NT Text: 1 Corinthians 3:11
OT Source(s):
Source: Beale & Carson, Commentary on the NT Use of the OT
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment + Longitudinal Theme (Temple and Presence)
Anchor Text: Isa 28:16 — A Stone in Zion
Significance: Paul's declaration that "no one can lay a foundation (themelion) other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ" echoes Isaiah 28:16's "See, I lay (*yissad) a stone in Zion... a sure foundation."* Both texts pivot on the verb of laying a foundation, and both insist that the foundation is singular and divinely given — in Isaiah, the foundation Yahweh himself lays against every false refuge (Isa 28:15-18); in Paul, the one foundation already laid in Christ, which no rival builder may replace. The echo carries Isaiah's two-foundation contrast directly into the Corinthian church: human wisdom and party-allegiance are the covenant-with-death refuge that will be swept away, while Christ the laid foundation alone stands. The Temple longitudinal theme is explicit in the surrounding context (1 Cor 3:9-17, "you are God's building... God's temple"), placing this echo in the same temple-cornerstone trajectory as Eph 2:20 and 1 Pet 2:6. The connection is Promise-Fulfillment by echo rather than formal citation: Isaiah's promised foundation finds its referent in Christ. The telos is the immovable security of the one who builds on this foundation — Christ is not merely the correct doctrinal starting point but the only foundation in whom the believer is finally not put to shame, which is why building on anything else is loss.