Lessons #107 and 108
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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No boasting about personalities (1 Cor 3:21-23)
21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
Recall that we indicated in our last study that the message of 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 is this: You should not brag about spiritual leaders because everything in God’s creation serves you and because you are in Christ you belong to God. This message is based in part in the instruction for believers to avoid bragging about men in the clause of 1 Corinthians 3:21 no more boasting about men or literally let no one boast about men. Hence, in our last study we considered the subject of boasting with emphasis on negative boasting or bragging. We continue with the message against boasting that we considered in our last study.
It is often rare for God the Holy Spirit to issue command(s) to believers through the apostles without providing justification(s) for them. The command of not boasting about spiritual leaders in our passage is not an exception although one may not reach that conclusion based on the translation of the NIV and a handful of our English versions. This is because such English versions did not translate a Greek conjunction that begins the next clause of 1 Corinthians 3:21 following the command. The Greek clause begins with a Greek conjunction (gar) that is often translated “for” in our English versions. Nonetheless, the Greek conjunction has several usages. It may be used as a marker of reason or cause so that it may be translated in the English as “for, because.” Another usage is as a marker of inference hence means “certainly, by all means, so, then.” Another usage is as a marker of clarification with the meaning “for, you see.” However, under this usage we find other nuances. For example, it may be used in a narrative to mark continuation or connection with what preceded. Another example is its usage to signal an important point or transition to another topic in which case it may be translated “now, well, then, you see.” In our verse, the apostle used it to provide the reasons for the command not to boast about spiritual leaders. Of course, practically all commentators see only one reason because they understand the Greek verb used in the clause that follows to have the meaning “to belong” as we will note later. This notwithstanding, I contended there are two major reasons the apostle provided to keep the Corinthians from bragging about any of their spiritual leaders because I gave a different interpretation to the Greek word given the meaning “to belong” by our commentators. I will deal with this later but for now I assert the apostle gave two reasons for warning against bragging regarding spiritual leaders.
A first major reason the Corinthians should not boast about their spiritual leaders is they serve them. It is this reason that is given in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 3:21 All things are yours. There is difficulty of how to understand this clause because of the word are and the phrase all things. The word “are” is translated from Greek verb (eimi) that basically means “to be” with several nuances. It may mean “to live”, that is, to be alive in a period of time, as it is used by the Lord Jesus to put words in the mouth of the Jews of His time regarding their attitude towards the prophets of the past in Matthew 23:30:
And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
The clause If we had lived in the days of our forefathers is more literally If we had been in the days of our forefathers. The word may mean “to be, to come from somewhere” as it is used in questioning if anything good could originate from Nazareth in John 1:46:
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.
The question Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? is literally Out of Nazareth is any good thing able to be? The meaning “to be” may mean “to exist,” as it is used by Apostle Paul to state the existence of many gods and lords in 1 Corinthians 8:5:
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),
Of course, it is used in this sense of existence to describe the absolute existence of the true God in Hebrews 11:6:
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
The Greek word may mean to exist in the sense of “to be present, available, provided” as it is used in Acts 7:12:
When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.
The clause there was grain in Egypt may be fully translated as that grain was available. The meaning “provided” probably fits the use of our Greek verb in John 7:39:
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
The sentence the Spirit had not been given is more literally the Spirit was not yet since the word “given” is probably not in the original although some few Greek manuscripts have it but it is supplied in many of our English versions to avoid creating the impression that the Spirit did not exist prior to the point in view in the passage. The problem of it appearing that the Spirit was not in existence at the time involved may be avoided if the Greek word is translated “provided” so that the sentence will read the Spirit not provided yet in the sense of living in the believer as it is the case today. In some usages, the Greek word may have the sense of “to be of relative significance, be of moment or importance, amount to something” as in Galatians 2:6:
As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message.
The verbal phrase to be important is more literally to be something. The Greek word may mean “to belong”, as in Romans 8:9:
You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
The word figuratively may mean “to be controlled” as that is the sense in Romans 8:8:
Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
The clause Those controlled by the sinful nature is literally those who are in the flesh. The Greek word may mean “to devote” as that is the sense Apostle Paul used it in his instruction to Timothy regarding devotion to God’s word in 1 Timothy 4:15:
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.
