“I’m a Calvinist.” “I’m an Arminian.” “I’m a Pentecostal.” “I’m a Baptist.” Sounds a bit like the Corinthians. “I follow Paul.” “I follow Apollos.” “I follow Cephas.” “I follow Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:12).
It’s not wrong to identify with a theological system or denomination–unless we say it boastfully and denigrate another. (“I’m a Charismatic not a frozen Episcopalian!” or, “I’m a Calvinist not one of those falling-on-the-floor Charismatics!”)
In 1 Corinthians 1:18-3:17 the apostle Paul reproved the Corinthians for their fascination with human wisdom which elevated one preacher over another and led to division in the church. Now in 3:18-23 he starts to tie the threads together to conclude his correction.
You should not fool yourself. If any of you think that you are wise by this world’s standards, you should become a fool, in order to be really wise. For what this world considers to be wisdom is nonsense in God’s sight. As the scripture says, “God traps the wise in their cleverness”; and another scripture says, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are worthless” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20, GNT).
Greek culture was famous for its philosophers. It boasted men like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and more. But, warns Paul, think you’re wise by this world’s standards is to deceive yourself. Real wisdom demands become a “fool”.
How does one become a fool? By believing the message of the cross which is foolishness to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 1:18). Let’s admit it: that the way to life is through a crucified Jewish Messiah does sound foolish.
Compare that to the wise-sounding 5th century B.C. Greek philosopher Epicurus. “Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.” Wise-sounding perhaps, but worthless in the end, because it doesn’t lead to God.
Don’t read much Epicurus? Here’s worldly wisdom that does affect us. In 2005 sociologist Christian Smith and his team interviewed 3000 American teenagers. What they discovered Smith dubbed Moral Therapeutic Deism. He identified its five core values . . .
- A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
- God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion-6266/#IBcL7XkDSS5zZkDz.99
This “wisdom” permeates our culture. Let it seep into our thinking and it will morph our understanding of God and negate the gospel.
This is why Paul quotes from Job 5:13 (“He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away”) and Psalm 94:11 (“The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile”). God catches the world wise in their wisdom; they end up trapped by their own futile thinking.
We mustn’t fool ourselves by feeding on the world’s wisdom, or by allowing it to seep into our thinking. Fools we must be, trusting our lives to the message of the cross.
No one, then, should boast about what human beings can do. Actually everything belongs to you: Paul, Apollos, and Peter; this world, life and death, the present and the future – all these are yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God (1 Corinthians 3:21-23, GNT).
The Corinthians are boasting about which “wise” preacher they belong to. But Paul claims, “ . . . everything belongs to you.” All preachers. They’re not orators to be exalted; they’re servants, all of whom the church can learn from.
Then Paul goes “out there” on us. “Everything belongs to you”—even this world, life, death, the present and the future.”
C.K. Barrett, in his First Corinthians commentary observes . . .
Paul’s thought has moved on, by a natural transition, to the general sovereignty of the church as the people of God. It is in Christ, and in the community that is in Christ, that humanity recovers its lost lordship, and because Christ is the Lord over the world, over life and death (through his crucifixion and resurrection) and over both this age and the age to come, that his people are no longer the servants of destiny and corruption, but free lords over all things. Thus the Christian lives in the world, but the world does not dominate his attitude to life—in other words, he does not think in terms of the wisdom of the world. He is subject to the vicissitudes of life, and ultimately death . . . but none of these experiences can separate him from the love of God . . . (p. 95,96).
“Everything belongs to you” because everything belongs to the crucified-resurrected Christ. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me . . . “ (Matthew 28:18). And “you belong to Christ”.
Paul is thinking eschatalogically. “ . . . if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12). This is the Christian’s inheritance, secured in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
And “Christ belongs to God”. Dr. Gordon Fee comments . . .
[God is] “the ultimate reality, the one who possesses all things and outside of whose ultimate control lies nothing” (The First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 155). Thus he can give all things to whomever he wishes, and he gives it to those who belong to the crucified Christ.
Question: Why boast about our denomination or theological system? Two reasons. One, we think our choice reflects our wisdom. But when we’re subtly boasting, “I’m a Calvinist not one of those Charismatics”, we’re repeating the sin of the Corinthians.
Two, boasting is a cry for significance. It’s important to feel important, that we’re not a dust-mite in the span of the universe. So we tie ourselves to a denomination or theological system that’s significant in our circles.
To us, as he did to the Corinthians, Paul warns, “Let no one deceive himself.” Instead, let’s humble ourselves. Let’s admit that our wisdom is human wisdom and it leads us away from God. Let’s cling only to God’s wisdom—the message of the crucified Christ. He “has become for us righteousness, sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In him, for us “fools”, everything is ours.
One day that will cease to be a faith-statement. Our own two eyes will see it.
Recent Comments