A claim has been made that Paul could not have written both the letter to the Ephesians and the first letter to the Corinthians. It is alleged that these letters make different statements about who is the foundation of the church. 1 Corinthians 3:11 it is Jesus Christ, but in Ephesians 2:20 the foundation is the apostles and prophets. One of these letters, it is suggested, was not written by the apostle Paul. One of these letters is a fake. What are we to make of this allegation?
The 1 Corinthian text, starting from verse 10 rather than reading just verse 11, says the following:
“According to the grace given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation but others have built upon it. Let each one look to how he builds. For no one is able to lay another foundation beside that which is laid, who is Jesus Christ.”
The Ephesians text, adding verse 19 to 20, says this:
“Therefore, you are no longer strangers and pilgrims, but fellow citizens of the saints and householders of God, having been built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the chief corner stone being Jesus Christ himself.”
The first passage says that the foundation is Christ but the second, it is alleged, says the foundation is the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the corner stone. The claim is that this is a clear contradiction and one of these letters is not only a forgery but by implication not the word of God in the traditional sense.
Let’s try first to clear up the foundation verses the cornerstone matter. It can be established the Jesus Christ is described by both metaphors in the scriptures. In Isaiah 28:16, the prophet says:
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” (KJV)
Here the ‘stone’ is both a foundation stone and a cornerstone.
Peter, in his first letter (2:6), provides a partial reference to Isaiah 28:16, indicating that this cornerstone (and by implication, the foundation stone) is Jesus Christ. Note that the New Testament authors often quote a part of a verse to let readers find the whole passage, as a sort of text reference. The chapter and verses of our English Bibles were added only about four hundred years ago.
In Matthew 21:42 Jesus refers to himself, the one rejected by the Pharisees and Sadducees, as the corner stone spoken of in Psalm 118. I suggest that, in Matthew 16:18, the Lord Jesus refers to himself as the foundation on which the church will be built. Peter is the petros – little stone – but Jesus was the petra, the massive rock.
But what are we to make of Ephesians 2:20 which, it is claimed, states that the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church?
I think 1 Corinthians 3:10 helps to clear things up. There, Paul says that he, as a wise builder, laid the foundation upon which others build, and that the only foundation is Jesus Christ. In what sense did Paul lay that foundation? Did he create (make up the message of) Jesus Christ and construct him as a foundation? What is the laying and building? It seems clear from the first two chapters of 1 Corinthians that the laying and building is the preaching of the gospel, or, if you like, the doctrine of Christ as it is found in the written word of God.
Paul preached that Jesus is the Christ, and some of his hearers searched the scriptures (Old Testament) to see if these things were so (as exampled by the Bereans). All the prophets of the Old Testament bore witness to Jesus Christ (Luke 24:44), the Apostles were to spread Christ’s teaching about himself to the world (Matthew 28:18-20). It is the teaching of the apostles and prophets that Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church.
So, when Paul says in Ephesians 2:20 that these strangers and pilgrims have been build up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, a legitimate reading is that the foundation is the Christ whom these apostles and prophets preached and taught.
To this point, the Greek genitive (possessive form of the noun) has a multitude of uses. It can, and often does, mean that something belongs to a person or group. In this case it can mean the source from which the Ephesians learned of Christ, who is the foundation. This usage has the same force as Paul’s words in First Corinthians, reminding his readers from whom they had first learned (Acts 18:4-5) that Christ Jesus is the alone the foundation of the Church.
So, there is no necessary contradiction between Ephesians 2:20 and 1 Corinthians 3:11.
By the way, you might find this Lutheran Satire video interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6rHcTc1MyY
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