Of What Shall We Boast?



1 Corinthians 1:26-31
26 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. 27 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; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Christianity has always been a worldview that is contrary to our natural instincts as sinful humans. We constantly seek to lift ourselves above others and seek the glory that the praise of man can bring. But this way of life is not what God has in mind and was most definitely not the model that Christ brought to our world. His crucifixion for our sins was brought about with His total humiliation for our sake. The foolishness of God is the greater than our self-exalted wisdom.

The early Church was made up of a wide spectrum of people, from the lowest of slaves to those who were government officials, and even some who were quite wealthy. Human merit and worth never enters into God’s calculations for inclusion in His Kingdom. No, the blood of Jesus is the only ticket into God’s presence and that is available to all. While this idea can be somewhat antithetical to our culture today (where we seem to adore highly paid sports figures and movies stars) it was also strange to the culture of the Roman world in the first century. A philosopher of that time, Celsus, noted that those who seemed attracted to Christianity were definitely “low class”. Slaves, women, and children were grouped among those foolish enough to embrace Christ. So be it.

Their injunctions are like this: “Let no one educated, no one wise, no one sensible draw near. For these abilities are thought by us to be evils. But as for anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly.” By the fact that they themselves admit that these people are worthy of their God, they show that they want and are able to convince only the foolish, dishonorable and stupid, and only slaves, women, and children.
Celsus

The prophet Jeremiah is quoted in this passage, as he acknowledges hundreds of years before Jesus is born that God is not interested in our boasting about riches or human wisdom. Instead, God honors love, justice, and righteousness. And Paul acknowledges that boasting in The Cross is the only appropriate boasting.

Jeremiah 9:23-24
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Galatians 6:14
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

The words in 1 Corinthians could have been penned specifically for us today. We know how to lift ourselves up and can often seem to be quite short of love and justice for others. But now we are reminded that our only boast needs to be about the loving Savior who gave up His life for us. Jesus alone be praised.

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