Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future —all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
- 1 Corinthians 3:18-23
In the previous section of this letter, Paul talked about building our faith on the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to make sure we build only on that foundation, no matter who the teacher is who is helping us grow in our faith. He builds on that in this section, giving some warnings about how we are to act as we mature in our faith.
Paul had previously written about the contrast between wisdom and foolishness in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, and he returns to that idea here. In that section, Paul pointed out that the cross is foolishness to those who don’t know Jesus as their savior, but for those who believe, it is true wisdom. Here, Paul calls us to “become ‘fools’ so that you may become wise” (verse 18). Jesus often made seemingly contradictory statements like this one to prove a point, and Paul uses that technique here too.
In the case of being a Christian, being a fool according to the world is good because it means we are following God. God often calls His people to do things that look foolish in the world’s eyes, but following Him anyway shows Godly wisdom. That’s where it’s essential that we have our faith foundation built on Jesus Christ, so we can discern whether that truly is God speaking to us or if it is the world or our own selfishness. We need to trust God that when He tells us to do something, even if it seems foolish, we should do it anyway.
This idea of wisdom versus foolishness is a common contrast used in the Bible, as it shows how different we are to be as Christians than how the world operates. We can easily fall into the trap of thinking we are wise as we gain more knowledge of the Christian faith, but we are still fools when it comes to the vast knowledge of God! Even the grandest wisdom and knowledge in this world is still foolishness when compared with God (verse 19).
Paul uses two Old Testament references to support this idea in verse 20. First, he quotes Job 5:13 saying that God “catches the wise in their craftiness.” Anything that mankind plans on his own is no match for God’s plans. We can plan and scheme all we want, but there is nothing as worthwhile as the gospel of Christ, and everything that we do outside of God is destined to fail.
Then, Paul quotes Psalm 94:11. God knows all of our thoughts, and He especially knows that if we claim to have the world’s wisdom, that is completely futile. Anything that even the wisest human can come up with is still like foolishness when compared with the vast wisdom and knowledge of God.
Because of all that, we need to keep our focus on God! We easily get enthralled with human leaders because they are like us and we can see them and interact with them as fellow humans. But Paul specifically says that we should not boast about human leaders (verse 21). Everything belongs to God, so why should we boast in anything except Him? It all comes back to God – specifically to Jesus Christ and Him crucified, which has been Paul’s theme of this letter.
Even Paul himself or other leaders, such as Apollos or Cephas (also known as Peter), are not worthy to be boasted about (verse 22). Everything belongs to God, including those teachers, the world, life, death, the present, and the future. Everything should be viewed through the lens of God’s great wisdom and His great plan for humanity – or as much of that as God has revealed to us. Everything belongs to God, but He graciously gives it all to us for our benefit, so that a small portion of God’s wisdom may be revealed to us.
Paul states that all things are yours, then in verse 23 he tells us who the “you” is that he’s referring to: “You are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” While God gives us all things, it is important to remember that the world is not centered on us as Christians. All things only belong to us because they belong to God, through the relationship that we have with the Son of God, Jesus Christ. God and Jesus are one, and Jesus was sent into the world to bring us as believers into that relationship as well.
The key for us to remember from this passage is that as believers, our focus needs to always be on God. It is God’s wisdom that is true wisdom, not the wisdom that this world gives us. God knows everything, and He knows that without Him, anything that we scheme or plan will fail. God has graciously given us access to some of His wisdom, and we need to embrace that as we live our lives on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. It is all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified; that is true wisdom!
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
0 comments:
Post a Comment