be denounced in 4:1 ff. What Paul is saying is that it is the function and responsibility of each congregation to support, bolster up, and thus safeguard the true teaching by its continuous witness. We should note (a) that buttress is probably a more accurate rendering of the Greek hedraiōma (nowhere else found) than ‘foundation’ or ‘ground’ (AV), and (b) that the local church is described as a pillar, etc., not ‘the pillar, etc.’, because there are many local churches throughout the world performing