The expression give yourself wholly to them may be alternatively translated devote yourself to these things. The word may mean “to represent, stand for” as in Galatians 4:25:
Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
The sentence Hagar stands for Mount Sinai is literally Hagar is Mount Sinai which does not make sense. But it makes sense to use the word “stands for” in translating the Greek word used. The Greek word may mean “means” as it is used in relation to Apostle Paul’s statement regarding circumcision in Galatians 6:15:
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
The clause Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything is literally neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision.
We have considered the range of meanings of our Greek verb (eimi) implying that there are several meanings possible with our word depending on the context, so the question is to determine in what sense it is used in 1 Corinthians 3:21. As I stated previously, practically all our commentators of the clause we are considering take the meaning “to belong” as applicable in our passage so that the clause All things are yours is interpreted to mean that all things belong to the Corinthians. This interpretation is not satisfactory since it is hard to understand in what sense all things belong to Corinthians considering what the apostle had in mind in the phrase all things that we will get to shortly. Therefore, we propose that a meaning that is communicative in our passage that was probably in the apostle’s mind is “to serve.” This meaning of our Greek word makes sense in a handful of passages where our Greek word is used. Consider the assertion of the apostle about his function as a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles stated in Romans 15:16:
to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Our Greek word is translated “be” in this passage in Romans, but it is more communicative if the meaning of our Greek word is taken as “to serve as” in which case the apostle would be asserting that he serves as a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles. Another passage our Greek word may have the meaning “to serve as” is the passage where Apostle Paul used the word as he warned against the false teachers of the law in 1 Timothy 1:7:
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
The verbal phrase to be teachers of the law could be translated to serve as teachers of the law so that the apostle meant that those he was concerned, desired to serve as teachers of the law in which case they would lead some astray. This meaning we have given to our Greek word may be traced to the fact that it is the Greek word that is used in the Septuagint to translate a Hebrew word (hāyāh) that although means “to be” may indeed mean “to serve as” in some contexts. It is this meaning “to serve as” that is conveyed in God’s assertion to the humans He created regarding their food in Genesis 1:29:
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
The Hebrew word that is translated with our Greek word is used in the sentence of Genesis 1:29 They will be yours for food. This sentence may be translated “Their grains and their fruits will serve as your food” which according to the UBS handbook on Genesis is the translation of our sentence as given in the French Common Language Version. Thus, we can understand that the meaning “to serve” that we proposed as the appropriate meaning in 1 Corinthians 3:21 of the Greek word used is not unusual but it is one that is implied in some passages in the Scripture.
Our interpretation that the Greek word translated “are” in the clause of 1 Corinthians 3:21 All things are yours means that the apostle does not merely want to convey that all things belong to the Corinthians but that all things serve them. The problem that we need to deal with is what all things mean and how they serve the Corinthians to be a reason that they should not boast about spiritual leaders to lead to partisanship.
The apostle did not leave us to guess what he meant in the phrase all things because he described them in 1 Corinthians 3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours. There should be no doubt that the apostle meant that what he listed in verse 22 define what he meant by the phrase all things. This is because after the list he gave in the verse he in a sense repeated the ending clause of 1 Corinthians 3:21 All things are yours in verse 22 in the clause all are yours although the literal Greek reads all things yours since the Greek word translated “are” is not used in verse 22 but it is implied. Of course, the apostle in ending verse 22 with the clause that he ended verse 21 not only emphasized what he stated but used it to ensure that we understand that the list given in verse 22 defines the phrase all things. His list implies that the phrase all things refers to the totality of God’s creation. That aside, the things the apostle listed may be classified as consisting of three elements: personalities, realities of this planet, and realities that are time dependent.
The first element of the apostle’s list that is included in the phrase all things as we have stated consists of personalities. The personalities the apostle listed are spiritual leaders in the phrase whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas. We have considered these personalities previously as they pertain to the Corinthians in verse 12 of the first chapter but for completeness, we review briefly what we said previously about these men.
