Dear Mike.

The Roman Catholic argues for the burning up of the “wood, hay, stubble,” (1Co 3:12) as the purging of man’s soul of all that is unworthy. A man in purgatory should be glad to get rid of these impurities, to be fit for eternal happiness, but Paul says he “SHALL SUFFER LOSS“. (1Co 3:15).

What is meant by “he shall suffer loss?”

Sincerely,

C____

Hi C____,

What is lost in not being judged while in the ‘natural’ flesh (all resurrected bodies are ‘spiritual’ bodies) is rulership in the kingdom with Christ and the ‘judging’ of angels in the lake of fire after the ‘1000 years.’

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints [ of the ‘blessed and holy … first resurrection’] shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection [ the “high calling in Christ Jesus”-Php 3:14]: on such the second death [ the lake of fire of Isa 33:14-15] hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body [ First resurrection or 2nd resurrection “It is raised a spiritual body”].

Those in the first resurrection constitute the small body of those who, like their “consuming fire” God, become a small body called a “lake of fire” which will be used of God to purge out the “wood, hay, and stubble” of 1Co 3:15. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the [ lake of fire] hands of the living God.” Just look at what happened to those who are the types of our future if we are found to be “in Christ.

Dan 3:24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
Dan 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Dan 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, [ and] spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come [ hither]. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
Dan 3:27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh [ his ‘wood, hay, and stubble’] shall not be hurt of the second death.

“Our God is a consuming fire.” We are either part of that fire or else we are “consumed” of it. Here is the scripture:

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is [ a “consuming fire”].

The ‘loss’ mentioned in 1Co 3:15 is not the eternal  torment of orthodox Christian teaching. This “lake of fire” which burns the ‘wood, hay and stubble’ out of the lives of all men and angels, is the result of what is referred to as ‘the great white throne judgment.‘

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Here is what judgment is all about:

1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

All of God’s judgments are His Fatherly chastening. No one is exempt.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

So while those who go through the ‘lake of fire’ ‘suffer loss’ of ruling and reigning with Christ in His kingdom and judging the spirits in the lake of fire, that fiery judgment still produces the righteousness of God in all.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order:

For these reasons we can say with Isaiah:

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

So the ‘loss’ is great, but it is neither eternal death nor eternal torment. It is the loss of reward. We are all “judged according to [ our] works.”

I hope this answers your question.

Mike