The wise Christians
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he 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 men! 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 Cor. 3:18-23).
What should we do if we encounter trials? The Bible, in James 1: 2, tells us: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” The Bible tells us that whenever we face trials of many kinds, we should consider it pure joy. However, many times when we face many kinds of trials personally, at home, and in church, we don’t consider them pure joy. What is the reason? The reason is because we don’t know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance (v. 3). Why don’t we know this truth? The reason is because we lack (God's) wisdom. So Apostle James says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (v. 5). We should ask for wisdom from God, who gives generously without finding fault. Then God will generously give us wisdom. In this way, we can consider it pure joy whenever we face trials personally, at home and in church and we can let perseverance to finish its work. And by persevering we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (v. 4).
The Corinthian church was a church that lacked much. One of the reasons was because there were people in the church who were unwise and foolish in God's eyes. Those foolish people were worldly (1 Cor. 3:1-4) and their faith was so childish that they were living near the level of unbelievers. They were like “mere infants” (v. 1), who were immature, so that they didn’t stand firmly on Jesus Christ, the foundation of the house of God (v. 11). As a result, they were deceived by the temptation of Satan who tried to build the God’s house on different foundation and committed sins against God. The reason why the members of the Corinthian church were shaken was because they didn’t have the ability to eat the solid food, but were eating milk that was the basic doctrines taught in the Bible (v. 2). They didn’t have the power to understand the God's deep doctrine. In a word, they only knew the elementary teachings about Christ (Heb. 6:1). So they didn’t know that they were God’s fields (1 Cor. 3:9), and Paul and Apollos they boasted were nothing (v. 7), but just the servants who planted the seed and watered it and God make it grow (vv. 5-7). Furthermore, the Corinthian church saints didn’t serve the church according to God’s grace like an expert builder Paul (v. 10) and didn’t stand firmly on the rock of Jesus Christ, the foundation of the church (v. 11). This was because they were listening to false instruction which was the bad material instead of the good material, the pure truth of God (v. 12). As a result, they were still defiled by the corrupt nature and acted like mere men (v. 3), destroying God's temple without knowing that they are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwell in them (vv. 16-17). How were they destroying the God's temple? They did so by living according to the flesh, committing immorality (6:18), and sins of breaking the unity of the church by conflict (1:10, 11; 3:3-4) and division (12:25). They boasted, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” and were unable to keep the unity of the church because there was jealousy and strife among them (3:3-4). What should the Corinth church saints do? What should we do in order to keep the unity of the church? Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:18-23 that the Corinthian church saints to be the wise Christians. And the Bible tells us two ways how the wise Christians keep their church unity:
First, the wise Christians don’t deceive themselves.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3:18 – “Let no man deceive himself If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.” When we look at conflicts in the church, those who think they are wise often seem to cause problems. Who think that they are wise? It is those who don’t trust God but depend on their own understanding (Prov. 3:5-7). According to Jeremiah 9:24, the true understanding that is pleasing in the sight of God is knowing God. But those who rely on their own understanding say that they know God, but they don’t really know God. Another Bible verse that supports this fact is 1 Corinthians 1:21. The Bible says, “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him ….” In short, those who think they are wise who cause conflict in the church are arrogant people who don’t know God (v. 21). These arrogant people of the Corinthian church were guilty of breaking the church's unity in jealousy and quarreling. Perhaps they were not proud in the early days of their faith in Jesus. We can guess this based on 1 Corinthians 1:26-29: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” The saints in the Corinthian church surely knew that not many of them were wise, influential and of noble birth by human standards. But God chose such ones to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Way of the Cross, and to accept Jesus as the Savior through Paul. Some of the Corinthian church saints who were called to be saints by God's grace were proud and thought that they are wise by the standards of this age (3:18). When we think about why these people were arisen in the church at Corinth, the reason is because they forgot God's grace. As a result, they became proud and depended on their wisdom rather than on God. Eventually, God left them to catch the wise in their craftiness (v. 19, cf. Job 5:13). And they were foolish in God’s sight (v. 19) and their thoughts were futile (v. 20). But the proud, who thought themselves wise in this world, never realized that their thoughts were futile (v. 20). So Paul said to them, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise” (v. 18).