The first mentioned personality is Paul as in the phrase whether Paul. Paul here refers to the apostle who founded the church in Corinth. It is true that when he got to Corinth there were at least two believers, Aquila and the wife Priscilla but it was the apostle that established the church through his preaching of the gospel to the Jews and others. This we can deduce from his ministry in Corinth that lasted a year and half, as we can gather from Acts 18:8–11:
8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized. 9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” 11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
The second person mentioned by the apostle in 1 Corinthians 3:22 is Apollos in the phrase or Apollos. He was a Jewish Christian born and educated in Alexandria with excellent knowledge of the OT Scripture but at first was deficient in his knowledge of the Christian teaching so that he was helped by Aquila and Priscilla when he was in Ephesus, as we read in Acts 18:24–26:
24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
He worked in Corinth as evident first in the narrative of Acts 19:1:
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples
Of course, his work in Corinth is attested from the fact that he was one of the personalities that some of the Corinthians associated in their partisanship. It seems also that Apollos was in Crete that warrants the apostle requesting Titus to assist him as in Titus 3:13:
Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need.
The third person mentioned is Peter in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 3:22 or Cephas. Someone may say, that this phrase makes no reference to Peter, but it does because Cephas is the same person as Peter. We know this from our Lord’s statement recorded in John 1:42:
And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
Hence, there is no doubt that Cephas refers to Peter. Apostle Paul’s mention of Peter to the Corinthians would suggest that he must have visited Corinth sometimes during his ministry although we have no such record or that those who associated with his name could be Jews who moved sometime from Jerusalem to Corinth. That aside, the fact is that Peter was known by some of those in the local church in Corinth. Again, we do not know what was the specific teaching of the Apostle Peter that caused some to consider him their spiritual leader and teacher.
We have considered briefly the three personalities the apostle mentioned as the first category in his list. So, the question is to understand in what sense these men serve the Corinthians since we said that to say that they belong to the Corinthians is not quite communicative. We have already provided the answer when we implied that these men ministered in Corinth. Thus, the apostle in the clause All things are yours meant that first the persons he listed served the Corinthians by ministering to them the word of God. The apostle applied this clause to himself when he reminded the Corinthians of his ministry towards them in 2 Corinthians 11:8:
I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.
The expression so as to serve you is more literally for the ministry to you, but the apostle meant that he served the Corinthians as he ministered the word of God to them. The fact that the apostle conveyed that he served the Corinthians in terms of ministering the word to them implies that Apollos and Peter did likewise. These individuals preached not themselves, but Christ as Apostle Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 4:5:
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
So, there is no reason to brag about men who are servants of God to lead to partisanship. This brings us to the second element of all things the apostle gave in 1 Corinthians 3:22.
The second element of what the apostle listed in the passage that we are considering that is part of the all things that serve the Corinthians and so believers consists of the realities of this planet as given in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 3:22 or the world or life or death. We will examine each of the three things mentioned in the second element, so we can understand how they serve believers, so they should not brag about spiritual leaders, beginning with the world.
The word “world” is translated from a Greek word (kosmos) that may mean that which serves to beautify through decoration hence means “adornment, adorning” as it is used negatively to describe the kind of beauty that should not be the focus of a believing wife in 1 Peter 3:3:
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
It may mean “world” in the sense of planet earth as a place of inhabitation as the word is used in 1 Timothy 6:7:
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
The word may mean “world” in the sense of “humanity in general” as that is the sense our word is used in 1 John 4:14:
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
Clearly, Jesus Christ did not come to save planet earth but its inhabitants and so “world” here refers to humanity or those who live on the earth. The word may simply refer to “unbelievers” of this world as that is the sense of the word when Apostle Paul speaks of believers judging the world in 1 Corinthians 6:2:
Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
The word may mean “world system, world’s standards” in the sense of the system of practices and standards associated with secular society (that is, without reference to any demands or requirements of God). It is this meaning that Apostle Paul indicated was crucified to him in Galatians 6:14:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
It is in this sense of world system that is characterized by sin and so hostile to God that our Greek word is used to indicate what believers should not be a part of in James 4:4:
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
Of course, when believers are not part of this world system, then they will be hated by unbelievers as that is implied in 1 John 3:13:
Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.
