Was Paul a prophet of the destruction of the Temple by fire?

[Giuseppe]

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire

What historical examples could have inspired a pre-70 Paul about the fate that expected material foundations (==destruction by fire)?

Was the fire used in the pre-70 Judea to destroy important buildings?

[Giuseppe]

The suspicion is very much strong, that when Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 about material "foundations" tested by fire, he meant implicitly the Temple of Jerusalem, since the same Paul, shortly after, writes about a spiritual "Temple" that cannot be tested:

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple

4 occurrences of a spiritual "temple" in only 2 verses.

4 occurrences of material "foundations" in the preceding verses.

[Giuseppe]

What is an impossible "coincidence" is Paul talking about destruction of anonymous "foundations" by fire, and the real historical fact that in 70 CE the physical temple was not razed to the ground (something survived) but it was destroyed by fire.

Josephus insists on the fire being a divine accident.

[Giuseppe]

If one wanted to show an example of a very anonymous construction (=not the physical temple) tested by god, he/she would mention, as potential agents of destruction:

• storms

• winds

• floods

• earthquakes

NOT THE FIRE!!!

An example:

'Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord", will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.'Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-and great was its fall!'

Matthew 7:21, 24-27

[rgprice]

Zachariah 13:

9 And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’

[Giuseppe]

An ideal people tested by the fire is surely post-70.

[lclapshaw]

An ideal people tested by the fire is surely post-70.

[Irish1975]

Across most ancient traditions, fire was a commonplace symbol of the sky god, the sun, the heavens, the apocayptic judge of mankind, the testing of the righteous and the wicked. Jewish scriptures are full of it: Sodom and Gomorrah, Elijah, various prophets. Egypt, pre-Socratic philosophy, etc

Absurd to take it as a historical signifier in 1 Cor.