[Raptor]

In regard to the passage in 1 Corinthians 3, D. Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981) writes:

"It is His love to us, and our relationship to Him, our fear, our dread, lest in any way we should grieve Him or disappoint Him. But I have to take it even a step beyond that. There is a fear that should govern all we are and all we do…The Apostle puts this to the Corinthians in the First Epistle chapter 3, beginning at verse 9: ‘For we are labourers together with God…let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon…If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy…’ Now there we are dealing with a different type of fear…Let us look at some other examples…in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 5, at verse 9: ‘Wherefore we labour…For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ…Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…’…‘Knowing the terror of the Lord…’…All this, of course has nothing to do with our justification; this has nothing to do with our receiving salvation…‘he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire,’ This is a great mystery. I do not pretend to understand it…But the teaching seems to be clear…It does not mean that a man can fall from grace; but it does mean this – that a man who is saved can know ‘the terror of the Lord’…

It is God who appointed the two mountains – Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal – in order to teach a vital lesson to the children of Israel…According to whether they obeyed Him or not they would have blessing or cursing. Our Lord taught this same truth, or not they would have blessing or cursing. Our Lord taught this same truth, we are to be examined when the Master comes. Some are going to be beaten with a few stripes, some with many stripes. In other parables also He teaches the same truth, for example, the parable of the Foolish Virgins, the parable of the Talents in Matthew 25….All were spoken to emphasize this idea of judgment and reward….

In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 it is made quite plain and explicit…The Scripture does not mean, of course, that by doing these things you earn your salvation. No! Salvation is entirely by grace, it is the free gift of God….We are all saved in exactly the same way, that is, by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ….But having made that abundantly clear, the Scripture goes on to say that there is to be an assessment of our Christian life and works, and that, though we are all equally saved, there is some kind of difference...though the man who built wood, hay and stubble remains justified by faith, he is going to suffer loss. How, we do not know…There is the element of punishment, or at any rate of deprivation, the few stripes, the many stripes, and the Apostle’s expression, ‘he shall suffer loss.’ We do not understand it fully…. The Apostle Paul himself…tells us that this truth was always present in his mind…it was because he knew ‘the terror of the Lord’ and that he would have to stand ‘before the judgment seat of Christ’ and give account…The ‘suffering of loss,’ to which the Apostle refers must be only temporary…”

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Life in the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1975), 78-80, 363-364, 370.