Approval and Pride

Seeking man’s approval and being unduely proud if I get it are ongoing struggles of mine. I am well aware these things are wrong, but have recently realised their foolishness - thanks largely to Don Carson's exploration of 1 Corinthians 1-4 in The Cross and Christian Ministry (2004).

“[T]he message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). It is his power and his wisdom (1:24b). The world’s wisdom is not merely less than God’s wisdom – it is so far removed that God calls it “foolish”, just as the world calls true wisdom “foolish”. The most talented people of this world do not with their intelligence discover “God’s secret wisdom” - Jesus Christ - and when they are presented with him they scoff (2:7a & 1:20-21). The people who discover Jesus are the people who recognise their needy state. These lowly people discover Jesus when he calls them (1:26) - “so that no one may boast before him” (1:29).

The message of the cross eclipses the world’s wisdom in its wisdom and in its eternity. “God destined [it] for our glory before time began”, wheras even the rulers of this age “are coming to nothing” (2:7b & 2:6b).

Christians have been blessed with the Spirit, enabling us to see the cross for what it is. The Spirit gives us discernment of all things (2:15), so that we are no longer seduced and blinded by human wisdom.

So we should no longer be proud of our stock of worldly wisdom, for it is foolishness. Our talents can however be viewed and appreciated and used with God's wisdom. Yet even then we should not boast in ourselves - for “[w]hat do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (4:7) And it is foolish to compete with each other when we are to use our God-given talents for “one purpose”, as “God’s fellow workers” (3:8-9). It is also foolish because we forget ourselves, we forget that we are no more than sinners who God chose to save. And it is foolish when we do have great glories and wisdom we should boast of - “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.” (3:21b-23). We are no longer bound to this world; this brief life is not all we have; death is vanquished; and the present and future are all governed by and lived under our Lord.

“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 . . . . So then, no more boasting about men!” (3:18 & 21a). We should instead imitate Paul as he follows the example of Christ (11:1) in living out the ‘foolish’ cross – “To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.” (4:11-13). Very foolish, yet truly wise. I pray I will feel ashamed of my foolish pride and instead boast in and follow my Lord!