1 Corinthians 3:18–23 (LSB) Let No One Boast in Men

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. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.” 21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

• V. 18 Seeing yourself as wise is a self-deception. Boasting in men is a form of self pride.
• V. 19 “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness” – quoting Job 5:13; LSB sets it in small caps (the italic “He is” is Paul’s introductory supply, not part of the span). Wording leans closer to the Hebrew than to the LXX – a rare case among Paul’s OT citations:
• Job 5:7–16 (LSB) Eliphaz: 7 For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward. 8 “But as for me, I would seek God, And I would set my cause before God, 9 Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. 10 “He gives rain on the earth And sends water on the fields outside, 11 So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to salvation. 12 “He frustrates the thoughts of the crafty, So that their hands cannot attain success of sound wisdom. 13 “He catches the wise by their own craftiness, And the counsel of the twisted is quickly thwarted. 14 “By day they meet with darkness And grope at noon as in the night. 15 “But He saves from the sword of their mouth, And the needy from the hand of the strong. 16 “So the poor has hope, And unrighteousness must shut its mouth.
• Pratt, Richard - “Eliphaz said that God was like a hunter, catching Job as he caught the wise in their craftiness. Job was caught in the trap of depending on his own reasoning rather than accepting the wisdom of God”
• Eliphaz is contrasting the “wise” and “crafty” and redirecting toward God. Paul does the same.
• V. 20 “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless”
• Psalm 94:8–15 (LSB) 8 Discern, you senseless among the people; And when will you have insight, you fools? 9 He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see? 10 He who disciplines the nations, will He not rebuke, Even He who teaches man knowledge? 11 Yahweh knows the thoughts of man, That they are vanity. 12 Blessed is the man whom You discipline, O Yah, And whom You teach out of Your law; 13 That You may grant him calm from the days of calamity, Until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14 For Yahweh will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance. 15 For judgment will again be righteous, And all the upright in heart will follow it.
• Even the wisest of men are fools in God’s sight. So why are you Corinthians dividing up over which fool is the greatest? Remember Jesus responding to the Apostles?

1 Corinthians 3:21–23 (LSB) All things are yours

21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

• V. 21 “So then let no one boast in men” – not itself a formal OT quotation
• A great deal of division goes away when we do not exalt other men.
• Psalm 62:9–12 (LSB) 9 Surely men of low degree are merely vanity and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than a breath of vanity. 10 Do not trust in oppression And do not put vain hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. 11 Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this: That strength belongs to God; 12 And that to You, O Lord, belongs lovingkindness, For You repay a man according to his work.
• By claiming association of their favorite preacher, setting against others, was prideful and faulty thinking.
• Everyone has a rank order of favorite preachers. Check the internet.
• It’s a misunderstanding and too limited of a view.
• Why would they want to isolate themselves to a single teacher when they all belong them?
• Paul, Apollos, Cephas…Howerton, Mitchell, Graham, Begg, Piper, Hodges, Dykstra, Volmer, MacClure, Guzik, Wood, Quackenbush, Garrison, Lindsey, Kitson, Kenes, Yarbrough… They all belong to You. They are servants of Christ to the church. That’s you.
• Interesting that the teachings of Paul and Apollos and Peter would have all been the same doctrine, so the divisions they were creating over these men were on things that didn’t have to do with sound doctrine.
• Why would we only listen to a single teacher? You would be come a parrot anyway.
• They all belong to you… along with everything else!
• Romans 8:31–32 (LSB) 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?
• V22.. he expands all things to include…The world, life, death.
• Things present or things to come, ALL THINGS belong to you.
• Romans 8:17 (LSB) 17 and if children, also heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
• Ephesians 1:3 (LSB) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
• 2 Peter 1:3 (LSB) 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
• 2 Corinthians 6:10 (LSB) 10 as sorrowful but always rejoicing, as poor but making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
• Matthew 6:33 (LSB) 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
• Psalm 84:11 (LSB) 11 For Yahweh God is a sun and shield; Yahweh gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk blamelessly.
• 1 Timothy 6:17 (LSB) 17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
• Things to come:
• Matthew 5:5! Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.
• 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 (LSB) 17 For our momentary, light affliction is working out for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
• You belong to Christ. Christ belongs to God.
• How silly to boast in man, limiting our identity to one of a thousand servants, that the whole belongs to the church, and the church belongs to Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:1–2 (LSB) Servants of Christ

