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Temple, could be removed under judgment and go out of existence. If it is insisted that
Paul is referring to the individual believer rather than the assembly as a whole, then such
judgment could end in physical death, as the abuses at the Lord's Table later on clearly
show (I Cor. 11: 30). Direct Divine judgment for sin, a characteristic of the earthly
kingdom, was still in force during the Acts period (cp. Acts 5: 1-10; 13: 6-11). There
was indeed "a sin unto death" (I John 5: 16).
Paul now returns to the great contrast between earthly and heavenly wisdom, the
conceptions of unredeemed man in spiritual darkness, and the thoughts and ways of God
so infinitely above these:
"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you supposes that he is wise by the
standards of this age, let him become foolish by the standards of this age, in order that he
may become truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For in
Scripture God is described as `He who catches the wise in their own craftiness'; and
again `The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are vain'. So let no one make his
boast in men, for all things are yours--Paul, Apollos or Cephas, the world, or life, or
death, things present or things to come--all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and
Christ belongs to God" (3: 18-23 C. K. Barrett).
Self deception is the fate of those who imagine themselves to be really wise apart from
God, and this delusion is the fruit of estimation by the wrong standards. If anyone wishes
to be wise in the truest sense, then he must not expect to experience this by trying to add
a little of God's wisdom to his own. His own wisdom must be cast away completely and
God's estimation received by a child-like trust. These two are complete opposites and
can never be reconciled. This the Apostle states in the sharpest terms:
"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."
The conclusion then is inescapable: "So let no one make his boast in men". This is
just what the Corinthians had been doing, ranging themselves under the names of various
servants of God, stating in effect that they belonged to Paul, Apollos or Cephas. This
inverted the truth. They really belonged to Christ, the Lord over all things, and as this
was true, then the world, life, death, things present, things to come--all things belonged
to them in and through Him. With such a vast heritage, how stupid it was for any of them
to follow men, even if these were the Lord's servants!
The fourth chapter commences with advice as to how God's servants, including
himself, should be properly regarded:
"How then should a man think of us? As Christ's servants and stewards of God's
mysteries (secrets)" (4: 1 C. K. Barrett).
If we read the first sentence as a question as C. K. Barrett does, then the answer is that
Christian leaders are to be regarded as Christ's servants, no more and no less. The
servant has no special significance of his own. His work is not his but his master's. He
is also his master's steward or household manager (oikonomos). This is allied to the
word oikonomia dispensation, and shows us that a dispensation in the N.T. is not the
same as an age, a period of time merely, but a faithful handling and setting forth of some