What does 1 Corinthians 3:11 mean?

Earlier, Paul explained that all human teachers, including himself and men like Apollos, are simply co-workers under Christ (1 Corinthians 3:5–6). Christian allegiance ought to be to exclusively to Jesus, and not divided based on which human servant we prefer to follow (1 Corinthians 3:7–9). Then, using the metaphor of constructing a building for the work of building the community of believers in Corinth, Paul has described himself as the skilled master builder who laid the foundation by preaching the gospel to them (1 Corinthians 3:10).

Jesus Christ is that foundation, and nobody else can put down any other foundation for the church. Put another way, the church will not stand on any other foundation besides Jesus Christ. The gospel—the good news from God about salvation from sin—starts and ends with faith in Jesus. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it or the message stops being the gospel.

Some Bible teachers suggest that perhaps Paul is referring to false teachers who are already in Corinth and are trying to teach a different gospel, a distorted message about Jesus. Other Bible scholars see Paul's warning about what might happen in the future, perhaps especially if the Corinthians keep focusing their loyalty on Christian leaders instead of on Christ Himself. Either way, Paul's point is that one's faith needs to be grounded in Jesus, not a person, and not in some other concept.