of materials that represent two sorts of people: in both texts the righteous are likened to precious metals while the wicked are compared to highly flammable substances.
The recognition that intertextual allusions and echoes influence readers' interpretations of texts has become a commonplace of contemporary scholarship. The influential work of Richard Hays on this subject has drawn the attention of NT scholars to the literary trope of metalepsis or transumption, which suggests that when one text alludes to another, ‘the figurative effect of the echo can lie in the unstated or suppressed (transumed) points of resonance between the two texts’.Footnote 28 In light of the intertextual relationship between 1 Cor 3.10–15 and LXX Malachi 3, we may thus suggest that the purificatory function of fire explicit in Malachi 3 is implicitly present in 1 Cor 3.10–15. In speaking of the testing of the work of the builders of the temple on ‘the day’, Paul intended to recall Malachi's reference to the refining and purifying of the sons of Levi in the temple on ‘the day’. Thus the testing of the work in 1 Cor 3.13 may carry connotations of purification and refinement.
2.3. Testing and Refining the Work of the Builders
The suggestion that 1 Cor 3.10-15 transumes the purifying function of fire of Malachi 3 is strengthened—not weakened, as is often assumed—by the testing function attributed to the fire in v. 12. As noted above, two qualities of materials are tested, those that will endure the fire and those that will not. According to v. 15, the flammable substances will be burned up (κατακαήσɛται). This burning is the end result of the testing process for the inferior substances. We may assume a different result for those that endure the testing process. Significantly, in the Hebrew Bible and Septuagint, testing and refining are frequently mentioned in tandem (cf. Isa 48.10; Jer 9.6; Zech 13.9; Ps 66.10). Of particular relevance is the parallelism between the refining of silver and the testing of gold in Zech 13.9: ‘And I will put this third into the fire, and refine (πυρώσω) them as one refines silver, and test (δοκιμῶ) them as gold is tested’. While technically speaking testing and refining were two distinct stages in the smelting process, the phrases are here placed in synonymous parallelism, and in the poetry of prophetic speech the two procedures are collapsed into a single metaphor.Footnote 29 Also noteworthy is Theodotion's translation of Dan 11.35. Where the MT states that in the tribulation, the wise לצרוף … ולברר וללבן ‘may be refined, purified, and cleansed’, Theodotion makes explicit that this period is meant πυρῶσαι αὐτούς ‘to try them with fire’. Notably, it was no great leap for the translator to equate this fiery test with the refining, purifying, and cleansing of human beings. Given other contextual clues, most notably the allusions to LXX Malachi 3, where the fire serves to refine and purify the sons of Levi as silver, it is very probable that Paul thought not only of the testing, but also of the refining, of the precious metals he mentions.Footnote 30 And as Kirk has demonstrated, these precious metals represent human persons. As fire purifies the sons of Levi in Malachi 3, the fire that attends ‘the day’ in 1 Corinthians 3 will test the converts like silver and gold; what is imperfect will be burned away, and they will be refined and purified. Thus, arguments that emphasize the function of testing over against refining and the identity of the work as deeds over against individual believers are not as convincing as they may at first appear. We have seen that testing and refining were frequently linked together conceptually, and we have noted the plausibility of Kirk's argument that when Paul wrote of the work and materials of the builder, he had in mind not their teaching or their deeds, but those whom they had converted. The testing of the builder's work may therefore refer to the testing, refining, and purifying of individual believers by means of fire. This leads to the question of whether Paul assigns this fire any soteriological function, as may be indicated by his use of the verb σῴζω in v. 15.
3. Saved as through Fire
The crux of this passage, v. 15, which states that the builder ‘will be saved, but only as through fire’ (σωθήσɛται, οὕτως δὲ ὡς διὰ πυρός), has been identified as a proof text for purgatory by some, while the majority of interpreters support the assertion that ‘Paul is obviously borrowing from a common phrase, “barely escaped from the fire”’.Footnote 31 Indeed, it is now an axiom of Pauline scholarship that we are dealing with a proverbial or quasi-proverbial saying. However, no exact parallel to the construction σῴζω + διὰ πυρός is known, and most of the purported parallels to this supposedly ‘common phrase’ are quite distant. Certainly, none is sufficiently close to demonstrate the proverbial nature of our saying. It is my contention that we are dealing with neither proverb nor proof text, but with Paul's belief that on the day of the parousia—not in some post-mortem state of purgation—fire would play an instrumental role in the purification and salvation of some, just as it would play a destructive role in the judgment of others.
