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Here are "possessions" indeed, which as from a Pisgah of faith, spread themselves out
before our wondering gaze. It will be observed that both passages open with a warning
"That no flesh should glory in His presence". "Let no man glory in men", and this
warning we must obey if we are to possess our possessions.
The English word "glory" is used in the N.T. to represent two very different concepts.
It translates doxa "do all to the glory of God" (I Cor. 10: 31), but it also translates
kauchaomai "God forbid that I should glory" (Gal. 6: 14). It is the word kauchaomai
that occurs in I Cor. 1: 29, 31 and 3: 21. This word is allied with aucheo "to boast,
please oneself", which some lexicographers believe is connected with, if not derived
from, the Greek word auchen "the neck". The Psalmist says "speak not with a stiff neck"
(Psa. 75: 5) and Isaiah speaks of those who were haughty, and "walk with stretched
forth necks" (Isa. 3: 16). Kauchaomai is used by the LXX for the "triumph" of the
wicked (Psa. 94: 3) and for the "joyful" praise of the saints (Psa. 149: 5). So also in
the N.T. the word can speak of "glorying" in men and in appearance or of "glorying" in
the Lord. Salvation is by grace "lest any one should boast", that is, boast in themselves.
Yet the true circumcision "rejoices (or boasts) in Christ Jesus, and has no confidence in
the flesh" (Phil. 3: 3). The Apostle was so sure that the whole testimony of the Word
was against this boasting in self, that he combines the teaching of more than one O.T.
passage under the saying:
"According as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord",
a summary that not only appears in I Cor. 1: 31, but which is repeated in II Cor. 10: 17.
Putting aside therefore all foolish boasting, let us come close to the enumeration of
blessings which the Apostle has said are all ours in Christ.
Before we can do justice to I Cor. 1: 30, we are obliged to make a digression, because
one small but important particle has not been translated in the A.V. of this passage. Kai
is correctly rendered "and", but the combination te kai demands something more.
In a number of passages, the translation "both . . . . . and" is called for, and if these
references are quoted, the reader may be the more willing to agree that something is
missing in the A.V. translation of I Cor. 1: 30.
"These servants . . . . . gathered together . . . . . both bad and good" (Matt. 22: 10).
"All that Jesus began both to do and teach" (Acts 1: 1).
"Both Herod and Pontius Pilate" (Acts 4: 27).
"Both gifts and sacrifices" (Heb. 9: 9).
The omission of the word "both" from any of these passages would be detrimental.
There is a logical and internal relation between those things which are annexed by te kai
`both . . . . . and', not only in the passages cited above, but in I Cor. 1: 30. Translators
may have found it difficult to use the word `both' when translating I Cor. 1: 30 but that
does not justify ignoring the presence of te kai. There are other equivalents. "David also
and Samuel" (Heb. 11: 32). "Whether they were men or women" (Acts 9: 2).