We must not deceive ourselves. How can we deceive ourselves? We can deceive ourselves by thinking that we are wise by the standards of this age. We must know that even though the wisdom of this world may seem wise, it is foolishness in God’s sight (v. 19). Therefore, as the Bible tells us, if we think we are wise in this world, we must become a “food” so that we may become wise (v. 18). In other words, if we deceive ourselves and think that we are wide by the standards of this age, we must realize that this is foolishness in the sight of God. The wisdom of this world that doesn’t know God and denies God is truly foolish and vain. We should not serve the church with such foolish and vain wisdom. Then, like the Corinthian church saints, we are bound to sin against God by breaking the unity of the church in envy and conflict. Rather, we should be wise in God's eyes by forsaking the foolish and vain wisdom of this world. Who is wise in God's eyes? This wise people in God’s eyes are those who don’t rely on their own understanding but rely on God and fear God and are obeying God’s Words by faith. And those who obey the Word of God by faith are the wise Christians who keep the unity of the church. We must become the wise Christians. I hope and pray that we become wise Christians in God's eyes and faithfully keep the unity of the Lord's church.
Second and last, the wise Christians don’t boast in men.
Look at 1 Corinthians 3:21 – “So then let no one boast in men For all things belong to you.” Apostle Paul already told the Corinthian church saints, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1:31). This was because the Corinthian church saints boasted those whom the followed, such as Paul, Apollo, and Peter (v. 12). That was why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1 that God chose the foolish things, the weak things, the lowly tings and the despised things of the world, and let them hear the gospel of Jesus Chris and saved them by faith in Him. The reason was so that no one might boast before Him (v. 29). Why do we boast our leaders whom we follow before God? Why are we, like the Corinthian church saints, rely on our own merits, abilities and wisdom and boast our leaders whom we follow and cause faction and division in the church? (vv. 10-13) What is the reason? The reason is because we forget that salvation is by God's grace and God's power, and we believe that it is by our people's merit and people's power. The reason why we boast people rather than God is because we lost the consciousness of God’s grace and became conscious of human merit. This consciousness of human merit can only make us to boast people instead of God. The Corinthian church saints were boasting Paul or Apollo or Cephas (Peter) (3:22). And because they boast each of them, their own leaders whom they liked, respected, and followed, the Corinthian church was divided by envy and conflict. Thus, Paul said, “no more boasting about men!” (v. 21), to the Corinthian church saints in order to warn them of this factional harm to the unity of the church. What was the reason? The reason was because all things were theirs (v. 21). It means that since Paul, Apollo, Peter, the spiritual leaders of the Corinthian church saints, and everything in the world were for their benefit, their spiritual leaders didn't need to be specially treated and to boast about them. Even “the world or life or death or the present or the future – all are yours” (v. 22), Paul told the Corinthian church saints that they didn’t have to boast about anyone or anything but only God. All this was for the benefit of the saints, and for the glory of God (2 Cor. 4:15), so Paul said that those who were enjoying the benefit should only give glory to God (MacArthur).
We must become wise Christians and give glory only to God. We should never cause a faction in the church as we boast of those who are church leaders. They are for the benefit of our faith. Therefore, we should not boast them but boast only God and give glory to Him. Then we will be able to maintain the unity of the church.
In order for us to keep the unity of the church, we must all become wise Christians. And the wise Christians never have human merit consciousness. Rather, they abandon the human merit consciousness and have the consciousness of God's grace. We are saved by God's grace and God's power, not by our own merit or power (1 Cor. 1:27-28). So Apostle Paul said, “by His doing you are in Christ Jesus” (v. 30). What does it mean? It means that both the Corinthian church saints and we are all saved by God and thus we are in Christ Jesus. And regarding this face, this is what Paul said, “and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God” (3:23). This is the most important prerequisite to overcome the division of the church. It is the fact that we the church belongs to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, is the source of healing of the church division and of the spiritual unity of the church (MacArthur). Therefore, the wise Christians look to the Lord to end the church's conflict and division, and to keep the unity of the church. I hope and pray that we all become the wise Christians.