3.1. On the Ambiguity of διὰ πυρός
The lynchpin of the argument that 1 Cor 3.15 is a proverb alluding to a narrow escape achieved by passing through fire is the assertion that Paul employs the prepositional phrase διὰ πυρός in the local sense. To support this position, Walter Bauer cites a handful of Greco-Roman and Jewish texts that employ διὰ πυρός or διὰ φλογός in a local sense, where the image is of an individual rushing through a wall of fire to safety.Footnote 32 While Bauer's few examples do demonstrate the possibility of the local sense of this phrase, they do not exhaust the variety of meanings it could elicit, nor do they determine Paul's usage. Admittedly, the Septuagint does provide further examples of the local use (Num 31.23; 2 Chron 28.3; Isa 43.2; Zech 13.9; Ps 65.12 [66.12 MT]; 4 Macc. 18.14 [quoting Isa 43.2]). However, even in some texts that employ διὰ πυρός in the local sense, the phrase carries with it connotations of purification—particularly in texts that refer to precious metals. For instance, LXX Num 31.23, which follows a list of metals of various qualities, states, ‘everything that can withstand fire shall be clean…but whatever cannot go through fire (διὰ πυρός), shall be passed through the water’. The purifying function of the fire intensifies the cleansing function of water. Further, while I have already cited Zech 13.9 to demonstrate the parallelism between testing and refining, here I note the use of the phrase διὰ πυρός: ‘And I will put this third into the fire (διὰ πυρός), and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested’. Psalm 65.10–12 similarly states, ‘For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried…we went through fire (διὰ πυρός) and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place’. Thus, even when διὰ πυρός is used in the local sense, it may connote the purifying function of fire.
However, in addition to these examples of the local sense of διὰ πυρός, one could just as easily adduce several examples from the relevant literature where the phrase is used in the instrumental sense.Footnote 33 Philo, for instance, uses the instrumental sense in three of the four occurrences of διὰ πυρός in his corpus.Footnote 34 In De Abrahamo 1 he writes of ‘terrible destructions which have taken place on earth by the agency of fire and water (διὰ πυρòς καὶ ὕδατος)’ while in Mos. 2.219 he refers to businesses ‘carried on by means of fire (διὰ πυρός)’ and ‘instruments made by fire (διὰ πυρός)’. Letter of Aristeas 87 likewise describes the burnt offering being consumed by fire (διὰ πυρός). Perhaps more significantly, we also encounter the instrumental usage in the Septuagint, the NT, and the Apostolic Fathers. The phrase frequently occurs in the instrumental sense in the Maccabean literature. Third Maccabees 2.29 reports that Jews who were registered were to be ‘branded on their bodies with fire (διὰ πυρός)’; 4 Macc 7.12 describes Eleazar's resolve in spite of being ‘consumed by the fire (διὰ τοῦ πυρός)’; 4 Macc 9.9 alludes to ‘eternal torment by fire (διὰ πυρός)’. Further, in the NT, 1 Pet 1.7 speaks of faith being ‘tested by fire (διὰ πυρός)’. And the only two occurrences in the Apostolic Fathers are instrumental: 1 Clem. 11.1 describes how Sodom was ‘judged by fire (διὰ πυρός)’ while Herm. Vis. 4. 3.4 explains that gold is ‘tested by the fire (διὰ τοῦ πυρός)’.
Testament of Abraham 13 (Rec A) is often brought into discussions of 1 Cor 3.10–15 due to the verbal and thematic links between the two texts. While some have proposed that Paul was influenced by the Testament of Abraham,Footnote 35 and others have suggested that they were both drawing on a shared tradition,Footnote 36 the most plausible explanation for their strong similarities is that the Testament of Abraham was originally a Jewish document that Christian scribes have substantially redacted in light of 1 Cor 3.10-15.Footnote 37 One point of significant overlap is T. Ab. 13.11's echo of the διὰ πυρός from 1 Cor 3.15.Footnote 38 Significantly, in T. Ab. 13.11, the phrase is used instrumentally—δοκιμάζɛι τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔργα διὰ πυρός—allowing us to conclude that whoever made use of Paul's saying here apparently also interpreted his phrase in the instrumental sense.
While all this evidence is highly suggestive, it does not point decisively in favor of the instrumental reading, for as I have demonstrated, the phrase could be used in either the local or the instrumental sense. I have thus far merely sought to redress a lopsided emphasis on the local sense of this phrase in contemporary scholarship.
