I Corinthians 3:15-23: So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
In the epistle readings in February [click here] Paul cautioned the Corinthians about factionalism, identifying with one apostle more than another, and the divisiveness that creates. The habit of identifying ourselves with sages and experts is consistent with good scholarship. Students and academics are schooled to always attribute the sources of their ideas. So what is the problem with identifying with others for their contributions to our understanding?
Paul gives us the freedom to claim all wisdom for our own, when he says “For all things are yours . . ..” He doesn’t seem concerned about getting credit for his ideas. He says generously, “all belong to you.”
And then he demands the same generosity of spirit from his readers, “and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.” If we have received wisdom freely from Paul or other sages, we must acknowledge the source of all wisdom—God and God in Christ. We don’t have the right to use our wisdom like a sword against our enemies, because it is all a gift from God.
So it is not wisdom or theology or scholarship that Paul opposes, but the boasting and brandishing that leads to ruthless struggle. Wisdom is a gift, not a weapon. Bill Tucker
Re-printed with permission of the author: https://lentenblog.wordpress.com/page/3 March 10, 2010 by ypsilantibill
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