Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Boasting » Spiritual
Supposing some of the branches have been broken off, while you have been grafted in like a shoot of wild olive to share the rich growth of the olive-stem, do not pride yourself at the expense of these branches. Remember, in your pride, the stem supports you, not you the stem. You will say, "But branches were broken off to let me be grafted in!" read more.
Granted. They were broken off ??for their lack of faith. And you owe your position to your faith. You should feel awed instead of being uplifted. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Granted. They were broken off ??for their lack of faith. And you owe your position to your faith. You should feel awed instead of being uplifted. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. And to preach it with no fine rhetoric, lest the cross of Christ should lose its power! Those who are doomed to perish find the story of the cross 'sheer folly,' but it means the power of God for those whom he saves. It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the sages, I will confound the insight of the wise. read more.
Sage, scribe, critic of this world, where are they all? Has not God stultified the wisdom of the world? For when the world with all its wisdom failed to know God in his wisdom, God resolved to save believers by the 'sheer folly' of the Christian message. Jews demand miracles and Greeks want wisdom, but our message is Christ the crucified ??a stumbling-block to the Jews, 'sheer folly' to the Gentiles, but for those who are called, whether Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the 'foolishness' of God is wiser than men, and the 'weakness' of God is stronger than men. Why, look at your own ranks, my brothers; not many wise men (that is, judged by human standards), not many leading men, not many of good birth, have been called! No, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame what is strong; God has chosen what is mean and despised in the world ??things which are not, to put down things that are; that no person may boast in the sight of God. This is the God to whom you owe your being in Christ Jesus, whom God has made our 'Wisdom,' that is, our righteousness and consecration and redemption; so that, as it is written, let him who boasts boast of the Lord.
Sage, scribe, critic of this world, where are they all? Has not God stultified the wisdom of the world? For when the world with all its wisdom failed to know God in his wisdom, God resolved to save believers by the 'sheer folly' of the Christian message. Jews demand miracles and Greeks want wisdom, but our message is Christ the crucified ??a stumbling-block to the Jews, 'sheer folly' to the Gentiles, but for those who are called, whether Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the 'foolishness' of God is wiser than men, and the 'weakness' of God is stronger than men. Why, look at your own ranks, my brothers; not many wise men (that is, judged by human standards), not many leading men, not many of good birth, have been called! No, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame what is strong; God has chosen what is mean and despised in the world ??things which are not, to put down things that are; that no person may boast in the sight of God. This is the God to whom you owe your being in Christ Jesus, whom God has made our 'Wisdom,' that is, our righteousness and consecration and redemption; so that, as it is written, let him who boasts boast of the Lord.
Now I have applied what has been said above to myself and Apollos, to teach you ... that you are not to be puffed up with rivalry over one teacher as against another. Who singles you out, my brother? What do you possess that has not been given you? And if it was given you, why do you boast as if it had been gained, not given?
I do not venture to class myself or to compare myself with certain exalted individuals! They belong to the class of self-praisers; while I limit myself to my own sphere, I compare myself with my own standard, and so my boasting never goes beyond the limit ??it is determined by the limits of the sphere marked out for me by God. That sphere stretches to include yourselves; I am not overstepping the limit, as if you lay beyond my sphere; I was the very first to reach you with the gospel of Christ. read more.
I do not boast beyond my limits in a sphere where other men have done the work; my hope rather is that the growth of your faith will allow me to enlarge the range of my appointed sphere and preach the gospel in the lands that lie beyond you, instead of boasting within another's province over work that is already done. However, let him who boasts boast of the Lord; for it is not the self-praiser with his own recommendations who is accepted, it is the man whom the Lord recommends.
I do not boast beyond my limits in a sphere where other men have done the work; my hope rather is that the growth of your faith will allow me to enlarge the range of my appointed sphere and preach the gospel in the lands that lie beyond you, instead of boasting within another's province over work that is already done. However, let him who boasts boast of the Lord; for it is not the self-praiser with his own recommendations who is accepted, it is the man whom the Lord recommends.
For it is by grace you have been saved, as you had faith; it is not your doing but God's gift, not the outcome of what you have done ??lest anyone should pride himself on that;