1 Corinthians 1:26-31: For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Paul seems to indicate that there is a boasting issue within the church. His instruction at the very end of this section suggests they need to be reminded or taught for the very first time that Christian's boast in the Lord, nothing else. However, the Corinthians are boasting in something else, hence the need for the reminder: "let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
So this is the question: what are the Corinthians boasting about if not the Lord?
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth (v. 26).
Verse 26 gives us the answer: the Corinthian church was in a love affair with trying to prove that they were "with it" and "open minded" and influential and relevant and powerful and "high class." In other words, they failed to understand, as so many do, that God tends towards what is culturally considered weak in order to shame what is culturally considered wisdom and strength. Paul is pointing to a major misunderstanding of the Corinthian believers, namely, that they are trying to build the church and win the favor of their surrounding culture by trying to prove their impressiveness according to worldly standards. In other words, they are trying to prove they can play the world's game just as well as the world and by so doing, outsiders might be impressed and their own sense of worth is validated.
Here is a relevant quote from Don Carson on the matter:
"Why is it that we constantly parade Christian athletes, media personalities, and pop singers? Why should we think that their opinions or their experiences of grace are of any more significance than those of any other believer? When we tell outsiders about people in our church, do we instantly think of the despised and the lowly who have become Christian, or do we love to impress people with the importance of the men and women who have become Christians? Modern Western evangelicalism is deeply infected with the virus of triumphalism, and the resulting illness destroys humility, minimizes grace, and offers far too much homage to the money and influence and 'wisdom' of our day" (Carson, 29).
We are guilty as well. The church needs to come to grips with who we are and who we are called to be. And this does go back to our calling, doesn't it? Paul refers the believers back to their calling in verst 26, indicating that God does the calling. Ultimately, God calls and draws people into his kingdom. Jesus died for the church and he builds the church. It is not our cultural impressiveness that wins people to Christ, that burden ultimately rests upon the able shoulders of the almighty God.
And the second point of consideration along these lines is that God builds his church differently than man would. If I were in charge of assembling the church it would be top-heavy with wealthy people who have clout and influence and accolade and resource. God does it differently. Paul reminds them that not many of them were in this category (v. 27). Notice he doesn't say, however, that not "any" of them were in this category. Some of them were. Just not the majority. The majority class in the Christian church are regular unimpressive and even weak people. God loves to build his team this way. The almighty God will not allow the church to go on parading themselves as some high-class operation with a few exceptions, proving how open-minded it was. On the contrary, it is more akin to a low-class operation with a few sophisticated exceptions to prove that the 'wise' and the 'influential' and those of 'noble birth' are not necessarily excluded (Carson, 29).
The church must realize that God's grace is it's greatest weapon, not being well-regarded. In this way, God's people are free to embrace their humility in order to embrace their God who is their true hope and their true wisdom. A wisdom not from this world but one that
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
In this humility of the church it can begin to be the people of God who bear witness to the wisdom and grace of God. To quote from Carson one last time he said that "first century Christianity was astonishingly heterogeneous. It was the only society in the empire that brought together slave and free, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female. If there were many poor, ill-educated people, many slaves and illeterates, there were also people like Crisps, Gaius, Philemon, Erastus-Not to mention minds like Paul's."
In other words, what is impressive about God's kingdom isn't so much that great minds are a part of it. It is impressive that classes of people who don't go together are now brought together...and this is God's doing by his grace. When this happens, the unifying identity of this hodgepodge of people groups is something that simply transcends the wisdom of the world. It is the wisdom of the almighty God and his unifying love through the grace of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
May we boast in him. And him alone.
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