1 Corinthians

Pride and Wisdom

The Corinthian church had a misunderstanding about what true wisdom was… which resulted in a desire for power and knowledge that revealed itself in a selfish and arrogant lifestyle. In this epistle to the believers in Corinth Paul addresses this chief issue of pride which is most often rooted in their own personal deception of what wisdom was. They had bought into the cultural definition of wisdom being arrogance and intellectual speech that really was nothing more than empty rhetoric. They considered wisdom to be nothing more than this… failing to see that real wisdom produced not selfish people but servants of God. This desire for personal knowledge and power made the believers in Corinth selfish to the point where the body there was divided and sin was becoming inconsequential. Paul brought with force the truth about God’s wisdom that the church there might be humbled to see that their lifestyle in no way honored the God who gave them salvation. The root issue of a poor lifestyle for these believers as an improper view of what God values… what is wisdom to God and what is truly to be boasted in. The world’s ways are contrary to God’s… this is the message that the Corinthian church failed to see. God’s wisdom was the cross of Christ… self-sacrifice for the sake of others. God’s wisdom is service and love for the benefit of others… whereas the world’s view of wisdom is self-fulfillment. God desires that humanity would boast solely in the mighty work of his son that Christ would be exalted… whereas man desires that he be exalted above all else, no matter the cost to others. The wisdom of God comes only from the Holy Spirit’s work too, which was again an attack on the Corinthians for they were acting in the spiritual gifts and thought that they knew everything there was to know through the Holy Spirit.

Throughout this letter Paul demonstrates how the Corinthian’s opinion of wisdom is absolutely contrary to God’s wisdom… that they are in fact fools in the sight of God, and of course his opinion is all that matters. This letter was then also a direct attack on their spiritual pride, for they thought that they were wise, for in comparison to the world they had a lot going on. The Corinthian church unfortunately seemed so steeped in their own opinion of knowledge, which was but only that of the culture around them, that it would have been very difficult for the truth of God’s word to pierce through their pride. Their arrogance and pride had blinded them from truly seeing wisdom… from seeing what God values and living a lifestyle pleasing to him. They had truly been deceived to think they were wise… though their lifestyles proved to speak to the contrary. This vicious cycle of arrogance was keeping them from living in the true freedom Christ had bought for them… they desired power and knowledge and spiritual things but looked to the world rather than to Christ. This was where their ignorance was seen most clearly… for the wisdom of God is foolishness to man and likewise what is foolish to God is what man most values.

To the reader today this theme burns still true… for God’s wisdom is the cross, the finished work of Christ. Those who turn from Christ to seek life in the world and reject God’s wisdom fail to see that the wisdom of the world brings nothing. The ways of the world are but foolishness to God, yet people still fail to swallow their pride and humble themselves before the Lord seeking true wisdom. Why do people seek to find life in their own thoughts… denying the Creator… denying the reality that they are but merely men? Believers must heed this call as well, for to seek the things the world values is but foolishness to God. He has chosen what is good and what is wise and what truly matters… so why in the world people think they know better than he does? The church must constantly press into Christ, seeking his wisdom alone… unashamedly rejecting the things the world values because man does not know what is best. Today there must also be an imperative for people to humble themselves to be teachable by God’s word… trusting that what he values really is best… not seeking their own understanding of what they really desire but resting on his word.