Unfortunately, many of us believers want to belong to the world in contrast to the assertion of our Lord in His priestly prayer, as recorded in John 17, specifically in John 17:14–16:
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
The word may refer to creation in its entirety and so means “universe” as in Philippians 2:15:
so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe
It is in this sense of the universe, consisting of angels and humans, that the word is used by Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:9:
For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.
The phrase to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men is literally to the world and to angels and to people. In 1 Corinthians 3:22, it is used in the sense of planet earth as a place of inhabitation or the created realm considered as a distinct, spatial-temporal entity in distinction to the heavenly realm.
How can understanding the world in our passage as the planet earth serve Corinthians, that is, believers to keep them from bragging about spiritual leaders? It is in the sense that such understanding should enable them to realize that the leaders in view are part of this planet. This then should remind the believer that anything related to this planet should not be something to boast since this planet is slowing dying, as indicated in 1 Corinthians 7:31:
those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
But it would eventually be destroyed, as stated in 2 Peter 3:10–11:
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
Thus, the concept of the planet earth should serve us not to boast arrogantly about anyone that is associated with it seeing that nothing associated with it is permanent.
The second thing in the second element the apostle listed is life. The word “life” is translated from a Greek word (zōē) that may refer to life in a physical sense as opposed to death as in Romans 8:38:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
The word may refer to life that surpasses physical life, that is, transcendent life. So, it is used to describe the life God the Father or God the Son has in John 5:26:
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
It is in this sense that the word is used to describe the life believers have in Acts 13:48:
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:22, it is used in both senses of physical life and transcendent life although with emphasis on physical life.
The third thing in the second element the apostle listed is death. The word “death” is translated from a Greek word (thanatos) that may mean death as a termination of physical life as in Romans 7:10:
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
The Greek word may refer to spiritual death as that which results from sin as the word is used to describe the state of every unbeliever before salvation in 1 John 3:14:
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.
The word may mean “plague, pestilence, pandemic disease” associated with God’s punishment as it is used in Revelation 6:8:
I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
The phrase famine and plague is literally with hunger and with death. The word may refer to eternal death that means eternal separation from God and described as second death in Revelation 20:6:
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
It is the sense of physical death, that is, cessation of life on this planet, that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 3:22.
How does the concepts of life and death as used in 1 Corinthians 3:22 serve believers so that they should not boast arrogantly about spiritual leaders? Both concepts of life and death are reminders of how fragile humans are in that not only the activities of this life cause difficulties for us in that we still sin but also, they remind us how easily we can depart from this world. This being the case, we should not brag about spiritual leaders in the sense that leads to partisanship since they are also mortal men like us. This brings us to the third element in the apostle’s list we are considering in verse 22.
The third element of what the apostle listed in the passage that we are considering that serve the Corinthians and so all believers consists of realities that are time dependent given in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 3:22 or the present or the future. The word “present” is translated from a Greek verb (enistēmi) that may mean “to be at hand, arrive, come” as it is used in 2 Thessalonians 2:2:
not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
The word may mean “to be present” as it is used in Galatians 1:4:
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
The word may mean “to be imminent, be impending” as in 1 Corinthians 7:26:
Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.
The phrase the present crisis may be better translated the impending distress. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 3:22, the sense of the word is “to be the present”, that is, “to be or become the period of time that is happening now.” However, the apostle used the participle of the Greek word we examined so it is best translated “the present.”
The word “future” is translated from a Greek verb (mellō) that may mean “to be about to” as it is used in Acts 11:28:
One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)
The clause that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world is literally that a great famine was about to come over the whole inhabited earth. The word may mean “to intend, propose, have in mind” an action as it is used to describe the intention of some of the Jews in John 6:15:
Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
The word may mean “to delay, wait” as in Acts 22:16:
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
The word may mean “to come” as in 1 Timothy 4:8:
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
In 1 Corinthians 3:22, it has the sense of “to be about to,” that is, “to be imminent or impending; occur soon in the future.” Again, because the apostle used a participle of the Greek word, the best meaning here is “the future.”
