VERS. XII.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
Wood, hay, stubble.
THAT the Apostle is speaking of Doctrines is plain by the Context.
I. He supposeth these builders, although they built not so well, yet to have set themselves upon that work with no ill mind, vers. 15. He himself shall be saved.
II. By the several kinds of these things, Gold, Silver, Wood, Hay, Stubble, we may un∣derstand not only the different manner of teaching, but even the different kinds of Doctrines taught. For if they had all propounded the same Truth and Doctrine, it had been no great matter, if they had not all declared it in the same manner. But while some produce Gold, Silver, Wood, precious, pure, sound Doctrine, others bring Hay, Stubble, Doctrine that is vile, trifling, and of no value or solidity; the very Doctrines were different, and some were such as could endure the trial of the fire, and others, which could not.
III. There were some who scattered grains of Judaism among the people: but this they did not, as professedly opposing the Gospel, but out of ignorance, and because they did not as yet sufficiently understand the simplicity of the Gospel. Paul calls these and such like Doctrines Hay and Stubble, to be consumed by fire: Yet while they in the mean time who had taught such things, might escape, because they opposed not the Truth out of malice, but out of ignorance had broached Falshood.
VERS. XIII.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
For the day shall declare it, because it is revealed by fire.
TWO things shall discover every mans work, The Day, and The Fire. Both which you may not understand amiss of the Word of God manifesting and proving all things. For the light of the Gospel is very frequently called the Day, and the Law of God called Fire, Deut. XXXIII. 2.
But I had rather in this place understand by the Day, the day of the Lord that was shortly coming, and by Fire the fire of Divine indignation to be poured out upon the Jewish Nation. And I am the more inclined to this interpretation, because there is so fre∣quent remembrance of that Day and Fire in the Holy Scriptures.
When therefore there were some, who built Judaism upon the Gospel foundation, and that out of unskilfulness, and ignorance, of the simplicity of the Gospel, (for of such the Apostle here speaks;) he foretels and threatens, that the Day and Fire of the Lord is coming upon the Jews: by which the folly and inconsistency of that superstructure would not only be revealed, but that very superstructure it self should perish.
This place being taken in this sense, all the things the Apostle speaks in this passage be∣come plain. That Fire shall prove Doctrines, whether they are Evangelical, or no. If any ones Work or Doctrine will endure the trial of that Fire, he shall receive the re∣ward of sound Doctrine: if the Doctrine of any will not endure it, but be consumed, he shall receive the damage of his pains and labour lost, but he himself shall be saved, but this, as he is proved by Fire.
Would you have a parallel of a Doctrine and building of straw, concerning which Paul speaks? The Rabbins deliver 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Let no man plaister his house with lime, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 But if he mix sand and straw with lime, it is allowed. The Tradition respects the times after the Destruction of the Temple, when by reason of the mourning for that fatal overthrow, it was not permitted them to whiten their Walls, but to let them be overrun with blackness, as a Colour fit for mour∣ners. Therefore it was not permitted to whiten the Walls with lime only, lest they should look too bright; but if they were mixed with sand and straw, whereby the whit∣ness of the lime might be darkned, then it was permitted. A Doctrine of straw truly! from a superstruction of straw, and that yields a very fit image of those Jewish Doctrines, of which the Apostle speaks, clouding the brightness of the Gospel.