3.2. The Sense of σῴζω + διά + Genitive
In light of the flexible nature of the phrase διὰ πυρός, it is therefore instructive to consider the sense of the construction σῴζω + διά + genitive ‘to save by/through…’ elsewhere in the Pauline corpus and more broadly in the contemporary literature. The construction occurs twice in the Septuagint, in eight other instances in the Greek NT (not counting 1 Cor 3.15), frequently in the Apostolic Fathers, and sparingly in Philo and Josephus. In the vast majority of these cases, the preposition takes the instrumental sense.
The sense of eight of the ten additional biblical occurrences of the phrase σῴζω + διά + genitive is uncontroversial:
1. ‘…so he [the LORD] saved them [Israel] by the hand (ἔσωσɛν…διὰ χɛιρός) of Jeroboam son of Joash’ (LXX 2 Kgs 14.27).
2. ‘The Lord has founded Zion, and the humble among the people will be saved through him’ (δι᾽ αὐτοῦ σωθήσονται) (LXX Isa 14.32b).
3. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him’ (σωθῇ…δι' αὐτοῦ) (John 3.17).
4. ‘But we believe that we are saved through the grace (διὰ τῆς χάριτος…σωθῆναι) of the Lord Jesus’ (Acts 15.11).
5. ‘Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him (σωθησόμɛθα δι’ αὐτοῦ) from the wrath of God' (Rom 5.9).
6. ‘Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you…through which also you are being saved’ (δι᾽ οὗ…σῴζɛσθɛ) (1 Cor 15.1-2).
7. ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith’ (σɛσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστɛως) (Eph 2.8).
8. ‘He saved us through the water (ἔσωσɛν…διὰ λουτροῦ) of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit’ (Titus 3.5).
In each of the above passages—two of which are from undisputed Pauline epistles, and two of which are from Deutero-Pauline epistles—the phrase σῴζω + διά + genitive unambiguously takes the instrumental sense, and detailed discussion of each text need not detain us here. It is noteworthy that, with the obvious exception of the Septuagint texts, in each case the object of the preposition belongs to a cluster of theological themes related to the gospel: faith, grace, Jesus, the good news, or the waters of rebirth and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, one gathers the impression that resistance to the instrumental sense of ‘saved through fire’ in 1 Cor 3.15 stems from the apparent inconsistency between being saved by means of fire, on the one hand, and being saved by grace, the gospel, Jesus, or faith in Christ, on the other hand. For this reason, the remaining two biblical occurrences of the phrase σῴζω + διά + genitive are of particular significance, despite the difficulties implicit in their own meanings.
According to the Deutero-Pauline 1 Tim 2.15, ‘she [woman] will be saved through childbearing’ (σωθήσɛται…διὰ τῆς τɛκνογονίας). The instrumental sense of this phrase is frequently contested, presumably due to the tension it creates with the conviction that one is justified by faith, not works. The local reading of the verse would suggest that the woman's life will be preserved through the dangerous process of giving birth.Footnote 39 Attractive as this reading may be to modern exegetes who find this verse overtly patriarchal, it does not adequately fit the context of 1 Tim 2.15, for in the Pastoral Epistles σῴζω is always used soteriologically, and given this context, the instrumental sense of the preposition διά is most plausible.Footnote 40 The instrumental reading, moreover, coheres with the Jewish view that the travails of childbirth in some way overcome the curse of Eve (cf. Gen 3.16) and that women attain merit by fulfilling their duties as wives and mothers.Footnote 41
We also have a rough parallel to this construction in 1 Pet 3.20, where we read that in the days of Noah, ‘eight persons were saved through water’ (διɛσώθησαν δι’ ὕδατος). At first glance, this verse appears to support the local reading, and some have taken it in this sense, for Noah and his family were preserved as they physically passed through the waters of the flood.Footnote 42 However, as v. 21 explains, ‘baptism, which this [the flood] prefigured, now saves (σῴζɛι) you’. According to the allegorical logic of these verses, the water of the deluge typologically signifies the water of baptism and the verb διɛσώθησαν stands parallel to σῴζɛι.Footnote 43 Admittedly, reading the destructive waters of the flood as a type signifying the saving waters of baptism is, as R. T. France puts it, ‘a little whimsical’. However, as France himself goes on to observe, it is ‘certainly not beyond the imagination of a keen typologist’.Footnote 44 Indeed, if we follow the logic of 1 Peter 3 itself, the sense of the verse seems to be that the flood waters were instrumental in saving Noah and his family by buoying them up in the ark while cleansing the world of wickedness, just as the waters of baptism are instrumental in the salvation and cleansing of the believer.Footnote 45 Thus, in our consideration of the construction σῴζω + διά + genitive in 1 Cor 3.15, it is significant that in every other biblical instance it is used in the instrumental sense.
