According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire. (1Corinthians 3:10-15)

The foundation is Jesus Christ. Not just the teachings of Jesus. Nor even - alone - the resurrection of the Christ. The foundation on which we must build is the wholeness of human and divine in full partnership.

For Paul the suffering Jesus is self-giving God. The creator God and the human Jesus are fully reconciled. In this reconciliation is the promise and effective means for a reconciliation of all creation.

In this relationship we may reclaim our origins and find our destiny. By renewing our original relationship with God we restore the wholeness that God intended. On this foundation the universe may be redeemed.

Paul writes that he has laid (tithemi) a foundation. This is to put in place, to set, or to fix. "For no one can lay (tithemi) any foundation other than the one that has been laid (keimai); that foundation is Jesus Christ." Keimai is the material of which a foundation is made.

Above is a Russian Orthodox icon depicting Christ traveling to hell.