Summary - 1 Corinthians 3:18-25

Then and Now:
This teaching unit confronts the Corinthians and today's Christians who deceive themselves about how smart or wise they are. To assume and boast about personal wisdom is foolishness, because only God, his spirit within a man, knows the outcome of actions or plans of other men. What believers should do is boast in the wisdom which comes from belonging to the Creator, for all things belong to those who belong to him.

Further extrapolation by Wright looks to the role of faith, for no one individual knows the mind of God in every instance. What he or she can know is the security of being a part of the kingdom. They are destined to be among those who are continuously obedient to the Lord and who will judge the world in the age to come. (p. 41).

Anyone who lays the world's wisdom and craftiness beside the Lord's wisdom immediately recognizes the superiority of the one over the other. Nothing can compete with the Lord's omniscience. When faced head-on, the temptation to think you know more than the Lord can be overcome. When not made clear, however, decisions can be made that are extremely poor - as the Cornthian contretemp over Paul, Cephas, Apollos or Christ. Corinthians then needed to take Paul's advice. So too today's Christians. Don't deceive yourself.