This grammatical construction is also quite common in the Apostolic Fathers, and there too the instrumental sense dominates (cf. 1 Clem. 9.4; 12.1; 58.2; 2 Clem. 3.3; Pol. Phil. 1.3; Herm. Vis. 3.3.5; 3.8.3; 4.2.4; Sim. 9.12.3). One possible exception that may permit a local reading is Herm. Sim. 9.12.3. A dominant allegorical motif in the Shepherd of Hermas is the construction of a tower, and the stones used to build this tower are said to pass through a certain gate. In the explanation of the allegory in 9.12.3 the Shepherd explains that some ‘will be saved through it [the gate]’ (σῴζɛσθαι δι᾽ αὐτῆς). The very mention of a gate in conjunction with the preposition διά would appear to suggest a local reading, particularly since earlier in the text we read of individuals physically passing through this gate (cf. 9.3.4; 9.4.1). However, the Shepherd further explains that the gate is Christ, and since according to Hermas's soteriology Christ is the means of salvation, the instrumental sense is also possible. It may even be that the text is intentionally ambiguous, holding together the two possible readings with the local sense prevailing at the allegorical level and the instrumental sense coming into focus in its interpretation.
The evidence from Philo further buttresses our case, for he too uses the construction σῴζω + διά + genitive exclusively in the instrumental sense (Leg. 3.189; Cherub. 130; Agr. 1.13; Abr. 145). The most significant of these is in his discussion of the judgment of Sodom:
… of the five finest cities in it four were about to be destroyed by fire, and one was destined to be left unhurt and safe from every evil. For it was necessary that the calamities should be inflicted by the chastising power, and that the one which was to be saved should be saved by the beneficent power (σῴζɛσθαι δὲ διὰ τῆς ɛὐɛργέτιδος). (Abr. 145)
While the ‘beneficent power’ that saved the one city is distinguished from the ‘chastising power’ (i.e. the fire) that destroyed the four other cities, it is striking that the phrase σῴζɛσθαι δὲ διά is used in the context of πῦρ where διά is used in the instrumental sense.
Finally, Josephus's use of the phrase σῴζω + διά + genitive admittedly presents something of an aberration, for he uses the construction on three occasions, and in each instance he employs διά in the local, not the instrumental, sense (Ant. 14.362; 17.275; Life 304). While this evidence indicates that one could in fact use the construction in the local sense, Josephus is the outlier. Further, Josephus's context must be taken into account: in each instance he refers not to eschatological salvation, but to physical preservation from danger in battle. This is quite different from Paul's use of the phrase, for which the biblical and early Christian evidence offers a far closer parallel. These three passages from Josephus notwithstanding, every other instance of the phrase σῴζω + διά + genitive that I have been able to find in the Greek literature most relevant to our study can or must assume the instrumental sense. This observation, alongside the number of examples of διὰ πυρός that allow that usage, points strongly in the direction of the instrumental sense of the phrase in 1 Cor 3.15.
We must, however, briefly pause to address the significance of the construction οὕτως…ὡς to consider what, if any, impact it has upon our conclusion. C. K. Barrett cites two other occurrences of this construction in 1 Corinthians, one of which indicates the metaphorical nature of the subject (9.26), and the other of which indicates a statement of fact (4.1).Footnote 46 With no further explanation, he asserts that this phrase signals the metaphorical nature of our verse, rather than the factual one. This metaphorical reading is assumed by the common translation ‘but only as’ and would seem to support the proverbial reading of v. 15. However, as Barrett himself concedes, the phrase may also be used to make a factual statement.Footnote 47 In fact, the precise phrase οὕτως δὲ ὡς occurs also in Aristotle (GA 734b 17-19) and Pseudo-Clement (Hom. 17.18), and in neither instance does it convey a metaphor or proverb.Footnote 48 Appeals to Paul's use of the construction οὕτως δὲ ὡς cannot therefore overturn the weight of the substantial evidence surveyed above.
3.3. The Soteriological Function of Fire
If the above linguistic evidence suggests that the διά in 1 Cor 3.15 is instrumental, in what sense is the fire of eschatological judgment instrumental in salvation, and more broadly speaking, how does this interpretation cohere with the soteriology Paul articulates elsewhere?