1 Let a man consider us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found faithful.

• How to judge a servant. Let us consider.
• Apostles mentioned as servants and stewards.
• Servant here is hyperetas – under rower. Taking direction from the pilot.
• Preacher is a steward. It’s not his resources, it’s another’s.
• Stewardess doesn’t own the plane, she just hands out the goods.
• The word means a manager over a house.
• We are to be good managers over the items in the house which we have been entrusted.
• 1 Corinthians 9:16–17, (LSB) For if I proclaim the gospel, I have nothing to boast, for I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not proclaim the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
• CS Study Bible - Managers not only have their own work to complete, but part of their work is the look after the work of other people.
• Careful to maintain according to other’s needs.
• A steward has to give an accounting of their dispensing as well – that it was done ultimately for the master’s benefit.
• Mysteries of God –
• Mystery in English means once revealed, no longer a mystery.
• Mystery here means that its something that you could not have known unless it were revealed to you.
• God’s Word is revealed, Preachers job is to communicate it to you. Dispense.
• God has already cooked up the meal in His kitchen, as a steward my job is to bring you the meal and not screw it up bringing it to the table.
• Mystery – requires exploration and honest focus and work to handle properly. Some things are still a mystery in the final analysis.
• What a treasure, and also how challenging/daunting. Who is sufficient for that?
• Christian, be careful in your approach to God’s Word.
• Faithful.
• Not handsome and clever.
• Excavator, not a builder.
• Our job as preachers is not to construct a building, it’s to unearth what God has already built.
• Clearing the “earth” from our frameworks of understanding.
• If I build a pithy saying, great story, forcing my 3-point alliteration on a text, I might be accidentally completely covering up what God has already built.
• Creative license is not a gift. “you should never find a character in the movie that is not in the book”
• 1 Corinthians 4:17 (LSB)17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
• 2 Timothy 2:1–2 (LSB) 1 You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
• Ephesians 4:11–12 (LSB) 11 And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ,
• Primary Role is to teach God’s Word.
• Everything else comes second as a counselor, administrator, book keeper, etc.
• Vv. 1–2 “stewards … found faithful” – shared steward (οἰκονόμος) vocabulary; cf. 1 Peter 4:10:
• (All believers) 1 Peter 4:10 (LSB) 10 As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God
• As each servant receives a gift, they are to steward (employ it, VERB) in serving one another (not self) to be good stewards of the MANIFOLD grace of God. (multiple aspects)
• Back to the mystery, this is why we need MORE teachers not less.
• The Grace of God is not just a single thing.
• Paul was faithful…Acts 20:20 (LSB) How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
• 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (LSB) 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1 Corinthians 4:3–5 (LSB) Evaluation by others, self, and the Lord

3 But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court. In fact, I do not even examine myself. 4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted. But the one who examines me is the Lord. 5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and make manifest the motives of hearts. And then each one’s praise will come to him from God.

• Evaluation from others:
• Paul didn’t really care about the opinion of others:
• A faithful pastor is worried about being faithful to the Word, and his focus will be diverted away from the praise or criticisms of men.
• We all love to hear praise.
• We all dislike to hear the lack of it.
• How freeing that would be to not value any human court of opinion because, they are incapable of judging, they can’t see the hidden things that only God can.
• Evaluation from self:
• Paul didn’t really care about the opinion of himself
• We too are not great judges of ourselves.
• We are often too hard or too easy on ourselves.
• 2 Timothy 2:15–18 (LSB) 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid godless and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their word will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
• Matthew 25:21 (LSB) 21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
• Matthew 24:44–46 (LSB) 44 “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. 45 “Who then is the faithful and prudent slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
• God’s measure of his servants are not based on anything other than their faithfulness.

1 Corinthians 4: 5 (LSB) 5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and make manifest the motives of hearts. And then each one’s praise will come to him from God.

• The time will come…
• V. 5 “bring to light the things hidden … make manifest the motives of hearts” – cf. Romans 2:16:
• Romans 2:16 (LSB) 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
• Things hidden in darkness - sounds like he’s speaking of or hinting at the evil things in man’s heart, but each one’s praise will come to him from God.
• The good things that God’s servants are doing will be rewarded and acknowledged by God.

So don’t puff up the preacher, in your mind or in theirs.

Don’t limit yourself either.

Ultimately the LORD is the one who will examine and decide a servant’s worth, and how faithful they were.

So don’t assume, because He is going to do a full and final review.

Until then, remember that all things are yours.