Has the Fiery Judgment of the Corinthians' Work in 1st Century Still Not Taken Place?

Has the Fiery Judgment of the Corinthians' Work in 1st Century Still Not Taken Place?

Below is the 30th of multiple excerpts from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell. "THE JUDICIAL CHARACTER OF ‘THE DAY OF THE LORD.’ "1 Cor. iii. 13 [1 Cor. 3:13].---‘Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it (the day) shall be revealed with fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.’ "In this passage, again, there is a distinct allusion to the ‘day of the Lord’ as a day of discrimination between good and evil, between the precious and the vile. The apostle [Paul, writing circa A.D. 57] likens himself and his fellow-labourers in the service of God to workmen employed in the erection of a great building. That building is God’s church, the only foundation of which is Jesus Christ, that foundation which he (the apostle) had laid in Corinth. He then warns every labourer to look well what kind of material he built up on that one foundation: that is to say, what sort of characters he introduced into the fellowship of God’s church. A day was coming which would test the quality of every man’s work: it must pass through a fiery ordeal; and in that scorching scrutiny the flimsy and worthless must perish, while the good and true remained unscathed. The unwise builder indeed might escape, but his work would be destroyed, and he would forfeit the reward which, if he had builded with better materials, he would have enjoyed. "There can be no doubt what day is here referred to. It is the day of Christ, the Parousia [Second Coming, prophesied to occur within the lifetime of Jesus' own generation, as made clear by Matt. 10:23, 16:28, 24:34, 26:64; Mark 9:1, 13:30, 14:62; Luke 9:27, 21:32, 22:69; Rev. 1:7]. This is said to be revealed ‘with fire,’ and the question arises, Is the expression literal or metaphorical? The whole passage, it will be perceived, is figurative: the building, the builders, the materials; we may therefore conclude that the fire is figurative also [but see Russell's commentary further below regarding Rome's destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70]. Moral qualities are not tested in the same way as material substances. The apostle teaches that a judicial scrutiny of the life-work of the Christian labourer is at hand. He ‘who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire’ is coming to ‘search the reins and hearts, and to give every man according to his work’ (Rev. ii. 18, 23 [Rev. 2:18, 2:23]). How clearly these representations of ‘the day of the Lord’ connect themselves with the prophetic words of Malachi, ‘Who may abide the day of his coming? For he is like a refiner’s fire.’ ‘For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as a furnace, and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble’ (Mal. iii. 2, 3; iv. 1 [Mal. 3:2-3, 4:1]). In like manner John the Baptist represents the day of Christ’s coming as ‘revealed with fire,’ ‘He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire’ (Matt. iii. 12 [Matt. 3:12]). See also 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, [2 Thess. 1:7-8] etc. "Yet, if any should be disposed to maintain that the fire here is not wholly metaphorical, a not improbable case might easily be made out. In the central spot where that revelation [of the day of the Lord] took place, the city and the temple of Jerusalem, the Parousia [Second Coming] was accompanied with very literal fire. In that glowing furnace in which perished all that was most venerable and sacred in Judaism, men might well see the fulfilment of the apostle’s words, ‘that day will be revealed in fire [1 Cor. 3:13].’ "Since, then, the Parousia coincides in point of time with the [A.D. 70] destruction of Jerusalem [Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21], it follows that the period of sifting and trial here alluded to,--- the day which shall be revealed in fire---is also contemporaneous with that event. Otherwise, on the hypothesis that this day has [still] not yet come, we are led to the conclusions that ‘the proving of every man’s work’ has not yet taken place: that no judgment has yet been pronounced on the work of Apollos, or Cephas, or Paul, or their fellow-labourers; it has still to be ascertained with what sort of material every man built up the temple of God; that the labourers have not yet received their reward. For [according to the interpretation that the Second Coming still awaits fulfillment] the great proving day has not yet come, and the fire has not tried every man’s work of what sort it is. But this is a reductio ad absurdum [a proposition refuted by its absurd consequences], and shows that such a hypothesis is untenable. ... "1 Cor. iv. 5 [1 Cor. 4:5].---'Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who shall both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have (his) praise from God.' "1 Cor. v. 5 [1 Cor. 5:5].---‘[...]That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.’ "In both these passages the Parousia is represented as a time of judicial investigation and decision. It is the time when characters and motives shall be disclosed, and every man receive his appropriate meed [recompense] of praise or blame. The apostle deprecates hasty and ill-informed judgments, apparently not without some personal reason, and exhorts them to wait ‘till the Lord come,’ etc. Does not this manifestly imply that he thought they would not have long to wait? Where would be the reasonableness of his exhortation if there were no prospect of vindication or retribution for ages to come? It is the very consideration that the day is at hand that constitutes the reason for patience and forbearance now. "In like manner the case of the offending member of the Corinthian church points to a speedily approaching time of retribution. St. Paul argues that the effect of present discipline exercised by the church may prove the salvation of the offender‘in the day of the Lord Jesus.’ That day, therefore, is the period when the condemnation or salvation of men is decided. But on the supposition that the day of the Lord Jesus is not yet come, it follows that the day of salvation has not come either for the apostle himself or for the Christians of Corinth, or for the offender whom he calls upon the church to censure. All this clearly shows that the apostle believed and taught the speedy coming of the day of the Lord."