With Malachi 3 clearly in the background, the fire appears to save insofar as it purifies. Just as God refines inept priests in Mal 3.3, fire purifies incompetent builders in 1 Cor 3.15. The testing and refining function of fire in this text may be further illumined by similar motifs elsewhere in early Christian literature. For instance, according to Did. 16.5, ‘all humankind will come to the fiery test’ (πύρωσιν τῆς δοκιμασίας) and ‘those who endure (ὑπομɛίναντɛς) in their faith will be saved by the curse itself’ (σωθήσονται ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τοῦ καταθέματος). While the traditional reading of this text identifies ‘the curse’ as Christ (cf. Gal 3.13), some recent interpreters have identified ‘the curse’ that saves with ‘the fiery test’.Footnote 49 If this reading is correct, Did. 16.5 closely parallels our reading of 1 Cor 3.15. A more certain parallel is Herm. Vis. 4.3.4: ‘just as gold is tested by fire (δοκιμάζɛται διὰ τοῦ πυρός) and made useful, so also you who live in them are being tested (δοκιμάζɛσθɛ). Therefore those who endure (μɛίναντɛς) and pass through the flames will be purified by them’ (ὑπ᾽αὐτῶν καθαρισθήσɛσθɛ).Footnote 50 Here the fire that tests clearly has a purifying function. When Paul suggests that fire is instrumental to salvation, he appears to be thinking in similar terms.
This is not to question Paul's insistence that believers are justified by faith (cf. Gal 2–3 and Rom 3–4) and are ultimately saved through Christ (cf. 1 Cor 15.1-2; Rom 5.9). Indeed, in his building metaphor Paul assumes that the foundation is Christ (v. 12). Yet in Paul's soteriology the believer's justification and future salvation do not preclude the possibility of punishment for sins either in this life or at the last judgment (cf. Rom 14.10; 1 Cor 4.4-5; 5.5; 11.29-32; 2 Cor 5.10). The verb ζημιωθήσɛται in v. 15a may suggest that some of the saved will be ‘lightly punished at the judgment, depending on their deeds’,Footnote 51 and in this instance, the builder's punishment may be the painful purification process of being saved διὰ πυρός.Footnote 52 Perhaps the most relevant Pauline parallel is 1 Cor 5.5: ‘hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (ɛἰς ὄλɛθρον τῆς σαρκός), so that (ἵνα) his spirit may be saved (σωθῇ) in the day (ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ) of the Lord’.Footnote 53 Here the circumstances of exclusion, suffering, and possible death contribute (ἵνα) to the individual's salvation on ‘the day’.Footnote 54 Similarly, in 1 Cor 3.15, the fire of divine judgment on ‘the day’ appears to be the circumstance through which the builder is purified of his sins and through which Christ saves.
4. Conclusion
The dominant reading of 1 Cor 3.10–15 rests upon the following three assertions: (1) Paul's statement in v. 13 that fire will test the work of the builder indicates that only deeds and not individuals will be subjected to the fire; (2) the reference to testing precludes us from attributing any purifying function to the fire; and (3) his assertion that the builder ‘will be saved, but only as through fire’ (v. 15), is nothing more than a proverb connoting a narrow escape. Since Kirk has already called into serious question the first of the above premises, I have focused my attention on the remaining two.
In light of the probable allusion to Malachi 3, where fire plays a purifying and refining function, and given the frequent pairing of testing and refining in the Hebrew Bible, there is no obvious reason to exclude the potentially purificatory function of fire from Paul's statement that the fire will test the work of the builder. More substantially, since 1 Cor 3.15 has no precise parallel, it is difficult to accept the scholarly axiom that we are dealing with a common proverbial statement. Rather than accepting the consensus opinion, which is based on only very inexact parallels, I have considered this verse in its individual grammatical parts, for which there are ample parallels in the relevant Greek literature. The phrase διὰ πυρός can just as easily take the instrumental sense as the local sense, though scholars frequently draw attention only to the latter use. More significantly, in every other biblical occurrence of the construction σῴζω + διά + genitive it takes the instrumental sense. That this is the dominant usage is supported by its use in the related Greek literature. Further, since the phrase οὕτως δὲ ὡς may indicate either metaphor or fact, it presents no serious challenge to our reading.
Taken together with the recent contribution of Alexander Kirk, the arguments presented here require a significant paradigm shift in the interpretation of 1 Cor 3.10–15. The confidence with which so many modern commentators assert that διὰ πυρός must be taken in the local sense and that the fire cannot serve a purifying or soteriological function is unwarranted. It seems that those who have revolted against the use of 1 Cor 3.15 as a proof text for purgatory have overshot the mark in being overly skeptical regarding the possibility that fire may play a purifying function.Footnote 55 Indeed, the balance appears to be tipped in favor of the instrumental sense of διά and thus in favor of the soteriological function of fire in v. 15. The dominant reading, which has gone too long without critical scrutiny, cannot stand without further justification. Those wishing to defend it must give further consideration to Kirk's arguments and to the above intertextual and linguistic evidence.
