And it is the accuracy of his doctrines that leads us to think that Apollos used a good deal of gold and silver in his construction, which will remain to his credit in that day. We may rest assured that neither Paul nor Apollos erected a church building in Corinth, especially not of literal gold and silver and precious stones. Yet there is ample evidence in the epistle itself that these are the materials they used, in contrast to the wood, grass and straw, which is so freely used today, not, indeed, in the literal buildings, but in the spiritual edification of the saints. In this passage Paul and Apollos are teachers , and we should consider their doctrine if we wish to recognize what each material represents. Yet this letter is not a systematic statement of their teaching, so it is not so easy to identify the materials as in Romans, which sets forth their message in clearly defined aspects.
Corinthians is more of a laboratory than a text book.
So we turn to Romans and its three great themes, justification, reconciliation, and the deity of God, to explain the figure. In Romans we have three distinct divisions of the doctrine which Paul dispensed in Corinth. Justification is the great basic truth on which all is built. This may well be figured by the great stones, the precious stones, such as were used in erecting the temple. This is the manward side of the evangel.