How does the concept of present or future serve the Corinthians and so all believers to keep us from bragging about spiritual leaders? It is in the sense that such realities of the present and future should help us to remember that we have no control over them and so we should be careful to boast arrogantly about a person that has no control of these either. Furthermore, the concept of the future should remind us that the ultimate reality is in heaven and the spiritual leaders are not yet in heaven, so we should not brag about them in a way that leads to partisanship. We should be heavenly minded to keep us from boasting about anyone on this planet. Of course, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul reminds us of this fact of being heavenly minded in Colossians 3:1–2:
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
In any event, a first major reason the Corinthians should not boast about their spiritual leaders to lead to partisanship is they serve them.
A second major reason Corinthians should not boast about their spiritual leaders is that they, along with them, belong to God as indicated in 1 Corinthians 3:23. We consider the declaration of verse 23 as an additional reason Corinthians should not boast about spiritual leaders because of the conjunction and that begins the verse. The word “and” is translated from a Greek conjunction (de) that has several usages. For example, it can be used as a marker of contrast in which case it may be translated “but.” However, in our verse it is used as a marker of an additional reason. That aside, this second reason the apostle gave first by indicating believers belong to Christ is in the sentence in the NIV you are of Christ. The word “are” does not appear in the Greek but is added to make the Greek intelligible to English reader since the Greek reads you of Christ. The literal phrase you of Christ is to be understood to mean that the Corinthians and so all believers belong to Christ. This truth is one that Apostle Paul conveyed several times in his epistles. He conveyed this truth to believers in Rome, as recorded in Romans 14:8:
If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
The word “Lord” here in Romans 14:8 refers to Jesus Christ since that is how the apostle described Jesus Christ in his epistles unless, of course, he is quoting from the OT Scripture in which the word refers to God. There is no doubt that the apostle declared that believers belong to Christ as that is what he declared in 2 Corinthians 10:7:
You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he.
Hence, believers belong to Christ.
Be that as it may, we indicated that the second major reason the apostle gave for believers not boasting about spiritual leaders is because they and the leaders belong to God. However, this truth is established indirectly. As we have noted the apostle asserted that believers belong to Christ, but he did so to make the point that believers belong to God in a roundabout way. Therefore, he stated our relationship to God through Christ’s relation to God in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 3:23 of the NIV Christ is of God. Literally, the Greek reads Christ of God. The Greek syntax permits the phrase to be interpreted in at least three ways. It could be read that Christ belongs to God. Another interpretation is to read the phrase to mean that Christ is from God in the sense that God sent Him. Still another interpretation is that Christ is the Son of God. Each of these interpretation states what is true of Christ, but it is the interpretation that Christ is the Son of God that is intended. It is true that the first sentence of verse 23 indicates that believers belong to Christ but the relationship of Christ to God is not the same as ours to Christ. Therefore, it is probably that the apostle wanted to convey that Christ is the Son of God as that is truth that is conveyed several times in the Scripture. This interpretation of the Greek syntax is not unique since we have an example of it in John 21:15:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
The phrase Simon son of John is literally Simon of John. The literal phrase Christ of God is interpreted as meaning Son of God by the Holy Spirit. When Luke recorded the response of Peter to Jesus’ question regarding whom people say He is, his answer is that He is the Christ of God, as we read in Luke 9:20:
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
But then the Holy Spirit elaborated through Matthew what Peter meant in stating that Christ is the Son of God as we read in Matthew 16:16:
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Of course, a fuller description of Jesus when He is called Christ is that He is the Son of God as Mark recorded in Mark 1:1:
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Hence, when Apostle Paul wrote literally in 1 Corinthians 3:23 Christ of God, he intended for us to recognize that Christ is the Son of God which is tantamount to stating that He is God. This understanding would mean that those who belong to Christ belong to God. Thus, the second major reason we stated. Again, the second major reason the apostle gave for believers not boasting about spiritual leaders to lead to partisanship is because they and the leaders belong to God. With this we end our consideration of 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. So, let me remind you one more time the message of the passage is: You should not brag about spiritual leaders because everything in God’s creation serves you and because you are in Christ you belong to God.
01/04/19