A Life in Exile

No congregation wants to hear their pastor preach from Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth; for, unless it’s the chapter on love, they most likely know there’s some controversy or problem he wants to address. It’s true, the church of Corinth had issues, but Paul loved this group of believers and worked hard in his writings to help them grow and mature in faith and practice. Though we may not like it, the two letters to Corinth have a lot to teach us as well, for no church is perfect, and there are times we need some straight talk to get us back from the edge of disobedience.

I love how Paul is willing to use truth from any source to convey his message to the church. Remember how he began his proclamation to the people of Athens by pointing to the altar to the “unknown” god? (See Acts 17). From there he proclaimed the God who made himself known to the world.

In this same way, Paul uses truth spoken through a friend of Job to address the divisions within the church in Corinth. Now, if you remember anything from the story of Job, you probably recall how his friends, instead of keeping quiet and grieving with him ended up confronting and blaming him for all the bad things that had happened in his life. With friends like those…one would think again.

Still, there was some truth even in the midst of the inconsequential and downright wrong, and it is this that Paul uses in his letter.

What Eliphaz said.

After being shocked at the appearance of their friend, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite sat with Job in silence for seven days and nights. Job finally speaks up and curses the day he was born. His suffering is intense. This sparks a response from Eliphaz, who essentially tells his friend that he must have sinned for all this to have happened. Included in his soliloquy is this:

He traps the wise in their craftiness so that the plans of the deceptive are quickly brought to an end. (Job 5:13 CSB)

While the phrase is true, its use is incorrect. God did not trap Job in his craftiness and punish him for any deceptive ways. It’s a reminder that truth can be spoken without wisdom. Without affirming the speech of Eliphaz, Paul draws out the truth to prove his point to the church.

Immaturity and Human Wisdom

The source of much of the trouble in the Corinthian church was immaturity. The believers had not grown in their knowledge of Christ and Scripture, and it led them to press into natural tendencies and understandings, which brought division.

Jealousy and quarreling were high on the list of problems, and they began to take sides as a congregation. Some followed Apollos, while others Paul, and the two teachers were put in the forefront for their arguments over Christ. Paul quickly nipped this in the bud by saying that he and Apollos were mere servants—Jesus is the foundation for their church. All their teaching, all they did must point to Christ, not man.

This tendency toward quarreling over leadership came from human wisdom. It was not from God nor did it honor or glorify him. Here’s how he tells the church:

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he can become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, since it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness; and again, The Lord knows that the reasonings of the wise are futile. So let no one boast in human leaders, for everything is yours—whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come—everything is yours, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (1 Corinthians 3:18-23)

These quarrels over who is the best teacher are foolish in God’s sight, and Paul uses Eliphaz’s words to show that God sees what you’re doing. If any would doubt the wisdom found in Job’s friend, he confirms the truth with the psalmist’s words, found in Psalm 94:11. Even a quick overview of the book of Proverbs would back him up.

Knowing and applying truth.

Paul wanted the believers in Corinth to realize that Christ must be our all in all, our everything. Relying on human wisdom and focusing on men instead of God is futile. The use of a phrase spoken by Eliphaz presses the point by showing how little we really know. His words may have sounded smart and even wise, but they were misplaced and revealed by God in the end to be utter nonsense in the case of Job.

For the church to be arguing over whether Apollos or Paul were the best was also just stupid. Both men had taught them about Christ, pointed to Christ, and lived for Christ. Why would they focus on the men and not Christ? While the culture in which they lived would have elevated the men, the new culture into which they had been born again could and should only elevate Jesus Christ. It was futile to do otherwise, and those who thought otherwise will be caught out by God.

Are we seeing men over God in our Christian culture today? Whenever we find quarreling and jealousy, we can most assuredly conclude that our eyes are no longer on Christ. God will catch out those who are wise in their own eyes or their own craftiness. Wise-sounding words or not, God will have the last word.

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Learning from the Past post, click HERE, or start the series from the BEGINNING.